Deer Cove deposit, Baie Verte Peninsula, Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canadai

Regional Level Types
Deer Cove deposit	Deposit
Baie Verte Peninsula	Peninsula
Newfoundland	Region
Newfoundland and Labrador	Province
Canada	Country

The Deer Cove Deposit and similar prospects and showings associated with the Deer Cove trend are hosted within mafic volcanic, volcaniclastic and clastic rocks which form the upper part of an overturned, south-facing ophiolite. To the south the ophiolite abuts talc-carbonate and serpentinized ultramafic rocks along the Deer Cove Thrust. This thrust trends approximately east-northeast, dipping 50° to 60° north-northwest and has a south directed vergence.

The mafic volcanic rocks are interpreted to exhibit a calc-alkaline affinity which implies formation in an island-arc or back-arc tectonic setting. Gabbroic intrusive rocks, within the mafic volcanic sequence, are geochemically dissimilar to ophiolitic gabbroic rocks of the Deer Cove area and are similar to the gabbroic rocks which host the Stog’er Tight Deposit.

Mineralization in the Deer Cove area is associated with two styles of quartz veining: quartz breccia veins at the Main Zone; and shear parallel, quartz breccia veins at several sites within the cover sequences rocks parallel to and above the Deer Cove Thrust. At the Main Zone gold is hosted by discontinuous lenses of brecciated quartz developed within an approximately north-south striking, 45°-55° west-dipping structure that cuts the mafic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. The breccia lenses average less than 1 m in width but locally they may reach up to 3 m. Pyrite with lessor chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite occur disseminated in the wall rock, breccia fragments and quartz veins. The zone has been traced by trenching and diamond drilling over a 500 m strike length, but is still open along strike to the north and down-dip.