The geology and genesis of the Coffee gold deposit in west-central Yukon, Canada : implications for the structural, magmatic, and metallogenic evolution of the Dawson Rage, and gold deposit models ...

• Main Author: MacWilliam, Kathryn R.G.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2018
• Subjects: Dawson; Yukon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0371172; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0371172

The Coffee gold deposit, located in the Dawson Range, west-central Yukon, Canada, is an example of structurally-controlled, gold-only mineralization with a global resource of ~4 Moz gold. Establishing the controls on ore distribution enhances exploration potential, and provides implications for the tectonic and metallogenic evolution of the northern Cordillera, and global gold deposit models. The controls on ore distribution were identified by drill core logging, field mapping, petrography, and analytical techniques that included geochemistry, shortwave infrared spectroscopy, and geochronology. The results from these analyses allowed the geological and structural framework, and a hydrothermal model for ore formation to be established. Furthermore, a genetic model for hydrothermal events and exhumation within the Dawson Range was developed. Coffee is hosted in metamorphic rocks of the Yukon-Tanana terrane, and mid-Cretaceous plutonic rocks. Metamorphic rocks include psammitic to semi-pelitic schist and ...