COMPOSITION AND GENESIS OF PRECAMBRIAN METALLIFEROUS CONGLOMERATES

Abstract

Precambrian metalliferous conglomerates are the most important source of gold, uranium, and other metals. They concentrate no less than 30% of world gold reserves and provide 30-50% of world gold production. The metalliferous conglomerates are known at various chronological levels of the Early Precambrian: the Neoarchean (Witwatersrand Supergroup, South Africa), the Neoarchean-Paleoproterozoic (Huronian Supergroup, Canada), and the Paleoproterozoic (Tarkwaian Group, West Africa; Roraima Group, the Guiana Shield; Jacobina and Sierra de Carrego groups, the Brazil Shield; Mount Bruce Group, West Australian Shield). They are related to different stages of the tectonic evolution: preorogenic stage (Huronian Supergroup), orogenic stage (Tarkwaian Group), and postorogenic or protoplatformal stage (Witwatersrand). Long-term stabilization of the Earth's crust and deposition of thick sedimentary sequences were the most favorable conditions for the formation of metalliferous conglomerates. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc. 2006.