Gold-sulphide quartz veins in metamorphic rocks as a possible source for placer gold in the Livingstone Creek area, Yukon Territory, Canada

The Livingstone Creek area is located 100 km northeast of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. Hydrothermal gold-sulphide mineralization (MINFILE 105E 001) occurs in quartz-carbonate veins and veinlets which cut Paleozoic metamorphic rocks of the Teslin Suture Zone. The metamorphic rocks are also cut by Cretaceous(?) feldspar-porphyry dykes with an average thickness of 2 m. The mineralization appears to be structurally controlled by NNE-striking faults and a set of NNW-trending joints. The vein minerals consist of gold, pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, hessite/stuetzite, tetradymite, Au-Ag tellurides, tennantite, hematite, pyrrhotite, quartz, and carbonate. Gold occurs as: 1) "free gold" in cracks and interstices of quartz gangue, 2) inclusions in galena, usually rimmed by hessite, 3) minute grains associated with chalcopyrite and galena in aggregates of coarse-grained pyrite and 4) individual grains or fracture fillings in iron hydroxides. The coarse-grained gold in Livingstone Creek appears to be derived from gold-quartz veins in the metamorphic bedrock. This is indicated by: 1) similar silver and mercury contents in primary and placer gold 2) identical trace element composition…

Publisher

Government of Yukon

Resources

3

Catalogue metadata updated

2026-08-26