The Use of Pyrite Chemistry to Vector toward Gold Mineralization, an Example from the Drogo Prospect, Nunavut, Canada

Abstract

Anomalous high grade Au mineralization has been found in float material at the Drogo Prospect, Nunavut, Canada. However, traditional exploration methods have thus far been unable to find the bedrock source of the mineralization. Recent studies have shown that pyrite trace element chemistry, as determined using LA-ICP-MS, varies between Au-forming and barren fluids. To test whether this also occurred at the Drogo Prospect, we analyzed pyrite in rock samples, including Au-rich samples, moderate Au grade samples, and barren samples. However, little variation in pyrite trace element chemistry was observed, suggesting that pyrite trace element chemistry may not be an effective exploration tool at the Drogo Prospect. To confirm these observations, cluster analysis was used to determine if natural clustering of the data could highlight which samples were more likely to be Au rich; again, no statistical differences could be found between the samples. In contrast to our working hypothesis, this suggests that pyrite trace element chemistry is not an effective exploration tool to find the bedrock source of the Drogo boulder trend.