Abstract
The synchronous formation between 2675–2655 Ma of hydrothermal gold mineralisation in the Kalgoorlie and Kurnalpi Terranes and of magmatic sulfide mineralisation enriched in nickel, copper and platinum-group elements in the South West Terrane of the Archean Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia offers key insights into first-order controls on the genesis of mineral systems. Here we show that hydrothermal and magmatic deposits formed on opposite sides of this craton share four key features: timing, enrichment in incompatible chalcophile elements, positive Δ³³S sulfur isotope signatures, and links to hydrous, metasomatised lithospheric mantle. These commonalities challenge conventional models that treat such mineralised systems as unrelated. Instead, they point to a shared origin: a fertile lithospheric mantle reservoir enriched by crustal recycling, which was subsequently tapped to generate magmas and fluids anomalously endowed in volatiles and metals that migrated through the overlying lithosphere, punctually triggering ore formation. These findings support a unified mineral system model in which mantle processes exert a first-order control over metal endowment of Archean cratons.
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Sulfur isotope, automated mineralogy, in situ sulfide analysis, and whole-rock geochemistry data are provided in the Supplementary Datafile. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Kim Baublys from the Stable Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory at the University of Queensland for assistance with S-isotope collection, Rebecca Pohrib from BHP Billiton for TIMA support and Louise Schoneveld from CSIRO for her help with the LA-ICP-MS data collection. We are grateful to Kevin Frost, John Simmonds, Anthony Crawford, Will Smith, and Edward Newitt for the many conversations that helped frame and shape this work. We appreciate the thoughtful feedback from Jon Hronsky and Graham Begg on an early version of this manuscript. We also thank Chalice Mining Limited for publication permission. This research is supported by the Australia Fees Offset Scholarship, the National Industry PhD Program (Project #36321), and is partially funded by the Australian Government through the ARC Training Centre in Critical Resources for the Future (Project #IC230100035).
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M.D. collected and generated the data and led the writing of the manuscript. The concept of a metallogenic continuum operating in the Archean Yilgarn was developed jointly by M.D., I.E. and M.F. I.E. and M.F. also contributed to data interpretation and editing of the manuscript.
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Demmer, M., Ezad, I. & Fiorentini, M. Unveiling the metallogenic continuum of an Archean craton. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68507-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68507-z
