Abstract Airborne radiometric survey and field studies outlined a large, elongate, high‐level plutonic suite within the Richardson pluton south of the Contact Lake Belt in the Great Bear Magmatic Zone, Northwest Territories, Canada. In terms of content of radioactive elements, the Richardson pluton is composed of two distinct granite types, low heat production (LHP) and high heat production (HHP). Uranium content in the LHP and HHP granites ranges from 3.0 to 4.9 ppm and 6.5 to 24.6 ppm, respectively, showing similarity of the LHP granite to average granites. Geochemical studies indicate that there is a genetic relationship between these two types of granite; the LHP granite was the early product of magma crystallization, whereas the HHP granite is the result of extensive crystal fractionation of biotite, plagioclase and apatite. The presence of magmatic fluorite in granite suggests that high fluorine content lowered the liquidus temperature of magma causing lower temperature fractionation during ascent to high crustal levels, which increased U and Th concentrations in the resultant HHP granite. Weak U mineralization occurs locally as discontinuous quartz ± hematite ± pitchblende veins and veinlets within the HHP granite. Stronger U mineralization (U ± Ag ± Ni ± Co ± Cu) occurred in the past‐producing Contact Lake and Port Radium deposits. It appears that such mineralization may have had a spatial and temporal genetic‐paragenetic relationship with the HHP granite.
Porphyry Cu ± Mo ± Au and iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits share many similarities (e.g., Fe, Cu, and Au contents), but also have important differences (e.g., the predominance of sulfide minerals in porphyry deposits and iron oxides in IOCG deposits). Genetic comparisons are complicated by the broad definition of IOCG deposits; here we restrict our study to IOCG deposits that are related to igneous intrusive systems. In the Mesozoic Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile, both porphyry and IOCG deposits occur in close spatial and temporal proximity, offering the chance to examine what controls their different modes of formation. From detailed examination of the timing, geochemistry, and tectonic setting of associated igneous rocks, based on new and published data, we find that rocks associated with mid-Cretaceous IOCG deposits (~125–110 Ma) are largely indistinguishable from those associated with slightly earlier (>125 Ma) and later (<110 Ma) porphyry Cu ± Mo ± Au deposits. Magmas related to IOCG deposits were formed during a brief period of back-arc transtension in the mid-Cretaceous and are, on average, somewhat more mafic (dioritic), locally alkaline, and isotopically primitive compared to granodioritic magmas associated with porphyry deposits formed during normal contractional arc tectonics in the later Cretaceous. However, these compositional ranges overlap, and the differences are not clear enough to be diagnostic.
We measured the SO3 content of igneous apatite from selected samples of these rocks to test the hypothesis that the difference in sulfur content of the ore deposits was due to differences in sulfur content of the associated magmas. Early igneous apatite crystals occurring as inclusions in silicate phenocrysts from the Carmen de Andacollo porphyry Cu-Au deposit (Re-Os molybdenite ages of 103.9 ± 0.5 Ma, 103.6 ± 0.5 Ma) are significantly richer in S (0.25 ± 0.17 wt % SO3, n = 69) than similar apatite crystals from two IOCG deposits (Candelaria, Casualidad) and a sample of regional mid-Cretaceous igneous rock from near Productora (0.04 ± 0.02 wt % SO3, n = 76). Using published partition coefficients for S between apatite and oxidized silicate melt, we semi-quantitatively estimate corresponding magmatic sulfur contents of ~0.02 wt % S in the Carmen de Andacollo magmas versus ~0.001 to 0.005 wt % S in the IOCG-associated magmas. This is an order of magnitude difference, and the opposite of what would be expected if the difference were due to bulk magma composition (sulfur solubility is generally higher in mafic magmas, whereas here the S content is higher in the more felsic porphyries). We conclude that the porphyry-forming magmas indeed had higher S contents than the IOCG-related magmas and suggest that these differences reflect different petrogenetic processes. During normal subduction, magmas derived from the metasomatized mantle wedge are hydrous, moderately oxidized, and S rich, and have the potential to generate S-rich porphyry-type deposits. In contrast, in back-arc extensional settings, upwelling asthenospheric melts carry a weaker subduction signature, including lower S contents. Interaction of these S-poor magmas with previously subduction modified upper plate lithosphere is more likely to give rise to S-poor IOCG deposits.
The northern Pacific Rim—for the purposes of this contribution—comprises the Mesozoic and Cenozoic magmatic-arc and associated terranes of eastern China, Korea, Japan, the Russian Far East, Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, the western United States, and Mexico. This ~1,800-km-long segment of the Pacific Rim is marked by a broad spectrum of metallogenic environments and mining jurisdictions, which combine to dictate where and how exploration is conducted and the overriding character of any resulting discoveries.This summary report commences with a brief metallogenic overview of the northern Pacific Rim, with particular attention paid to the world-class Mesozoic and Cenozoic ore deposits that define the region's premier metallogenic provinces. This is followed by a summary of the relative attractiveness of the region's various mining jurisdictions, as recorded by recent exploration activity. The major discoveries made along the northern Pacific Rim, particularly during the past half century, are then placed in this metallogenic and regulatory context as a basis for determining the successful exploration methodologies employed. This discovery track record is then used to predict what the future of exploration in this vast and varied region may hold.Much of the northern Pacific Rim, from eastern China and the Russian Far East in the northwest through Alaska to western parts of Canada, the United States, and Mexico in the southeast (Fig. 1), is characterized by a complex array of oceanic, accretionary prism, magmatic arc, and back-arc basin terranes and associated microcontinental blocks accreted to the North China, Siberian, Hyperborean, and North American cratons, mainly during Mesozoic times (Coney et al., 1980; Campa and Coney, 1983; Kojima, 1989; Nokleberg et al., 2005; Yakubchuk, 2009). The metallogeny of these tectonic collages is dictated by various combinations of pre-, syn-, and postaccretion ore-forming events, the last of which are generally preeminent, except in British Columbia (Nokleberg et al., 2005; Nelson and Colpron, 2007).Although the Meso-Cenozoic metallogeny of the northwestern and northeastern Pacific quadrants displays some similarities, it is the contrasts that are most marked. The main contrasts stem from the preeminence of tin, tungsten, and antimony in eastern China, Korea, Japan, and the Russian Far East and of copper and silver in Western Canada, the conterminous United States, and Mexico. Nonetheless, both the northwestern and northeastern Pacific quadrants are exceptionally well endowed with gold and molybdenum deposits. The northeasternmost Russian Far East, Alaska, and Yukon Territory display elements of both northwestern and northeastern Pacific metallogeny (Fig. 1). These metallogenic contrasts between the northwestern and northeastern quadrants result in China being the world's leading producer of tungsten, tin, bismuth, and antimony, mostly from its eastern Mesozoic metallogenic province.
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