Metallogenic geological setting and major mineralization types in the Lachlan fold belt, Southeast Australia

The Lachlan Fold Belt (LFB) of eastern Australia is composed of deformed deep-marine sedimentary rocks (quartz-rich turbidites), cherts, and mafic volcanic rocks of Cambrian-Devonian period as well as younger continental cover sequences. In the southeast-verging accretionary process of the Australia plate, a lot of gold and polymetallic deposits were formed in LFB, particularly the orogenic lode gold in central Victoria, which represents a major gold province with a total output of 2500t of gold, or over 2% of total world output. In addition to gold, the mineralizations of Cu, Pb, Zn, W, Sn and Mo are also well developed in this belt. Five distinctive mteallogenic types have been recognized, and the mineralizations are closely related to the special geological setting. In this paper, wide range of opinions, descriptions and relevant data concerning the Lachlan Fold Belt are meticulously put to order, compared, analyzed and summarized, and metallogenic geological settings of gold and polymetallic deposits, major mineralization types and their geological features are discussed in detail.