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Identifying pathfinder elements for gold in bulk-rock geochemical data from the Cripple Creek Au–Te deposit: a statistical approach

View ORCID ProfileIrene M. Kadel-Harder, View ORCID ProfilePaul G. Spry, Audrey L. McCombs and View ORCID ProfileHaozhe Zhang
Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis, 21, geochem2020-048, 22 December 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/geochem2020-048
Irene M. Kadel-Harder
1Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, 253 Science Hall, 2237 Osborn Drive, , , USA
Roles: [Data curation (Lead)], [Formal analysis (Lead)], [Funding acquisition (Supporting)], [Investigation (Lead)], [Methodology (Equal)], [Validation (Equal)], [Writing – original draft (Lead)]
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  • ORCID record for Irene M. Kadel-Harder
Paul G. Spry
1Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, 253 Science Hall, 2237 Osborn Drive, , , USA
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Formal analysis (Equal)], [Funding acquisition (Lead)], [Investigation (Equal)], [Methodology (Equal)], [Project administration (Lead)], [Resources (Lead)], [Supervision (Lead)], [Validation (Equal)], [Visualization (Supporting)], [Writing – original draft (Supporting)], [Writing – review & editing (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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  • ORCID record for Paul G. Spry
  • For correspondence: pgspry@iastate.edu
Audrey L. McCombs
2Department of Statistics, Iowa State University, 1121 Snedecor Hall, 2438 Osborn Drive, , , USA
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Formal analysis (Equal)], [Funding acquisition (Lead)], [Investigation (Equal)], [Methodology (Equal)], [Project administration (Lead)], [Resources (Lead)], [Supervision (Lead)], [Validation (Equal)], [Visualization (Supporting)], [Writing – original draft (Supporting)], [Writing – review & editing (Lead)]
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Haozhe Zhang
2Department of Statistics, Iowa State University, 1121 Snedecor Hall, 2438 Osborn Drive, , , USA
3AI Platform, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, , USA
Roles: [Formal analysis (Supporting)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Methodology (Supporting)], [Software (Supporting)], [Validation (Supporting)], [Writing – review & editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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  • ORCID record for Haozhe Zhang
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Abstract

The Cripple Creek alkaline igneous rock-related, low-sulfidation epithermal gold telluride deposit, Colorado, is hosted in the 10 km wide Oligocene alkaline volcanic Cripple Creek diatreme in Proterozoic rocks. Gold occurs as native gold, Au-tellurides, and in the structure of arsenian pyrite, in potassically altered high-grade veins, and as disseminations in the host rocks.

Correlation coefficients, principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis and random forests were used to analyse major and trace element compositions of 995 rock samples primarily from low-grade gold mineralization in drill core from three currently operating pits (Wild Horse Extension, Globe Hill and Schist Island) in the northwestern part of the Cripple Creek diatreme. These methods suggest that Ag, As, Bi, Te and W are the best pathfinders to gold mineralization in low-grade disseminated ore. Although Mo correlates with gold in other studies and is spatially related to gold veins, molybdenite post-dated the formation of gold and is likely related to a late-stage porphyry overprint. These elements, in conjunction with mineralogical studies, indicate that tellurides, fluorite, quartz, carbonates, roscoelite, tennantite-tetrahedrite, pyrite, sphalerite, muscovite, monazite, bastnäsite and hübnerite serve as exploration guides to ore.

  • pathfinder elements
  • geochemistry
  • Cripple Creek
  • gold telluride
  • Colorado
  • © 2020 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London for GSL and AAG. All rights reserved
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Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis: 21 (1)
Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis
Volume 21, Issue 1
February 2021
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Identifying pathfinder elements for gold in bulk-rock geochemical data from the Cripple Creek Au–Te deposit: a statistical approach

Irene M. Kadel-Harder, Paul G. Spry, Audrey L. McCombs and Haozhe Zhang
Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis, 21, geochem2020-048, 22 December 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/geochem2020-048
Irene M. Kadel-Harder
1Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, 253 Science Hall, 2237 Osborn Drive, , , USA
Roles: [Data curation (Lead)], [Formal analysis (Lead)], [Funding acquisition (Supporting)], [Investigation (Lead)], [Methodology (Equal)], [Validation (Equal)], [Writing – original draft (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
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  • ORCID record for Irene M. Kadel-Harder
Paul G. Spry
1Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Iowa State University, 253 Science Hall, 2237 Osborn Drive, , , USA
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Formal analysis (Equal)], [Funding acquisition (Lead)], [Investigation (Equal)], [Methodology (Equal)], [Project administration (Lead)], [Resources (Lead)], [Supervision (Lead)], [Validation (Equal)], [Visualization (Supporting)], [Writing – original draft (Supporting)], [Writing – review & editing (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
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  • ORCID record for Paul G. Spry
  • For correspondence: pgspry@iastate.edu
Audrey L. McCombs
2Department of Statistics, Iowa State University, 1121 Snedecor Hall, 2438 Osborn Drive, , , USA
Roles: [Conceptualization (Lead)], [Formal analysis (Equal)], [Funding acquisition (Lead)], [Investigation (Equal)], [Methodology (Equal)], [Project administration (Lead)], [Resources (Lead)], [Supervision (Lead)], [Validation (Equal)], [Visualization (Supporting)], [Writing – original draft (Supporting)], [Writing – review & editing (Lead)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Haozhe Zhang
2Department of Statistics, Iowa State University, 1121 Snedecor Hall, 2438 Osborn Drive, , , USA
3AI Platform, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, , USA
Roles: [Formal analysis (Supporting)], [Investigation (Supporting)], [Methodology (Supporting)], [Software (Supporting)], [Validation (Supporting)], [Writing – review & editing (Supporting)]
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Haozhe Zhang

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Identifying pathfinder elements for gold in bulk-rock geochemical data from the Cripple Creek Au–Te deposit: a statistical approach

Irene M. Kadel-Harder, Paul G. Spry, Audrey L. McCombs and Haozhe Zhang
Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis, 21, geochem2020-048, 22 December 2020, https://doi.org/10.1144/geochem2020-048
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