Apatite chemistry of orogenic gold mineralised samples from the Fosterville deposit, central Victoria, southeastern Australia

The chemistry of hydrothermal apatite that form during orogenic gold mineralisation can assist in understanding hydrothermal fluid chemistry and mineralisation processes. Mineralisation at the Fosterville deposit and Lockington East prospect, hosted in Ordovician turbidite sequences of the Castlemaine Group, that lie within the gold rich Bendigo Zone, of south-eastern Australia, is investigated using combined geochemistry and U-Pb geochronology of apatite grains. The chemistry of hydrothermal apatite that form during orogenic gold mineralisation, not only can provide understanding hydrothermal fluid chemistry and mineralisation processes, but can provide chemical criteria for exploration. Laser-ablation inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) geochemical data for 262 apatites from four samples k-means clustered into seven groups. A total of 35 elements (excluding Ca) are presented Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, Cl, K, Ti, V, Mn, As, Sr, Y, Zr, La, Ce , Pr, Nd, Fe, Ba, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Hf, Hg, Pb, Th, U. A total of 6 isotopes are presented 204Pb, 206Pb, 207Pb, 208Pb, 232Th, 238U. Additionally QAQC data of reference apatites of 401 and McClure is also presented.