Orogenic gold deposits in the South Tianshan are commonly hosted in meta-sedimentary rocks. The age of formation and nature of these sedimentary rocks remain controversial. By integrating previous investigations on the Awanda gold deposit with our new results of recent studies, we discuss the tectonic nature of the ore-hosting meta-sedimentary rocks. The area contains fragments of Ocean Plate Stratigraphy (OPS) that are mainly composed of pillow basalts, ribbon cherts, and turbidites. Radiolarian micro-fossils are found in 30 samples of the ribbon chert. They are mostly entactinids, which are identified to be Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous in age. The ore-hosting sedimentary rocks in the Awanda gold deposit and the turbidites from the OPS have similar maximum depositional ages, which are consistent with the ages of radiolarians from the ribbon cherts. According to the conceptional model of OPS, integrated with regional geological records, we consider that the meta-sedimentary rocks are main parts of the South Tianshan accretionary complex, and they belong to orogenic non-Smith strata that formed on the leading edge of the southern Yili-Central Tianshan active margin, rather than on the passive margin of the northern Tarim Craton. Faults with various scales and structural levels are well developed in the accretionary complex, which are closely related to gold mineralization in the South Tianshan. “Convergent margin-related meta-turbidites + deformation + magmatic hydrothermal fluids” is proposed to be a key prospecting criterion for orogenic gold mineralization in the South Tianshan.