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Tintina (and Tombstone) Gold Province in Alaska - USA and Yukon - Canada
Canada
Main commodities: Au


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The Tintina Gold Province extends over a large tract of Alaska (USA) and the Yukon Territory of north-western Canada and includes such large deposits as Fort Knox, Pogo, Donlin Creek, Kensington, True North in Alsaka and Dublin Gulch, Brewery Creek, Clear Creek-Bear Paw, Scheelite Dome and Ray Gulch in Canada.

The Tintina Gold Belt lies within the 1000 x 250 km Tintina-Tanana Terrane which extends from northern British Columbia in Canada, through the Yukon Territory of Canada to the south-west coast of Alaska in the USA, bounded to the north and south respectively by the regional Tintina and Denali Faults. The Tintina Gold Belt occupies much of this terrane in Alaska and Yukon, but in northern Canada spreads to the NE of the Tintina Fault to form the Tombstone Gold/Tungsten Belt. Over its length the Tintina Gold Belt cuts across a broad range of lithologies, e.g., in Alaska the country rocks are the complex metamorphics of the Yukon Tanana Terrane, while in the Yukon the gold belt traverses sedimentary rocks of the Selwyn Basin. However in both regions the mineralisation is found either within the granites and/or their hornfelsed aureoles several kilometres from the exposed stocks. Mineralisation commonly occurs as steeply dipping sheeted auriferous quartz lodes within the Cretaceous intrusives or accompanying hornfelsed sediments, as well as disseminated ores, replacements, skarns or individual quartz veins. These deposits differ from porphyry gold mineralisation in their mode of occurrence, but have some similarities with orogenic gold. They have a low sulphide abundance, are anomalous in As, Sb, Bi, Te and W and have restricted alteration zones, but have a close spatial relationship with intrusives.

On the eastern margin of the Tintina Gold Province, to the NE of the Denali Fault, there is a suite of mid Cretaceous intrusives, the Tombstone Plutonic Suite, with which a series of gold occurrences (including Canadian deposits listed above) appear to be associated. This forms the more localised Tombstone Gold Belt, also known as the Tombstone Tungsten Belt, as it host deposits such as Mactung and Cantung to the SE. This belt forms the eastern margin of the Tintina Gold Province.

Pertzel (2013) summarised the characteristics of the Intrusion Related Gold System (IRGS) deposits of the Tintina Gold Province as:
• an association with intermediate to felsic composition intrusions near the ilmenite-magnetite series boundary;
• formation from carbonic hydrothermal fluids;
• gold is accompanied by elevated levels of either Bi, W, As, Mo, Te and/or Sb and low base metal concentrations;
• a usual low sulphide content, i.e., <5%, which includes arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite but no magnetite or ilmenite;
• a restricted areal extent and weak hydrothermal alteration;
• a continental tectonic setting well removed from convergent plate boundaries;
• a location in magmatic provinces best known for tin and tungsten mineralisation.

For detail consult the reference(s) listed below - as well as the links to related records available above.

The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 2003.    
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.


    Selected References
Baker T and Lang J R  2001 - Fluid inclusion characteristics of intrusion-related gold mineralization, Tombstone-Tungsten magmatic belt, Yukon Territory, Canada: in    Mineralium Deposita   v36 pp 563-582
Mair J L, Goldfarb R J, Johnson C A, Hart C J R and Marsh E E,  2006 - Geochemical Constraints on the Genesis of the Scheelite Dome Intrusion-Related Gold Deposit, Tombstone Gold Belt, Yukon, Canada: in    Econ. Geol.   v101 pp 523-553
Maloof T L, Baker T and Thompson J F  2001 - The Dublin Gulch intrusion-hosted gold deposit, Tombstone plutonic suite, Yukon Territory, Canada: in    Mineralium Deposita   v36 pp583-593
Marsh E E, Goldfarb R J, Hart C J R, Johnson C A  2003 - Geology and geochemistry of the Clear Creek intrusion-related gold occurrences, Tintina Gold Province, Yukon, Canada: in    Can. J. Earth Sci.   v40 pp 681-699
Mueller S H, Goldfarb R J, Hart C J R, Mair J L, Marsh E E and Rombach C S,  2004 - The Tintina Gold Province, Alaska and Yukon - new world-class gold resources and their sustainable development: in   Hi Tech and World Competitive Mineral Success Stories Around the Pacific Rim Proc. Pacrim 2004 Conference, Adelaide, 19-22 September, 2004, AusIMM, Melbourne,    pp 189-198
Selby D, Creaser R A, Heaman L M, Hart C J R  2003 - Re-Os and U-Pb geochronology of the Clear Creek, Dublin Gulch, and Mactung deposits, Tombstone Gold Belt, Yukon, Canada: absolute timing relationships between plutonism and mineralization: in    Can. J. Earth Sci.   v40 pp 1839-1852
Stephens J R, Mair J L, Oliver N H S, Hart C J R, Baker T,  2004 - Structural and mechanical controls on intrusion-related deposits of the Tombstone Gold Belt, Yukon, Canada, with comparisons to other vein-hosted ore-deposit types: in    J. of Structural Geology   v26 Pp 1025-1041


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.

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