THE MARTABE GOLD DISCOVERY: A HIGH SULPHIDATION EPITHERMAL GOLD - SILVER DEPOSIT, NORTH SUMATRA, INDONESIA

Bronto Sutopo1, Martin L Jones1 and Brian K Levet2 1 PT Newmont Horas Nauli, North Sumatra, Indonesia, 2 Newmont Australia Ltd, Perth, Western Australia

Abstract - The Martabe gold deposits are located near Sibolga in the province of
North Sumatra, Indonesia. These high sulphidation gold deposits are hosted in a sequence of Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary rocks proximal to a fault splay that forms part of the Great Sumatran Fault complex. Episodic fault activity, related to wrench tectonics associated with the oblique subduction of the Indian Australian plate below the Eurasian plate, has been responsible for pulses of high level magmatism and development of multi-stage phreatomagmatic breccias, flow dome complexes, hydrothermal alteration and gold mineralisation observed in the district. The gold anomalies were first identified during a regional reconnaissance program in late 1996 in a district not previously known for high-sulphidation epithermal gold systems. Stream sediment sampling using in-house BLEG (Bulk Leach Extractable Gold) analytical techniques generated a number of gold anomalies including 14 ppb Au in the Aek Pahu River, near Batangtoru village. Follow up mapping identified mineralised silica float that returned up to 20.3 g/t Au and 76 g/t Ag. This float was derived from prominent silica ledges that form distinctive topography to the east. Subsequent soil sampling and geological mapping identified a number of prospects over a strike length of seven kilometres. Helicopter supported diamond-drilling programs commenced in October 1998 on the Purnama, Pelangi and Baskara prospects. Purnama is the most significant of these with a resource of 66.7 million tonnes containing 1.74 g/t Au and 21.5 g/t Ag for a total of 3.7 million ounces of gold and 46 million ounces of silver.

Introduction
Despite intense copper gold exploration efforts of the 1980s and 1990s in Indonesia, it is remarkable that the Purnama deposit was only discovered late in this period, just two kilometres from the Trans Sumatra Highway near the town of Batangtoru (population 12,000). In October 1993 Normandy Anglo Asian (a company owned jointly by Normandy of Australia and Anglo American Corporation of South Africa) made an application for a sixth generation Contract of Work (COW) in the Sibolga District of North Sumatra. The COW, covering an area of 659,600 ha, was eventually granted in April 1997. Regional exploration and obligatory land relinquishment has since reduced land tenure to the present holding of 256,300 ha shown on Figure 1. Anglo American sold their interest in the joint venture to Normandy in July 2001. Newmont subsequently acquired Normandy in February 2002 and hold a 90 % interest in the project, with, Austindo Nusantara Jaya, an Indonesian mining company holding 10%. P.T. Newmont Horas Nauli manages the project.

Figure 1: Location showing the COW and Martabe District in the North Sumatra Province, Indonesia The Martabe gold district is located within the Neogene volcanic arc of Sumatra and is one of a number of Tertiary-age volcanic hosted gold deposits within a 1600 km by 70 km northwest trending volcanic zone associated with the Sumatra Fault System (SFS) The name of Martabe is a Batak acronym for the saying Marsipature Hutana Be meaning, to develop our region by our people. The topography around Martabe is steep with elevations between 200 and 850 metres above sea level. Logging and cultivation have degraded zoned lowland tropical rainforest that existed over the area. The area has tropical climate and temperatures are consistent throughout the year at about 20-32C with an average annual rainfall of between 4 and 5 metres. Martabe was discovered by reconnaissance exploration in an area not known for high sulphidation systems. North Sumatra has a relatively small number of known gold occurrences. Gold mineralisation was discovered in 1997 using the companys in-house BLEG stream sediment sampling techniques and the anomalies located were further defined with soil sampling on a 100 by 50 metre grid. Since 1998, exploration has focused on the Purnama deposit, which has been defined by about 25,000 metres of diamond drilling in 167 holes on a 50 by 50 metre grid. The project is currently in prefeasibility with a reported resource of 66.7 million tonnes at a grade of 1.74 g/t Au and 21.5 g/t Ag for a total of 3.7 million ounces of gold and 46 million ounces of silver.

Exploration History
In the early 1980s the British Geological Survey completed a stream sediment survey over a large portion of Sumatra including the Martabe area, but did not assay for gold. Normandy Anglo Asian (Normandy) believed that North Sumatra had potential for epithermal Au-Ag systems, porphyry hosted Cu-Au and related skarn mineralisation and commenced exploration under a SIPP agreement in August 1994. Regional geochemical drainage sampling was carried out intermittently within the COW between 1994 and 1996 with vehicle and helicopter support. In early 1997 a 14 ppb Au BLEG anomaly was generated in the lower Aek Pahu drainage at Martabe (Figure 2). This BLEG anomaly was thought to be sourced from shearing and chalcedonic veining in volcanic rocks. Subsequent BLEG assay samples of 157 ppb Au and 1,206 ppb Ag (Figure 2) supported the early sampling and follow-up float samples assayed up to 20.3 ppm Au and 76 ppm Ag. Chalcedonic veins up to 5-10 m wide were mapped in the upper tributaries. When the COW was granted in April 1997 detailed exploration began in the Aek Pahu River and its tributaries and by November 1997 1:5000 mapping and rock chip sampling of the Martabe drainages had been completed. Ridge and spur soil sampling began in December 1997 and in February 1998, 650-line km of combined aeromagnetic/radiometric surveying was completed over the central part of the COW. The ridge and spur soil sampling proved to be ineffective, but grid mapping, IP Resistivity, geological mapping and grid soil sampling led to the definition of targets. The best gold soil geochemistry was identified in talus below Purnama hill on the western margins of the Purnama fault. This anomaly led to the discovery of the Purnama deposit. Exploration has also identified mineralisation within the district at Pelangi, Baskara and Kejora as shown on Figure 2. All of these show high sulphidation epithermal characteristics and are hosted in variable lithologies with strong structural controls. Soil geochemistry for gold and copper is shown in Figure 3, and silver and arsenic in Figure 4. Of interest is that both copper and arsenic geochemistry are depleted over the Purnama mineralisation. Copper anomalies to the south and north west of Purnama remain untested to date. Initial drilling at Martabe was undertaken in October 1998, but the first three holes drilled into the Purnama soil geochemical anomaly were disappointing and failed to intersect primary mineralisation. They did however, intercept mineralised scree (over 2 g/t Au) to a depth of 10 metres above unaltered basaltic andesite. Shortly thereafter a further 21 holes were drilled at Pelangi and Baskara showing evidence for strongly mineralised systems with variable gold results. In December the fourth drill hole at Purnama (APSD22) was drilled at minus 45 degrees east at the base of Purnama Hill and intercepted 61.00 meters at 0.95 g/t Au from surface. As the top of the Purnama Hill is approximately 200 m high above the collar of APSD22, exploration focussed on Purnama Hill itself. Sampling of outcrop and float was disappointing at Purnama due to heavy leaching of iron oxides by weathering processes, although anomalous results up to 12.6 g/t Au were returned. Definition drilling commenced at Purnama in May 1999. Re-interpretation of geological mapping suggested that mineralisation could be sub-vertical and related to the steep silica ledges at Purnama and Baskara (the majority of drill holes were then drilled on the steep western slope of the Purnama Hill at angles as shallow as minus 25 degrees to the east). APSD29 was drilled due east and produced encouraging intercepts of 81.0 meters at 2.43 g/t Au from collar and 90 meters at 1.30 g/t Au from 134.00 meters. Encouraging results (228 m at 2.06 g/t Au and 32 g/t Ag) from collar were also returned from drill hole APSD47. For this phase of drilling, twenty drill holes (around 4100 m) were completed at Purnama on sections spaced 100 or 200 metres apart.

Figure 2: BLEG Au Distribution in Martabe district Basic resource estimation using sectional grade polygons was carried out in October 1999 and this work indicated a mineral inventory of 62 million tonnes at 1.3 g/t Au and 19 g/t Ag at a 0.5 g/t Au cutoff. In July 2000 a preliminary scoping study examined heap leaching and grinding process routes based on mining and treating a Purnama oxide gold ore resource of 10 million tonnes at 2.3 g/t Au and 25 g/t Ag at a rate of 1.5 Mt/a to produce 83,200 ounces gold and 180,000 ounces silver per annum. No drilling was carried out at Purnama in 2001, but scout diamond drilling totaling 17 holes for 2000m tested the silicified ledges of the Baskara, Pelangi and the new Gerhana prospect. It still wasnt clear if controls on mineralisation were horizontal, vertical or both.

Pre-Feasibility
Early in 2002 Purnama alteration patterns and geology were re-interpreted and future drill design was changed from the previous low angle east direction to 45 degrees to the west. At this stage the potential for extending mineralisation to the east seemed likely. The subsequent takeover of Normandy by Newmont in February 2002 resulted in an aggressive drilling campaign and commitment to build and develop the Purnama geological model and resources. The overall infill drilling commenced to close hole spacing to a 50 x 50 metre pattern. Drilling also focused on extensions to the north, south and west along the diatreme margins.

Figure 3: Soil Geochemistry of Gold and Copper.

Figure 4: Soil Geochemistry of Silver and Arsenic

In 2002, 81 diamond drill holes (11,000 m) were completed at Purnama with the aim of increasing the gold resource, delineating high-grade blocks better defining controls on mineralisation and providing material for metallurgical testwork. Old drill holes from Purnama were re-logged and a review of work completed to November 2002 provided the first coherent geological model for mineralisation in the Purnama area. During 2003 extensive exploration and drilling has been conducted on the project. Late in 2003 drilling is continuing to define significant mineralisation to the north of the Purnama deposit and also at Baskara.

Geology
Setting & Lithology
The Martabe district is located in the western portion of the Sunda- Banda magmatic Arc. A northwest trending fault to the west of the Purnama deposit is interpreted as being a subordinate strand of the Great Sumatran Fault and would be expected to have a history that included a significant component of lateral movement. Structural preparation introduced zones of high permeability, which allowed magma to be emplaced at high crustal levels. Structural field data supports this interpretation and does suggest that dextral displacement occurred along the fault. The complex stress and resultant strain environment means that a vertical movement was likely and the juxtaposition of different rock types by northwest faults is evident. Although post-mineral faulting is also recognised, the amount of offset has yet to be quantified. A major feature of this structural environment is the development of the conjugate sets of extensional en echelon faults that have been used as channel ways for hydrothermal fluids, now recognizable as zones of more intense silica alteration and veining. The steeply dipping fault orientations from northnorthwest to northeast are very obvious and are clearly the major control on silicification and mineralisation. A third fault set oriented east west is also observed, these are contractional with a component of reverse movement. The northwest trending Purnama fault divides the geology of the Martabe district into two distinct geological domains shown in Figure 5. To the west, where outcrop and geological knowledge is limited, lithologies are relatively undisturbed, weakly altered and include a sequence of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone and basaltic to andesitic lava. To east of the Purnama fault where the geology is considerably more complex, similar lithologies have been subjected to intense multi-phase magmatic, phreatomagmatic and hydothermal events. The resulting stratigraphy is markedly different from that preserved to the west. Figure 6 shows a simplified interpreted geology of the Purnama Deposit. The northwest trending fault set clearly juxtaposes unaltered basaltic andesite to the west against highly altered stratigraphy to the east. Late movement on this fault is highly probable, but has not been quantified. The volcano-sedimentary sequence has been intruded by multi-phase phreatomagmatic breccias. The thicker breccia units show distinct facies variation. Lithic-rich facies at the base pass upwards through a finer grained, matrix-supported, facies containing accretionary balls up to facies at the top of the sequence containing abundant wispy juvenile clasts of felsic volcanics.

Figure 5: Regional Geological Interpretation of the Martabe District The emplacement of these early phreatomagmatic diatreme breccias was followed by the intrusion of a dacitic flow dome complex. Multiple diatreme facies superimposed each other at Purnama are thought to be coetaneous with early dacitic intrusive activity to the north. Phreatomagmatic breccias of various ages that have partially destroyed the sedimentary sequences are exposed in a concentric geometry around the late hornblende andesite intrusive. To demonstrate the interpreted geology of the Purnama deposit, a series of cross-sections spaced 200 meters apart are shown in Figure 7.

Alteration
Like many high sulfidation deposits, the epithermal mineralisation at Purnama follows extreme acid sulphate leaching of the wall rock. It is difficult to demonstrate clear alteration zonation at Purnama because multiple phreatomagmatic and alteration events have been superimposed on each other. The juxtaposition of phreatomagmatic rocks and timing of different alteration events means that the alteration contacts between breccia units are often sharp. Hydrothermal alteration at Purnama is typical of many high sulfidation systems. The early stage acidsulphate alteration event produce zoned advanced argillic alteration with vuggy to massive silica alteration enveloped by silica/dickite/alunite, grading out to silica illite and peripheral argillic alteration zones as the initial acidic vapor phase was progressively neutralised by the wall rocks and groundwater. This style of alteration is focused around the major structures and the immediate wall rocks.

Figure 6: Geological Interpretation of the Purnama Deposit

Figure 7: Cross Sectional Geology of the Purnama Deposit

There is a very strong correlation between gold mineralisation and silicification as shown in Figure 8. The silicification has not only produced a vuggy permeable host, but also a host subject to brittle fracture created by subsequent tectonic events. The term quartzification for this style of alteration is strictly more correct than silicification. Silicification implies the addition of silica rather than the depletion of all other elements leaving residual silica. Degrees of silicification can be attributed to both differences in permeability due to composition of the original lithologies and to the degree of acid leaching. In some acid sulphate deposits, zones of barren granular silica have been recorded. This type of alteration is attributed to the alteration of the steam-heated zone above the paleo-watertable. At Purnama, there is some evidence of granular silica from outcrop, although more massive silica with very low gold occurs at the top of the deposit and may be attributed to a similar mechanism.

Figure 8: Section 167200N Showing Relationship between Lithology, Structure, Alteration and Mineralization

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Mineralisation
The silicification and the mineralisation are clearly controlled by both structure and permissive lithologies. The mineralised zone at Purnama extends about 1.2 km by 1 km in a zone between the southern margin of the breccia dacite dome complex and a north-northwest trending fault scarp. Several stages of mineralisation have been recognized: Early phase of silica - pyrite mineralisation with low gold grades (0.1 0.5 g/t Au) is associated with or immediately after the main acid sulphate alteration event. Colloform banded chalcedonic silica veins with quartz / bladed carbonate boiling textures contain low gold grades (0.1 1 g/t Au). These silicified zones are characterised by locally dense zones of chalcedonic silica veins with individual veins varying from < 1 centimetre to over 1 metre wide. At Purnama these veins trend from almost north south to 020 - 030 and are steep dipping. Although the colloform and crustiform banding and presence of quartz boiling textures indicate potentially mineralised veins, for the most part these are apparently low-grade to barren of gold, with some apparent exceptions perhaps due to overprinting mineralisation. This welldeveloped, low sulphidation vein phase, which overprints the acid-sulphate alteration zone, is unusual in a high sulphidation system. An evolution of high sulphidation mineralization to intermediate and low-sulphidation stages is recognized at El Indio in Chile, and also at the Lepanto district in the northern Philippines where the veins develop along strike from the highsulphidation mineralisation. At Martabe the low sulphidation system is superimposed on the high sulphidation system. One similarity with both El Indio and Lepanto is that the low sulphidation vein mineralisation is related to major strike-slip faults. The main-stage enargite / luzonite mineral assemblage marks a return to high sulphidation mineralisation. This mineralisation has associated with covellite, native sulphur, pyrite, bismuthinite, barite, and marcasite occurring in fractures and vugs, which are mostly oxidized. In the sulphide zone gold is present as free grains and within enargite. The silver is also present in the enargite / luzonite and as proustite / pyrargyrite inclusions in bismuthinite. Consistent with many other high sulphidation deposits, the main stage of gold mineralisation is late in the evolution of the hydrothermal system. At Martabe the higher gold grades are associated with latestage fracturing, and crackle-type brecciation of the silicified rocks marginal to the late clayaltered diatreme breccia. This fracturing and brecciation also clearly cuts the chalcedonic silica veins. It is interpreted that the emplacement of the later diatreme breccia was responsible for this fracturing and brecciation in competent (silicified) rocks around the diatreme margins and the diatreme itself became an impermeable hangingwall barrier due to the pervasive clay alteration. Similar clay alteration of syn- to pre-mineral diatreme breccias is recognised at Yanacocha and is attributed to a large influx of groundwater and neutralisation of the magmatic volatiles immediately following the breccia emplacement (S.J.Turner 2002).

Oxidation
The oxidation profile is highly irregular, reflecting the distribution of structural breaks and host rocks with good secondary permeability. Although some remobilisation of gold can be expected in the oxidised zone the lack of coarse, free gold and the presence of high silver values, indicates that there is likely to be little supergene upgrade of the gold values. Arguably, the high-grade zone probably reflects primary depositional gold grades rather than a zone of secondary enrichment.

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The late-stage gold mineralisation is temporally distinct from the earlier silica pyrite alteration and as it is predominantly fracture and breccia controlled is more susceptible to oxidation than the earlier silica pyrite. This means that the fracture-controlled mineralization is predominantly oxidised. The percentage of late stage iron oxide in fractures and crackle breccias rather than the proportion of sulphide in the rock is likely to be the best indicator of the gold leachability of the rock. Barite commonly occurs in these late-stage iron oxide fractures. Scorodite, from the oxidation of arsenical sulfosalts, may also be present. The presence of luzonite / enargite covellite pyrite / marcasite in fractures represents the unoxidised equivalent of the late-stage mineralisation, which is likely to be refractory. In the geological model, sulphide sulphur assays were used to define oxide, transitional and sulphide interfaces.

Conclusions
Discovery of the Martabe district resulted from: The application of the companys BLEG techniques. Corporate commitment in a period when Indonesias political system was in transition. Persistence during a period of low interest in the gold sector post Bre-X. A motivated and dedicated exploration team.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the management of Newmont Mining Corporation, P.T. Newmont Horas Nauli and P.T. Austindo Nusantara Jaya for their support and permission to publish this paper. The numerous Normandy and Newmont exploration staff that contributed to discovery and evaluation of the Martabe district, in particular to Bill Howell and Michael Northcott. Thanks also to Widhi Swastika and Hanifsyah who drafted the figures.

References
Davies A.G.S, Cooke D.R. and Gemmell J.B. 1999. Characteristics, Timing and Formation of Diatreme Breccias at the Kelian Gold Deposit, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Davies, B.M, 2002. Report on the Structural Review of the Martabe Project. Internal Unpublished Newmont Report Turner, S.J, 2002. Newmont Internal Memorandum.

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