Significant effort has been made in an attempt to date hydrotherrnal activity that generated the Xinqiao Cu-S-Fe-Au deposit in Tongling. New direct Rb-Sr dating of pyrite from the deposit provides direct timing constraints on sulfide and gold mineralization. Pyrite samples yield a Rb-Sr isochron age of 112. 6 + 7. 8Ma. It is concluded that the Xinqiao polymetallic deposit was formed by hydrotherrnal solutions related to late Yanshanian plutonism (110 Ma). Results obtained for the deposit indicate that the Rb-Sr geochronometer has a potential to directly date mineralization in stratabound sulfide deposits.