GEOLOGY AND GENESIS OF THE XIAOHUANGDONG GOLD DEPOSIT IN SOUTHERN SHAANXI PROVINCE

The Qinling-Bashan Mountainous region is an important gold producing area in China, represented by the Yangpingwan-Liufang gold metallogenic belt in the northwest of Ankang, where the Xiaohuangdong gold deposit is located. The Xiaohuangdon gold deposit is hosted in the carbonaceous mica quartz schist with thin bedded carbonaceous quartzite of the first member of Silurian Daguiping formation, showing a lithological restriction. The orebodies, presented in layers, lens and veins, are controlled strictly by the ductile shear zone, dominantly occurring in the secondary ductile fractures which connect to the major shear zone. Native gold, as coarse and huge grains, is the main occurrence of the mineral. Three stages of silicification can be recognized in the field. The gold mineralization is closely related to the first stage of alteration. The deposit genetically belongs to ductile shear zone controlled metamorphic hydrothermal type.