AN INDIRECT LEAD-ISOTOPE AGE-DETERMINATION OF GOLD MINERALIZATION AT THE CORINTHIA MINE, YILGARN-BLOCK, WESTERN-AUSTRALIA

The Corinthia lode-gold deposit in amphibolite-facies greenstone belt rocks in the Southern Cross Province of the Archaean Yilgarn Block contains a largely undeformed pegmatite dyke emplaced during the last phases of movement along the Fraser's-Corinthia shear zone. Gold mineralization and shear zone development were synchronous, and a Pb-Pb isochron age of 2620 +/- 6 Ma for pegmatite emplacement either indirectly dates mineralization, or places a minimum age constraint on the timing of mineralization. This age is in accord with a broadly synchronous dominant episode of Archaean lode-gold mineralization throughout the Yilgam Block.