Metallogeny of the Nicholas-Denys Pb–Zn–Ag deposit, Bathurst Mining Camp, Canada

The Nicholas-Denys Pb–Zn–Ag deposit, located in the Bathurst Mining Camp (New Brunswick), consists of several pyrrhotite–sphalerite–galena sulfide lenses hosted by black mudstone of the Millstream Formation of the Fournier Group, deposited in an Ordovician backarc basin. The Nicholas-Denys sulfide lenses and hydrothermal alteration are conformable to the bedding-parallel S1 regional foliation, and are sheared parallel to the Rocky Brook-Millstream shear zone, indicating a pre-Devonian deformation timing for mineralization. Reduced sulfur for Nicholas-Denys sulfides comes from bacterial reduction of Ordovician seawater sulfates in a system open to sulfates under partially oxygenated bottomwater conditions, with addition of magmatic sulfur from underlying mafic volcanic rocks. Lead was leached from the backarc basin sediments of the Millstream Formation mudstone and from underlying synvolcanic gabbros. The mineralizing fluid for Nicholas-Denys sulfides was reduced and acidic, favorable for precipitation of a pyrrhotite-rich mineralization. Characteristics of the Nicholas-Denys deposit are compatible with a SEDEX-type classification.