Geological, mineralogical and ore fluid characteristics of the Tagun‐Khin‐Dan gold mineralization in Mogok‐Mandalay‐Mergui Belt, Central Myanmar

Abstract

The Tagun‐Khin‐Dan gold deposit in the Mogok‐Mandalay‐Mergui Belt, Central Myanmar, is characterized by an array of quartz‐veins hosted in mudstone of the Kogwe Formation of the Carboniferous Mergui Group. Two major deformational stages were recorded in the area; (1) N‐S shortening and (2) uplifting and emplacement of various dykes and quartz veinlets. The N‐S shortening within the area lead the development of km‐scale faults, determined largely by the presence of a zone of major WNW‐ESE trending dextral strike‐slip faulting. Quartz veins in the deposit include: (1) type‐A quartz veins, parallel to the dextral NW‐SE trending major fault; and (2) type‐B quartz veins which occur as isolated parallel veins. Gold in the type‐A quartz vein is present as native gold and electrum locked within pyrite and associated with pyrite and galena and in the type‐B quartz veins as electrum associated with sulfide minerals such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite. The mineralization stages can be classified into the type‐A quartz vein stage and the type‐B quartz vein stage. Two type of fluid inclusions; liquid‐rich aqueous inclusions (L‐type) and vapor‐rich aqueous inclusions (V‐type) are identified in the type‐A quartz veins. The homogenization temperature of L‐type fluid inclusions of the type‐A quartz veins ranges from 203 to 321°C and salinity of the fluid inclusions varies from 0.4 to 1.6 wt% NaCl equiv. The homogenization temperature of V‐type fluid inclusions of type‐A quartz veins ranges from 290 to 340°C with a salinity ranging from 0.4 to 1.9 wt% NaCl equivalent. In the type‐B quartz veins, only liquid‐rich aqueous inclusions (L‐type) are identified. The type‐B quartz veins yielded low homogenization temperatures from 160 to 220°C, with low salinities from 0.2 to 1.9 wt% NaCl equiv. compared with those of the type‐A veins. The depth range of ore formation is estimated to be a shallow depth of less than 0.2 km based on fluid inclusion microthermometry. Fluid boiling is evident during the type‐A quartz vein stage, and fluid cooling and mixing in the later type‐B quartz vein stage. Precipitation of pyrite in the ore zone occurred as four recognized types: arsenic‐rich pyrite‐1, 2, 3 in the type‐A quartz veins and pyrite‐4 in the type‐B quartz veins. A positive relation between Au and As contents of pyrites suggests that the gold is present together with arsenic in the structure of pyrites of the type‐A quartz veins as solid solution in addition to as nanoparticle inclusions. The high Co and Ni contents of pyrites of both the type‐A and the type‐B quartz veins, with no evidence of CO2 in the system indicate that the ore‐forming fluids were epizonal magmatic‐hydrothermal fluids rather than metamorphic fluid. The hydrothermal fluids of the Tagun‐Khin‐Dan deposit were driven by faulting to form the mudstone‐hosted epithermal gold mineralization and related to continuing northwards movement of the Indian Plate that initiated the displacement on the strike‐slip Sagaing Fault.