The Maria Lazara gold deposit in the Archaean Guarinos greenstone belt, central Brazil, consists of quartz-carbonate veins formed in a ductile shear zone. Study of the sulphides and gold-bearing quartz-carbonate veins and veinlets of the potassic hydrothermal alteration zone reveals two stages of ore paragenesis. The first stage corresponds to S-rich arsenopyrite deposition and the second one to the precipitation of As-rich arsenopyrite and Bi-Te-Au-S phases. Modes of occurrence, textures and Ag contents of native gold define two types of gold. The first type is native gold with Ag contents > 5 wt % postdating the S-rich arsenopyrites. The second type has Ag contents < 3 wt % and is contemporaneous with Bi-Te-S phases.