The Dian-Qian-Gui region, commonly referred as the Golden Triangle' in SW China, hosts many Carlin-type gold deposits. Previously, the relationship between gold mineralization and magmatism has not been well constrained. This paper reports a geochronological study on the Zhesang Carlin-type gold deposit and mafic intrusion in the Funing County of Yunnan Province, China. Dating by Ar-40/Ar-39 of hydrothermal sericite grains collected from altered rocks near auriferous quartz veins at Zhesang gold deposit yielded a plateau age of 215. 3 +/- 1. 9Ma, which is highly consistent with zircon U-Pb age (215 +/- 5Ma) of the mafic rock in a nearby area. It is inferred that there might exist contemporaneous buried intrusions in the Zhesang deposit. The deep-seated magma, resulted from the post-collision of the Indochina Block with the South China Block, triggered fluids of possibly meteoric origin to circulate and leach out ore-forming elements from sedimentary rocks to form the Zhesang Carlin-type gold deposit.