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Gold (-Silver) Ores in Epithermal Deposits: Preface

EDITOR: STUART F. SIMMONS



Hot Solutions Ltd, PO Box 32-125, Devonport, Auckland 0744, New Zealand


This Society of Economic Geologists Compilation (no. 4) contains more than 100 years of
classic papers on gold (-silver) ores in epithermal deposits from 1905 to 2010. These
include the manuscripts published in Economic Geology, Reviews in Economic Geology,
Special Publications, Economic Geology Monographs, SEG Newsletters, SEG Field Trip
Guides, and Economic Geology Anniversary Volumes. They feature many of the major gold
(-silver) deposits, which formed in Mesozoic and younger magmatic arcs of the circum-
Pacific, southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. They also include the rare older deposits
occurring in Australia, Sweden, and Canada. Papers describing deposits containing
predominantly silver ores are presented because they contain significant gold, they have
similar geological characteristics, and/or they provide broader insights to epithermal ore-
forming processes.

This compilation is divided into 10 sections, beginning with Review Papers and Ore Deposit
Models, which comprise the classic and modern review papers on epithermal
mineralization. They document key geological features and important genetic processes,
regarding mineralogical and textural characteristics of ore mineralization, hydrothermal
alteration zonation, classification schemes, local and regional controls on mineralization,
and relationship to volcanic settings (Sillitoe and Bonham, 1984; Hayba et al., 1985; Heald
et al., 1987; Sillitoe, 1993; White and Hedenquist, 1995; Cooke and Simmons, 2000;
Hedenquist et al., 2000; Jensen and Barton, 2000; Sillitoe and Hedenquist, 2003; Simmons
et al., 2005).

The next six sections represent studies on specific deposits and districts subdivided by
geographic region. These are summarized in Table 1, which lists the major deposits and
districts in this compilation and which includes several of the largest gold (-silver) deposits
in the world: Yanacocha, Peru; Ladolam, Papua New Guinea; Pueblo Viejo, Dominican
Republic; Cripple Creek, USA; Pascua-Lama, Chile and Argentina; El Indio, Chile; Round
Mountain, USA; Hishikari, Japan; Tayoltita, Mexico; Rosia Montana, Romania; Martha Hill,
New Zealand; Kelian, Indonesia; Comstock, USA; Acupan, Philippines; Emperor, Fiji;
Pachuca-Real del Monte, Mexico; Guanajuato, Mexico; and Fresnillo, Mexico. There are four
complete SEG Guidebooks on epithermal deposits of Bulgaria, Japan, New Zealand, and the
western Carpathians. In addition, there are a few papers on deep igneous-hydrothermal
processes normally associated with porphyry mineralization, where there are clear links to
the formation of shallow-formed epithermal deposits (e.g., Losada-Calderon and McPhail,
1996; Hedenquist et al., 1998 ; Ulrich et al., 2001; Masterman et al., 2005; Baumgartner and
Fontbote, 2009; Bendezu and Fontbote, 2009).

The last three sections contain papers on Hydrothermal Processes and Modern
Environments; on Research Methods, Remote Sensing, and Exploration; and on those of
Historical Interest (1950 and earlier). Here, the complete Reviews in Economic Geology
volume 1 (Henley et al., 1984) and most of volume 2 (Adams, 1985; Berger and Silberman,
1985; Bodnar et al., 1985; Field and Fifarek, 1985, Fournier, 1985a and b, Henley, 1985;
Henley and Brown, 1985; Reed and Spycher, 1985) are found, with many important papers
on geochemistry, gold transport-deposition, boiling effects, hydrothermal mineralogy, fluid
inclusions, stable isotopes, and hydrothermal systems (e.g., Browne, 1969; Weissberg,
1969; Haas, 1971; White, 1974; Hedenquist and Henley, 1985a; Brown, 1986; Brown, 1989;
Seward, 1989; Spycher and Reed, 1989; Giggenbach, 1992; Rye, 1993; Simmons and
Browne, 2000; Simmons and Brown, 2007). Exploration relevant papers describe methods
of detecting key mineralogical patterns from aerial and satellite images (Rockwell et al.,
2006; Crosta et al., 2009; Taranik et al., 2009). Lastly, and largely for historical context,
early issues of Economic Geology contain the first publications on epithermal deposits (e.g.,
Lindgren, 1907; Ransome, 1907; Finlayson, 1909; Rogers, 1911; Lindgren, 1922). These
workers and their peers knew that much could be learned from examination of modern
hydrothermal environments (e.g., Lindgren, 1910; Emmons and Larsen, 1913; Allen, 1935),
a feature that continues to inform us of ore-forming processes today.

Table 1. Major deposits featured in this compilation

North America
Comstock (Coats, 1940; Vikre, 1989a; Berger et al., 2003; Hudson, 2003)
Cripple Creek (Thompson et al., 1985; Kelley et al., 1998)
Goldfield (Ransome, 1907; Wilson, 1944; Silberman and Ashley, 1970; Ashley and
Silberman, 1976; Vikre 1989b), McLaughlin (Gustafson, 1991; Sherlock et al., 1995)
Midas (Leavitt et al., 2004)
Round Mountain (Sander and Einaudi, 1990; Henley, 1991; Sander and Einauidi, 1991
Sleeper (Saunders, 1994).

Central America and Caribbean
Fresnillo, Mexico (Albinson, 1988 ; Gemmell et al., 1988; Simmons et al., 1988; Simmons,
1991; Megaw, 2010)
Guanjuato, Mexico (Gross, 1975 ; Mango et al., 1991 ; Randall et al., 1994)
Pachuca Real del Monte, Mexico (McKee et al., 1992; Drier, 2005)
Pueblo Viejo, Dominican Republic (Kesler et al., 1981; Muntean et al., 1990; Vennemann
et al. 1993; Simon et al., 1999; Kesler et al. 2005; Sillitoe et al, 2006; Muntean et al., 2007)
Tayoltita, Mexico (Smith et al., 1982; Clarke and Titley, 1988; Conrad et al., 1992; Conrad
et al., 1995; Horner and Enriquez, 1999; Enriquez and Rivera, 2001b).

South America
El Indio, Chile (Jannas et al., 1999)
El Pen, Chile (Warren et al., 2004; 2008)
Pascua-Lama, Chile and Argentina (Bissig et al., 2002; Deyell et al., 2004; Chouinard et al.,
2005; Deyell et al., 2005)
Yanacocha, Peru (Gustafson et al., 2004; Mallette et al., 2004; Longo et al., 2010; Teal and
Benavides, 2010).

Europe
Beregovo (Vityk et al., 1994)
Boliden (Bergman Weihed et al., 1996)
Rosia Montana (Manske et al., 2006)

Asia
Acupan (Sawkins et al., 1979; Cooke et al., 1996)
Hishikari, Japan (Matsuhisa and Aoki, 1994; Hayashi et al., 2001a, b; Bogie and Lawless,
2001; Etoh et al., 2002; Faure et al., 2002; Sanematsu et al., 2006)
Kelian, Indonesia (Setiabudi et al., 2007; Davies et al., 2008a; Davies et al., 2008b)
Lepanto, Philippines (Hedenquist et al., 1998).

Oceania
Emperor, Fiji (Ahmad et al., 1987; Setterfield et al., 1992; Eaton and Setterfield, 1993;
Pals et al., 2003; Scherbarth and Spry, 2006)
Ladolam, Papua New Guinea (Carman, 2003)
Martha Hill, New Zealand (Finlayson 1909; Morgan, 1920; Brathwaite and Faure, 2002;
Simpson and Mauk, 2007)
Porgera, Papua New Guinea (Fleming et al., 1986; Richards and Kerrich, 1993; Richards
and Ledlie, 1993; Ronacher et al., 2004)

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