Geologic Overview of the Carlin Trend Gold Deposits and Descriptions of Recent Deep Discoveries

Abstract Including past production, reserves and resources, the Carlin Trend forms the largest and most prolific accumulation of gold deposits in North America. More than 40 separate deposits have been delineated since disseminated gold mineralization in carbonate rocks was discovered in 1961. From this discovery, a classification for this style of gold mineralization has come to be referred to as “Carlin-type” deposits. To date, more than 25 million ounces of gold have been mined on the Carlin Trend from 26 separate operating, or past producing mines (Table 1). Open pit mining on the Carlin Trend began in 1965 at the Carlin Mine, and underground mining began in 1993 on the same deposit. The scope of this paper is to first present a regional overview of the Carlin Trend, followed by summary descriptions of some of the more recent discoveries of deep, predominantly refractory gold deposits. As part of a concluding discussion, a spectrum of Carlin Trend deposits are categorized on a quaternary diagram to illustrate the I relative influence of structural and stratigraphic controls on each deposit.