West Gore
Geology
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West Gore Geology
The West Gore Sb-Au deposit is anomalous in the Meguma terrane of Nova Scotia because of its enrichment in Sb, a metal that is essentially absent from other Meguma gold deposits. The deposit is hosted by graphitic and sulfide-bearing slates of the lower Paleozoic Halifax Formation that were deformed into a northeast-trending, upright, closed syncline and metamorphosed to the greenschist facies during the regional Acadian orogeny (ca. 400 Ma).
Mineralized veins at the deposit define a single structure trending 110 degrees that probably formed the dextral component of a conjugate shear system as part of regional, northwest-directed compression.
Mineralization occurs as stibnite, native antimony, aurostibnite, Sb-Au alloys, and Sb-Au-O phases in vein quartz with associated Fe, As, Pb, Zn, Cu sulfides and chlorite-carbonate gangue; wall-rock alteration is variably developed as narrow zones peripheral to veins enriched in sericite, calcite, sulfides, tourmaline, and chlorite.
The West Gore deposit originated from infiltration of metamorphic-derived fluids generated during the waning stages of the Acadian orogeny contemporaneous with generation and emplacement of felsic and mafic magmas. The mineralizing fluids were focused to higher crustal levels where brittle-ductile conditions prevailed and veins were localized to the dextral component of a conjugate shear system related to movement along a major dextral strike-slip fault or shear zone (Cobequid – Chedabucto fault system). Lithogeochemistry of the local stratigraphy does not indicate any regional enrichment in Sb, Au, or other metals. The occurrence of the stibnite may, therefore, reflect either telescoping of metals in an Au-W-Sb province or enrichment of Sb in the source area or fluid conduit relative to other Meguma gold deposits.
