|
Belaya Gora, Blagodatnoye |
|
|
Khabarovsk Kray, Russia |
| Main commodities:
Au Ag
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
Super Porphyry Cu and Au
|
IOCG Deposits - 70 papers
|
All papers now Open Access.
Available as Full Text for direct download or on request. |
|
|
The Belaya Gora and Blagodatnoye epithermal gold deposits are 39 km apart within the Nikolaevsky district of Khabarovsk Kray on the left bank of the Amur River. Belaya Gora and Blagodatnoye are 48 km NW and 40 km WNW of the regional city centre of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur which is a port, 35 km upriver from the Amur River mouth with the Sea of Okhotsk. Belaya Gora is ~50 km SSE of the Mnogovershinnoe deposit.
(#Location: Belaya Gora - 53° 33' 59"N, 140° 22' 2"E; Blagodatnoye - 53° 19' 56"N, 140° 3' 14"E).
Gold mineralisation was first identified in the Belaya Gora district at the end of the 19th century with the discovery of placers in the surrounding watercourses. Some exploration was conducted in the 1970s and 80s, with the last detailed exploration stage undertaken between 2006-08. Production commenced in 2010 with ore processed at the Mnogovershinnoe plant. In 2013 a processing plant was constructed at Belaya Gora and production rates increased to the planned 2.2 Mtpa. To the end of 2019, 12.50 Mt of ore had ben mined to recover 13.33 t of recovered gold. Recoveries have been ~75%. Systematic exploration at Blagodatnoye started in 2010 with detailed exploration and drilling undertaken between 2011 and 12 and again in 2016. No mining has taken place.
Belaya Gora is a low-sulphidation type epithermal gold deposit situated within a regional-scale tectonic depression in the northern Sikhote Alin Volcanic Belt. Gold mineralisation is mostly hosted by a fault-bounded Eocene to Oligocene igneous complex that comprises pervasively clay-altered and silicified subalkalic rhyolite to dacite volcanogenic and volcaniclastic rocks, a subvolcanic stock and explosive breccia that were emplaced into a sequence of andesitic basalts and tuffs. It lies within the western exocontact zone of the Gyrmansky granitoid massif, and was subjected to low-intensity but widespread hornfelsing.
Mineralisation occurs as disseminations, veinlets, stockworks and siliceous segregations associated with quartz veinlets and veins forming a stockwork pattern. The alteration minerals assemblage includes 50 to 90% quartz producing secondary quartzites, kaolinite, dickite, sericite, hydromica and adularia. Ore minerals are free gold and silver, argentite, pyrite, marcasite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, hematite and cinnabar, with the principal ore assemblages that comprise gold-quartz and Au-sulphosalts-sulphide-quartz. The distribution of gold is highly irregular with enriched areas being sporadic and unrelated to each other and ore shoots/orebodies which have gradational grade boundaries. Grain size distribution analysis has showed that native gold in ores is distributed non-uniformly, and is mainly represented within the 0.25 to 0.74 mm size range, with individual grains up to 0.8 mm. To a depth of at least 400 m, the gold is essentially free.
Three zones of mineralisation have been defined within the deposit known as the Stockwork, Pologaya and North-East zones. The ore texture and structure are similar for all three zones although Pologaya and North-East ores are dominated by kaolinite and smectites. At a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off, the main ore zone has plan diemensions of ~450 x 350 m and depth extent of 275 m, while a smaller zone <100 m to the NE measures ~275 x 175 mineralised over a vertical interval of 50 m.
Mineral Resource estimates prepared in accordance with the JORC Code by Micromine in 2010 (quoted by SRK Consulting 2018) were:
Stockwork Zone - 14 Mt @ 2.2 g/t Au -and- Pologaya Zone - 1.3 Mt @ 3 g/t Au, for 34.7 t of contained gold.
Remaining JORC compliant Mineral Resources at 1 January 2018 (SRK Consulting 2018) at a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off were, after production to 2018 of 7.66 Mt with 10.72 t of recovered gold:
Indicated Resource 12.1 Mt @ 1.52 g/t Au -and- Inferred Resource 0.15 Mt @ 2.2 g/t Au for 18.72 t of contained gold.
The Belaya Gora summary is drawn from the Highland Gold Mining Limited website (viewed January 2021); Nokleberg, W.J., ed., 2010, Metallogenesis and Tectonics of Northeast Asia: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1765; and Executive Summary, PreFeasibility Study for Belaya Gora and Blagodatnoye Gold Project prepared by SRK Consulting, Russia, January 2018.
Blagodatnoye is hosted by tuffs and tuffaceous-sandstones that have been metamorphosed to low grade hornfels in the aureole of the western exocontact zone of the Gyrmansky granitoid massif.
Mineralisation occurs as stockworks of veinlets that are mostly undeformed and range from a millimetre to several centimetres in thickness. Mineralised veinlets vary from a trace to rarely more than 5 vol.%. The gold is fine, with 80% of grains <0.071 mm.
Mineralisation forms several joined ore bodies controlled by: i). a series of near east-west tectonic structures, which often grade into cleavage zones; and ii). WNW trending faults which apparently feather the near east-west set. The shape of bodies is close to being isometric or is elongated, with sub-vertical dips. The plan dimensions of the deposit are ~550 x 250 to 500 m, with a vertical span of mineralisation of from 250 to 280 m.
Premining JORC compliant Mineral Resources at 1 January 2018 (SRK Consulting 2018) at a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off, were:
Indicated Resource 31.3 Mt @ 1.40 g/t Au -and- Inferred Resource 0.2 Mt @ 1.98 g/t Au for 44.22 t of contained gold.
Remaining JORC compliant Mineral Resources at 1 January 2020 (Highland Gold Mining Limited website Reserves and Resources Report) were:
Indicated + Inferred Resource - 19.249 Mt @ 1.3 g/t Au for 25 t of contained gold.
The Blagodatnoye ore is to be treated at the Belaya Gora treatment facility.
The Blagodatnoye summary is drawn from the Executive Summary, PreFeasibility Study for Belaya Gora and Blagodatnoye Gold Project prepared by SRK Consulting, Russia, January 2018.
The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 2018.
This description is a summary from published sources, the chief of which are listed below.
© Copyright Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd. Unauthorised copying, reproduction, storage or dissemination prohibited.
Belaya Gora Blagodatnoye
|
|
|
Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd (PorterGeo) provides access to this database at no charge. It is largely based on scientific papers and reports in the public domain, and was current when the sources consulted were published. While PorterGeo endeavour to ensure the information was accurate at the time of compilation and subsequent updating, PorterGeo, its employees and servants: i). do not warrant, or make any representation regarding the use, or results of the use of the information contained herein as to its correctness, accuracy, currency, or otherwise; and ii). expressly disclaim all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or conclusions contained herein.
|
Top | Search Again | PGC Home | Terms & Conditions
|
|
