Gangue mineral textures and fluid inclusion characteristics of the Santa Margarita Vein in the Guanajuato Mining District, Mexico

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dc.contributor.authorMoncada, Danielen
dc.contributor.authorBodnar, Robert J.en
dc.contributor.departmentGeosciencesen
dc.date.accessioned2019-08-23T19:15:57Zen
dc.date.available2019-08-23T19:15:57Zen
dc.date.issued2012-05-13en
dc.description.abstractSuccessful exploration for mineral deposits requires tools that the explorationist can use to distinguish between targets with high potential for mineralization and those with lower economic potential. In this study, we describe a technique based on gangue mineral textures and fluid inclusion characteristics that has been applied to identify an area of high potential for gold-silver mineralization in the epithermal Ag-Au deposits at Guanajuato, Mexico. The Guanajuato mining district in Mexico is one of the largest silver producing districts in the world with continuous mining activity for nearly 500 years. Previous work conducted on the Veta Madre vein system that is located in the central part of this district identified favorable areas for further exploration in the deepest levels that have been developed and explored. The resulting exploration program discovered one of the richest gold-silver veins ever found in the district. This newly discovered vein that runs parallel to the Veta Madre was named the Santa Margarita vein. Selected mineralized samples from this vein contain up to 249 g/t of Au and up to 2,280 g/t Ag. Fluid inclusions in these samples show homogenization temperatures that range from 184 to 300°C and salinities ranging from 0 to 5 wt.% NaCl. Barren samples show the same range in homogenization temperature, but salinities range only up to 3 wt.% NaCl. Evidence of boiling was observed in most of the samples based on fluid inclusions and/or quartz and calcite textures. Liquid-rich inclusions with trapped illite are closely associated with high silver grades. The presence of assemblages of vapor-rich-only fluid inclusions, indicative of intense boiling or “flashing”, shows the best correlation with high gold grades.en
dc.description.notesformer journal title: Central European Journal of Geosciencesen
dc.description.sponsorshipGreat Panther Silver Ltden
dc.description.sponsorshipConsejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT)en
dc.description.sponsorshipVirginia Tech Graduate Schoolen
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.2478/s13533-011-0057-8en
dc.identifier.issue2en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/93250en
dc.identifier.volume4en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherDe Gruyteren
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United Statesen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/en
dc.subjectGuanajuato Mining Districten
dc.subjectVeta Madreen
dc.subjectfluid inclusionsen
dc.subjectboilingen
dc.subjectflashingen
dc.subjectmineral explorationen
dc.subjectepithermal precious metals depositsen
dc.titleGangue mineral textures and fluid inclusion characteristics of the Santa Margarita Vein in the Guanajuato Mining District, Mexicoen
dc.title.serialOpen Geosciencesen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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