Stream-Sediment Geochemistry Around the Sawayardun Gold Deposit, Southwestern Tianshan: Multielement Associations and Exploration-Target Delineation

Stream-sediment anomalies around the Sawayardun gold deposit integrate mineralized detritus with variable lithological and hydraulic backgrounds. This study evaluates whether multielement coherence and spatial continuity can distinguish Au-related signals from that mixed background in 1080 primary samples and 35 field duplicates. Au is strongly right-skewed (median 1.62 ng/g, P95 6.55 ng/g, maximum 754.3 ng/g). Correlation and hierarchical clustering identify Au–As–Sb–Mo as the most persistent mineralization-related association, with a secondary Bi contribution; Ag and Cu provide important local support, whereas Co–Cr–Ni–Sn–W mainly record broader lithological variation. Three rotated factors explain 75.35% of total variance. F1 explains the largest share (39.78%) and is most effective for characterizing lithological background, whereas F3 (17.28%) is most effective for gold targeting because Au, As, Sb, and Mo load together and its high scores form spatially coherent clusters. A robust composite index and P95 spatial grouping delineate eight targets. T1–T3 substantially reproduce conventional anomalies HS4, HS2, and HS1; T4 partly overlaps HS3; and T5–T6 are new multielement targets. Maximum Au values in HS1–HS4 are 14.9, 14.4, 49.8, and 754.3 ng/g, respectively, and each anomaly is supported by a different pathfinder suite. Removing the maximum Au value leaves the F3 loading vector nearly unchanged (r = 0.997). The strongest sedimentary Au responses are most plausibly related to upstream mineralized shear zones, weathering release of Au-bearing sulfides, and hydraulic concentration, but catchment mixing and a possible nugget effect preclude direct inference of orebody boundaries. The results provide a transparent basis for staged field verification rather than confirmation of mineralization.