Fluid sources and the role of abiogenic-CH4 in Archean gold mineralization: Constraints from noble gases and halogens

The St Ives Goldfield of Western Australia hosts high grade gold mineralization in a variety of lithologies within ∼2.7 Ga greenstone belts. The low salinity CO2-bearing fluids responsible for gold mineralization could have been generated either by metamorphic processes within the greenstones, or from external magmatic sources, and independently sourced abiogenic-CH4 has been suggested as an important control on gold mineralization. In order to...