The Geology of the Rakkurijarvi Cu-(Au) Prospect, Norrbotten: A New Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold Deposit in Northern Sweden
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Abstract:
The Rakkurijarvi prospect consists of a group of mineralized magnetite and lithic breccias within the ca. 2.05- to 1.90-Ga Proterozoic supracrustal sequence of the Kiruna district, northern Sweden. Potentially economic grades of Cu and Au, largely in the form of chalcopyrite and other sulfide assemblages, are hosted in brecciated magnetite and metavolcanic rocks. The extent of the mineralization is currently open, both downdip and along strike. The deposit was discovered through an integrated geophysical and geochemical program focused on iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG)–style mineralization. It is hosted by brecciated greenschist facies metavolcanic rocks within and adjacent to an east-northeast–trending shear zone. The dominant characteristics of the deposit are consistent with the IOCG class and include magnetite and lithic breccias hosted in a metavolcanic sequence, with matrices of albite, actinolite, and calcite surrounded by halos of sodic (albitescapolite) and potassic (scapolite-K-feldspar-biotite) alteration. A distinctive accessory mineral assemblage includes apatite, titanite, and allanite. The paragenesis and textural evolution of the deposit includes early Narich alteration accompanying massive magnetite alteration. The Na-rich alteration is overprinted by potassic alteration (also associated with magnetite), although the paragenesis is complex and multiple generations of both sodic and potassic alteration are recognized. Alteration of lithic clasts to magnetite confirms a metasomatic origin, as opposed to an orthomagmatic origin, for the magnetite mineralization. Re-Os analyses of two separates of molybdenite intergrown with magnetite, interpreted as cogenetic with the sulfide assemblage, yield mineralization ages of 1853 ± 6 and 1862 ± 6 Ma. Reconnaissance bulk-rock chemistry of the host volcanic rocks is consistent with an intermediate volcanic
protolith, but much of the original character of the rocks is masked by albitization and incipient iron, sodic, and potassic alteration. The data also indicate significant element mobility during metasomatism and, in particular, the addition of Ti to the rock mass in biotite and as titanite. The compositions of secondary minerals are consistent with alteration and mineralization caused by highly saline fluids of relatively low F activity. The stable isotope characteristics of calcite, with δ18OSMOW ranging from 9.43 to 19.89 per mil and δ13CPDB ranging from –11.69 to +4.88 per mil, suggest that the fluids of the calcite and sulfide stage were derived from a magmatic
source but had interacted extensively with local sedimentary and volcanic rocks.Keywords:
Greenschist
Paragenesis
Sericite
Actinolite
Breccia
Metasomatism
Allanite
Sericite
Hypogene
Stockwork
Actinolite
Breccia
Magmatic water
Diorite
Authigenic
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The ore bodies of the Hollinger Mine occur in an area of complexly folded and highly altered lava flows intruded by quartz-feldspar porphyry. The ore bodies consist of quartz veins and associated pyritized wall-rock.The investigation is concerned with the paragenesis of the minerals of the ore bodies, particularly the relationship of gold to quartz. Results are given of a microscopic study of thin and polished sections of vein material and wall-rock, supplemented by underground study of the ore bodies.Most of the gold occurs in a quartz-ankerite-pyrite type of ore body and was introduced later than the major period of quartz mineralization. In the veins, gold appears to be genetically related to a pale green sericite and was localized around and in inclusions of such minerals as pyrite, scheelite, arsenopyrite and ankerite. In the wall-rocks, gold is associated with pyrite but is believed to be later than it. A quartz-calcite mineralization was later than most of the gold.Data accumulated during the investigation indicate that the veins were formed predominantly by the filling of fractures successively reopened to the waves of mineralization.
Paragenesis
Sericite
Ankerite
Arsenopyrite
Chalcedony
Wall rock
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Paragenesis
Allanite
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Abstract The Southwest prospect is located at the southwestern periphery of the Sto. Tomas II porphyry copper–gold deposit in the Baguio District, northwestern Luzon, Philippines. The Southwest prospect hosts a copper‐gold mineralization related to a complex of porphyry intrusions, breccia facies, and overlapping porphyry‐type veinlets emplaced within the basement Pugo metavolcanics rocks and conglomerates of the Zigzag Formation. The occurrences of porphyry‐type veinlets and potassic alteration hosted in the complex are thought to be indications of the presence of blind porphyry deposits within the Sto. Tomas II vicinity. The complex is composed of at least four broadly mineralogically similar dioritic intrusive rocks that vary in texture and alteration type and intensity. These intrusions were accompanied with at least five breccia facies that were formed by the explosive brecciation, induced by the magmatic–hydrothermal processes and phreatomagmatic activities during the emplacement of the various intrusions. Hydrothermal alteration assemblages consisting of potassic, chlorite–magnetite, propylitic and sericite–chlorite alteration, and contemporaneous veinlet types were developed on the host rocks. Elevated copper and gold grades correspond to (a) chalcopyrite–bornite assemblage in the potassic alteration in the syn‐mineralization early‐mineralization diorite (EMD) and contemporaneous veinlets and (b) chalcopyrite‐rich mineralization associated with the chalcopyrite–magnetite–chlorite–actinolite±sericite veinlets contemporaneous with the chlorite–magnetite alteration. Erratic remarkable concentrations of gold were also present in the late‐mineralization Late Diorite (LD). High X Mg of calcic amphiboles (>0.60) in the intrusive rocks indicate that the magmas have been oxidizing since the early stages of crystallization, while a gap in the composition of Al between the rim and the cores of the calcic amphiboles in the EMD and LD indicate decompression at some point during the crystallization of these intrusive rocks. Fluid inclusion microthermometry suggests the trapping of immiscible fluids that formed the potassic alteration, associated ore mineralization, and sheeted quartz veinlets. The corresponding formation conditions of the shallower and deeper quartz veinlets were estimated at pressures of 50 and 30 MPa and temperatures of 554 and 436°C at depths of 1.9 and 1.1 km. Temperature data from the chlorite indicate that the chalcopyrite‐rich mineralization associated with the chlorite–magnetite alteration was formed at a much lower temperature (ca. 290°C) than the potassic alteration. Evidence from the vein offsetting matrix suggests multiple intrusions within the EMD, despite the K‐Ar ages of the potassic alteration in EMD and hornblende in the LD of about the same age at 3.5 ± 0.3 Ma. The K‐Ar age of the potassic alteration was likely to be thermally reset as a result of the overprinting hydrothermal alteration. The constrained K‐Ar ages also indicate earlier formed intrusive rocks in the Southwest prospect, possibly coeval to the earliest “dark diorite” intrusion in the Sto. Tomas II deposit. In addition, the range of δ 34 S of sulfide minerals from +1.8‰ to +5.1‰ in the Southwest prospect closely overlaps with the rest of the porphyry copper and epithermal deposits in the Sto. Tomas II deposit and its vicinity. This indicates that the sulfides may have formed from a homogeneous source of the porphyry copper deposits and epithermal deposits in the Sto. Tomas II orebody and its vicinity. The evidence presented in this work proves that the porphyry copper‐type veinlets and the adjacent potassic alteration in the Southwest prospect are formed earlier and at a shallower level in contrast with the other porphyry deposits in the Baguio District.
Sericite
Breccia
Actinolite
Diorite
Bornite
Covellite
Paragenesis
Stockwork
Argillic alteration
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Summary The paragenesis of a suite of hydrothermal minerals (sulphides, baryte, rhombohedral carbonates, quartz, sericite, and chlorite) at four mines in this district is discussed. Of particular interest are the conversion of pyrrhotine to marcasite, which is shown to take place by loss of iron, the replacement of blende by chlorite, and the possible formation of primary goethite. The occurrence of gudmundite is recorded for the first time in the British Isles.
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Marcasite
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The large Dahongshan Fe-Cu-(Au-Ag) deposit in the Kangdian iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) metallogenic province, southwest China, contains approximately 458.3 Mt of ore at 41.0% Fe, 1.35 Mt Cu (metal) at 0.78% Cu, and significant amounts of Au (16 t), Ag (141 t), Co (18,156 t), and Pd + Pt (2.1 t). The deposit consists mainly of two types of ores: (1) lenses of massive or banded magnetite-(hematite) hosted in extensively Na metasomatized metavolcanic rocks, metaarenite, and brecciated rocks, and (2) strata-bound disseminated, stockwork, and banded magnetite-chalcopyrite-(bornite) in mica schist and marble. Both types of orebodies and country rocks underwent extensive hydrothermal alteration, resulting in a similar paragenesis. Pervasive stage I sodic alteration formed widespread albite and local scapolite. It was subsequently replaced by Ca- or K-rich minerals represented by actinolite, K-feldspar, biotite, sericite, and chlorite of stages II and III. Magnetite is slightly younger than and partly overlaps the sodic alteration assemblages. Hematite is texturally later than magnetite, is locally abundant within the massive Fe oxide orebody, and is closely associated with sericite. Copper sulfides are coeval with quartz, biotite, sericite, and chlorite in stage III assemblages. Widespread siderite and ankerite predominate in stages II and III, respectively. Quartz-calcite veins mark the result of waning stage IV hydrothermal alteration. In addition to widespread alteration during the major ore-forming event, the deposit has also undergone extensive overprinting and remobilization during post-ore magmatic and metamorphic events. The Dahongshan orebodies are intimately associated with abundant doleritic dikes and sills that have hydrothermal mineral assemblages similar to those in the ore-hosting rocks. One dolerite sill that cuts a massive Fe orebody has a laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry zircon U-Pb age of 1661 ± 7 Ma, which is, within uncertainty, consistent with the age of 1653 ± 18 Ma determined for hydrothermal zircons from stockwork chalcopyrite-magnetite ore. The zircon U-Pb ages are thus considered to mark the timing of major mineralization that formed the Dahongshan deposit. Post-ore modification is recorded by an Re-Os isochron age of 1026 ± 22 Ma for pyrite in discordant quartz-carbonate-sulfide veins, and by younger Neoproterozoic mineralization dated at ca. 830 Ma using Re-Os isotopes on molybdenite. The former age is contemporaneous with late Mesoproterozoic magmatism in the region, whereas the latter is coeval with regional Neoproterozoic metamorphic events in southwest China. Carbon and oxygen isotope values of albitized marble are between those of mantle-derived magmatic carbon and dolostone end members. The ore-forming fluids that equilibrated with stage II magnetite have δ 18 O values of 9.1 to 9.5‰, whereas fluids linked to the deposition of quartz and ankerite during stages III and IV have lower δ 18 O values of 2.9 to 7.3‰. The oxygen isotope data indicate that the ore-forming fluids related to stage II are chiefly magmatically derived and mixed with abundant basinal brine during stages III and IV; this interpretation is consistent with sulfur isotope values of sulfides in the deposits. Pyrite and chalcopyrite from the Dahongshan deposit have a large range of δ 34 S values from −3.4 to +12.4‰, implying mixing of magmatic and external sulfur (likely from basinal brines) in sedimentary rocks. The Dahongshan deposit formed in an intracratonic rift setting due to underplating by mafic magmas that induced large-scale fluid circulation and pervasive sodic-calcic metasomatism in country rocks. Ore metals were derived mainly from a deep-seated magma chamber and partly from country rocks. Hydrothermal brecciation of the country rocks formed at the top of the dolerite intrusions and along zones of weakness within the country rocks owing to overpressure imposed by the ore fluids. Magnetite and hematite precipitated early near the dolerite intrusions, whereas Cu sulfides formed later in country rocks where sulfide saturation was favored. We propose that this genetic model may be widely applicable to Precambrian IOCG deposits elsewhere that formed in intracratonic rift settings.
Sericite
Actinolite
Stockwork
Bornite
Muscovite
Ore genesis
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Allanite
Titanite
Molybdenite
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Abstract Precambrian iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits are generally encountered with multistage hydrothermal overprints and hence have complex isotopic records. Precise dating of ore-forming and overprinting events and assessment of time-resolved metal sources are fundamental for understanding ore genesis. Here, we quantify the evolution history by integrating in situ U-Pb dating of texturally constrained allanite and Sm-Nd isotope data of ores and major rare earth element (REE) minerals in the breccia-hosted Lanniping Fe-Cu deposit in Kangdian region, southwestern China. The economically mineralized breccia in Lanniping Fe-Cu deposit is characterized by pervasive and texturally destructive replacement of polymictic clasts, including host metasedimentary packages, the intruded dolerite, and pre-ore halokinetic breccia. Ore minerals in cements are mainly composed of magnetite, chalcopyrite, bornite, and variable amounts of REE-rich minerals (e.g., apatite and allanite/epidote). Two types of allanite were identified in ores. Type I prismatic allanite texturally intergrown with magnetite has a SHRIMP U-Pb age of 1728 ± 20 Ma (1σ), which matches a zircon U-Pb age of 1713 ± 14 Ma (2σ) for the dolerite clasts and provides the direct age constraint on the Fe-Cu mineralization event. Type II anhedral allanite shows complex zoning and is spatially associated with, but texturally later than, magnetite, apatite, and chalcopyrite. This type of allanite yields significantly younger SHRIMP dates of 1015 ± 33 (1σ) and 800 ± 16 Ma (1σ) for cores and rims, respectively, which correspond to discrete regional magmatic events and hence record hydrothermal overprint/remobilization events of ore minerals in the deposit. Integrated Sm-Nd isotope compositions of type I allanite, apatite, and whole ores generally align along the reference Sm-Nd isochron of 1728 Ma, further confirming the primary ore formation at ~1.7 Ga. Corresponding εNd(1728 Ma) values ranging from –2.8 to 0.3 are significantly higher than those of the host metasedimentary rocks (–9.5 to –6.2) but comparable to those of contemporaneous igneous intrusions (–0.3 to 5.3) in the region, demonstrating that REE components of the primary ores were dominantly sourced from rocks of mantle-derived affinity. Both cores and rims of the younger type II allanite grains have Nd isotope compositions consistent with the unique time-evolved line of the ~1.7 Ga ores, implying that REEs incorporated into type II allanite were ultimately sourced from the primary ores in this deposit. The combined texture, chemical, U-Pb, and Sm-Nd isotope data thus demonstrate that REE remobilization was localized during post-ore hydrothermal overprint with negligible external inputs of REEs to the primary ores in the Lanniping deposit. In this contribution, we not only date primary ore formation but also recognize several younger allanite generations that record internal metal redistributions in response to post-ore tectonothermal events. Our study highlights the potential of ore-associated REE minerals such as allanite for resolving the age of multiple stages of hydrothermal events in complex ore deposits by ion probe, provided that careful examination of textural and paragenetic relationship of ores is conducted. Our finding of these younger allanite generations also exemplifies the significance of evaluation on time-resolved metal input for better characterizing the evolution history of the IOCG deposits.
Allanite
Overprinting
Breccia
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Allanite
Paragenesis
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