The auriferous quartz lode of the Veloso deposit, Quadrilátero Ferrífero of Minas Gerais, Brazil: geological characterisation and constraints from tourmaline boron isotopes

Abstract

Veloso is one of numerous and poorly documented auriferous deposits of Ouro Preto, the town that symbolises the gold rush in Brazil at the turn of the seventeenth century. We present the results of underground geological mapping, combined with a boron (B) isotopic study of tourmaline, an elusive mineral in the auriferous quartz lode of the historical Veloso deposit. Its lode is characteristically brecciated in a host rock that shows no cataclastic fabric. The host rock is itabirite, a metamorphosed banded iron formation. Tourmaline is essentially dravite and locally occurs as abundant crystals in breccia-cementing pockets of goethite, formed from the oxidation of sulfide minerals. Gold is spatially associated with tourmaline in the goethite-rich pockets. In situ measurements for B isotopes yielded δ¹¹B values in the range of −21 to −9‰. This range is similar to that reported for tourmaline of the Passagem de Mariana deposit, the best documented auriferous lode deposit at the south-eastern edge of the Quadrilátero Ferrífero. The tourmaline B isotopic data reflect auriferous fluids of crustal origin that sourced B from metasedimentary rocks, which may include a non-marine evaporitic component.