Geological and Geochemical Characteristics of the H uangshilao Stratabound Gold Deposit in the T ongguanshan Orefield, T ongling, East‐Central C hina

The H uangshilao gold deposit (>13.5 t A u) is comprised of stratabound pyrite‐dominant massive sulfide ores, and is distinguished from the skarn C u, A u, and C u– A u deposits that are dominant in the T ongguanshan orefield, T ongling, east‐central C hina. The stratabound orebodies are situated along flexural slip faults along the unconformity between the U pper D evonian W utong and the U pper C arboniferous H uanglong F ormations. The ores, dominated by crystallized pyrite, colloform pyrite, and pyrrhotite, are systematically sampled from the underground stopes along strike drifts. The δ 34 S values of ore sulfides yield a wide variation from −11.3 to 11.4‰, but mostly within 4–8‰, corresponding to the δ 34 S range (3.4–8.7‰) of the Y anshanian T ongguanshan and T ianshan quartz diorite intrusions in the Tongguanshan orefield, suggesting a magmatic dominated sulfur source. Few obvious negative δ 34 S values are induced by an involvement of sedimentation‐related biogenic sulfur. The wide δ 34 S variation denotes an incongruent physical and chemical interaction of the two sources. Combined analysis of gold contents and sulfur isotopes of the sulfides show that the magmatic hydrothermal solution provides primary metals despite a small quantity that may have been contributed by the sedimentary pyrites. The hydrothermal alteration, thermal metamorphism, trace element concentration in pyrites, and existing aeromagnetic data jointly suggest that the hydrothermal fluid migrated vertically from an intrusion below, along the flexural slip faults, but not laterally from the nearby outcrop of T ianshan stock.