Characterization and origin of gold mineralization at the providence mine

该提议是为了研究普罗维登斯金矿的金矿化来源。普罗维登斯金矿是位于内华达山脉西坡的一个长达200公里的金矿-石英脉系统，是“母脉金矿带”中的高品位矿床之一。尽管该地区有采矿历史，但对“母脉金矿带”的科学研究却少之又少，尤其是没有对矿脉进行详细的构造和矿物学分析。现有的文献几乎全部是地区性研究或总结，很难确定其中许多的相关性，因为群组和构造的名称和定义已被反复修订。为了有效地指导进一步的勘探，主办公司需要知道：(1)矿床是如何形成的；(2)褶皱、断层、剪切等地质构造与含金矿脉之间的关系；(3)与黄金共生的矿物及其关系；(4)矿床的分类及其与其他金矿的比较。这种分析有两个主要好处：(1)它将有助于建立矿床的成因模型，并着眼于预测哪里可以找到更多的矿脉；(2)它将使该公司能够开发一个冶金电路，以最大限度地回收黄金。拟议的项目将涉及野外工作(测绘和取样)，然后是光学岩相学、扫描电子显微镜、电子探针显微分析和X射线衍射技术。将对收集到的数据进行评估，以确定哪个存款模型与数据最一致，或者确定新的存款模型更合适。无论是哪种情况，普罗维登斯金矿特有的元素都将受到密切关注。

The proposal is to study the origin of the gold mineralization in the Providence mine, one of a number ofhigh-grade deposits in the "Mother Lode Gold Belt", a 200-km-long system of gold-quartz veins located on thewestern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Despite the history of mining in the area, suprisingly littlescientific research has been done on the "Mother Lode Gold Belt", and in particular, there exists no detailedstructural and mineralogical analysis of the veins. The literature that is available consists almost entirely ofregional studies or summaries, and it is difficult to determine the relevance of many of these because the namesand definitions of the groups and structures have been repeatedly revised.In order to efficiently direct further exploration the sponsoring company needs to know: (1) how the depositformed; (2) the relationship between geological structures such as folds, faults, and shears and the gold-bearingveins; (3) minerals the gold occurs with and their relationships; and (4) the classification of the deposit andhow it compares to other gold deposits. There are two primary benefits of such an analysis: (1) it will aid indeveloping genetic model of the deposit, with an eye towards predicting where additional veins may be found;(2) it will allow the company to develop a metallurgical circuit for maximum gold recovery.The proposed project will involve fieldwork (mapping and sampling) followed by optical petrography,scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, and X-ray diffraction techniques. The gathereddata will be evaluated to determine which deposit model is most consistent with the data, or if a new depositmodel is more appropriate. In either case, elements idiosyncratic to the Providence Gold Mine will be closelyexamined.