Event recap – Webinar: Subduction, Mantle Metasomatism and Gold: a Dynamic and Genetic Conjunction

Digital Tech Talk Overview

In this presentation, the temporal evolution of subduction-related processes in convergent margins is evaluated to propose a continuum of genetic models that unify the various types of gold deposits.

The talk proposes that the temporal evolution of subduction-related processes in convergent margins is the key unifying factor in gold metallogenesis with subduction-related fluids or melts providing the critical ore components. A wide range of deposit styles ranging from porphyry, skarn, high and low sulfidation-type epithermal, gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS), Carlin-type, orogenic, intrusion-related (IRGD) and iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) all fit into this temporal evolution, while district-scale mineral system approaches propose inter-related groups such as porphyry Cu-Au, skarn Cu-Au-Ag and high sulfidation Au-Ag.

Presenter

David Groves was born in Brighton, England, and migrated to Tasmania where he was educated at Hobart High School and at the University of Tasmania, completing a PhD on the giant Mt Bischoff tin deposit under the mentorship of Mike Solomon. After a period with the Geological Survey of Tasmania, where he learned mapping and field skills, David was appointed Lecturer in Economic Geology at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 1972. In 1987, he was awarded a Personal Chair at UWA and formed the Centre for Strategic Mineral Deposits, which morphed into the Centre for Global Metallogeny, with him as Director, and which became the Centre for Exploration Targeting after his retirement as Emeritus Professor. He had a very successful academic career in terms of approximately 500 highly-cited published papers and book chapters, many keynote and invited lectures, and mentorship of many outstanding postgraduates, being awarded 12 medals and prizes, including the SEG Silver and Penrose Gold Medals and the SGA-Newmont Gold Medal, and being inducted into the Australian Academy of Sciences as a Fellow. He has been President of GSA, SEG and SGA during his career and represented Australia on UNESCO committees.