Geology and gold mineralization in the west of Kasnazan, south of Saqqez, Kurdistan province

West of Kasnazan gold prospect is located 14 km south of Saqqez. The rocks in the area predominantly consist of Precambrian and Cretaceous volcanosedimentary sequences of schist, phyllite and marble which are intruded by granitoid bodies. The main gold reservoir in the deposit is hosted inside a quartz syenite body that is intruded along a northwest-southeast shear zone. The high-grade gold ores belong to highly deformed mylonitic and ultramylonitic quartz syenite rocks which are associated with quartz, sericite-muscovite, carbonite and sulfide alteration minerals. Ore mineral assemblages of the deposit are simple and consist of pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, arsenopyrite, magnetite, gold and iron hydroxide minerals. Gold grains with less than 40 microns in size have been found as intergrowth with quartz and also in the form of inclusions in pyrites. Fluid inclusion studies indicate homogenization temperatures between 137.4 and 240.5°C and salinity between 1.16 to 12.06 wt% NaCl eq. This study indicates that main characteristics of the geology and mineralization of the area are similar to orogenic type gold deposits.