Given the relatively significant amounts of graphite associated with the major Ashanti deposits, the role of non-carbonate carbon is assessed in the light of conclusions reached by work on other turbidite-hosted and turbidite-associated gold belts. Conclusions as to the origins of mineralizing fluids and temporary repositories of gold (auriferous interflow sediments) reached by work on these other belts are also analysed.
A concept of the tectonic development of the Ashanti belt-Kumasi basin area, introduced in this article, is deemed to be critical to the origin of the Ashanti gold deposits. It encompasses the role of non-carbonate carbon, turbidites, and the primary sources and secondary repositories of Au and As in the genesis of the major Ashanti gold deposits. It examines the significance of the intimate relationship between calc alkaline volcanism and the basin sediments, the occurrences of felsic metasandstones in transition-zone sediments, and TTG granitic material and fragments of chemical sediments in turbidites: all of which are incompatible with one or the other of existing concepts of tectonic development in the area.