The gold belts of western Asturias and Galicia (NW Spain)

Northwestern Iberia was recognized as a substantial gold province by the Romans some 2000 years ago. The gold belts occur in the westernmost exposure of the European Hercynides where the largest exposure of pre-Permian rocks within the Iberian Peninsula are known as the Iberian Hercynian Massif, It is a collisional Orogen in which the NW Iberian Massif mainly represents the footwall of the suture. The four gold belts identified in western Asturias and Galicia (NW Spain) are formed by multiple gold mineralizing events representing several styles of mineralization in a structurally complex, but favorable terrain of Paleozoic carbonate and elastic host rocks. With an historical production estimated in excess of 3 million oz of gold and an existing global resource of 4.2 million oz of gold, the region has rewarded the persistent in search of gold for nearly four millenia. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.