User:Tillman/Serra Pelada geology

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Notes and refs: Very* preliminary cut at this!

The majority (>75%) of the ore is hosted in the black, carbon-rich, lower part of the carbonaceous and calcareous meta-siltstone.

Estimated resource: in the unmined portion of the deposit, is 56 t Au, 15 t Pd and 7 t Pt, grading 15.20 g/t Au, 4.09 g/t Pd and 1.89 g/t Pt (CVRD, 1998). Original pre-mining resources have been estimated at ~110 t Au, ~35t Pd and ~18 t Pt, although the uncertainty of these figures is high. (Porter report)

Gold-PGE mineralisation is associated with the formation of magnetite- and hematite-rich hydrothermal breccias, massive zones of hematite metasomatism, intense sericite (white mica)-kaolin metasomatism, siderite veining and a jasperoid envelope of amorphous silica alteration hosting rare disseminated pyrite.

Virtually all of the Au-PGE ore-related mineral assemblages have undergone intense weathering to hydrated Fe-oxides and secondary clay minerals. The geochemistry of the primary Au-PGE ores at Serra Pelada displays many similarities to that of Fe-oxide Cu-Au deposits within the Carajás Mineral Province, in terms of metal association (eg. Co, Ni, Cu, U), LREE enrichment and accompanying Fe-metasomatism. (Porter report)