Structural and lithological controls on the high-grade Hangingwall Reef quartz – gold veins, Stawell, Victoria

Abstract

The Hangingwall reefs are high-grade auriferous quartz lodes that occur in the upper levels of the Magdala mine at Stawell, and thus represent an important deposit style in western Victoria. Structural relationships indicate that the Hangingwall Reefs formed coincident with the same metallogenic event that produced the adjacent Magdala deposit. However, the host-rocks to the quartz – gold veins that make up the Hangingwall Reefs display markedly different structural and stratigraphic relationships. Hangingwall Reef mineralisation occurred during east – west shortening in a muscovite-altered turbidite sequence that had little prior iron alteration (cf. Magdala deposit). Lithological and structural data show that the distribution of the quartz – gold veins is related to the geometry of the Stawell Fault and its associated fault splays, with the quartz veining being localised where the faults are discordant with the pre-existing structural fabrics. This discordant relationship produced the dilational sites and jogs in which the auriferous quartz veins formed. Results from 3D numerical modelling show that dilation along the Stawell Fault provided the conduit for fluid flow.

Key words:

• fluid flow
• Hangingwall Reefs
• Lachlan Orogen
• orogenic gold
• Stawell Fault

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a pmd * CRC Honours scholarship to DAH and by Leviathan Resources Limited. Geoff McDermott, Jon Dugdale and the geological team at Stawell Gold Mine are thanked for their on-site assistance and advice. Clive Willman and John Miller are thanked for their constructive reviews of the manuscript.