Classification of Magmatic Sulphide Deposits in China and Mineralization of Small Intrusions

Many important metal resources, such as Ni （Cu, Co）, PGE, exist in magmatic sulfide deposits, are a hot spot in geological research. We divide the magmatic sulphide deposits in China into four types according to their tectonic setting, intruding mode, ore deposit mode, main metallogenic elements. The four types are as follows： （1） Small-intrusion deposits in paleo-continent; （2） Smallintrusion deposits in continental flood basalt; （3） Small-intrusion deposits in orogenic belt; and （4） The deposits associated with ophiolites. On the basis of the classification, we put forward that the main magmatic metallogenic type in China is small-intrusion metallogeny, and describe its characteristics from small intrusions related concept, three geologic settings, three volcanic-intrusive assemblages and metallogenic key factors. According to the experiences of prospecting at home and abroad, we point out that there is big potential in prospecting small-intrusion deposits, which need further study. At last, we indicate that small-intrusion metallogeny not only widely distributes in mafic-ultramafic intrusions, but also has an important economic value and scientific significance in intermediate-acid intrusions.

Magmatic Sulfide Ni-Cu Deposits in China

Deep seated magmatic liquation injection deposits form a major type of magmatic sulfide deposit in China. The reserves of nickel and copper in this type of deposit may attain several hundred thousand tons (e.g.Hongqi 7 and Karatunggu) to nearly ten million tons (e.g.Jinchuan). Those deposits can be classified as large or superlarge deposits. The ore grade is relatively high, commonly with w (Ni)>1 %. The mineralized intrusions are small in size, generally only 0.0 n km 2 to 0. n km 2, with the largest one not exceeding a few km 2. Before intruding, the primary magmas have undergone liquation and partial crystallization at depth; as a result, the magmas have partitioned into barren magma, ore bearing magma, ore rich magma and ore magma, which then ascended and injected into the present locations once or multiple times, to form ore deposits. The above mentioned mineralizing process is known as deep seated magmatic liquation injection mineralization. The volume of the barren magma is generally much larger than those of the ore bearing magma, ore rich magma and ore magma. In the ascending process, most of the barren magma intruded into different locations or outpoured onto the ground surface, forming intrusions or lava flows. The rest barren magma, ore bearing magma, ore rich magma and ore magma may either multiple times inject into the same place in which rocks and ores are formed or separately inject into different spaces to form rocks and ores. Such deep seated magmatic liquation injection deposits have a much smaller volume, greater ore potential and higher ore grade than those of in situ magmatic liquation deposits. Consequently, this mineralizing process leads to the formation of large deposits in small intrusions.

Magmatic Hydrothermal Origin of the Wenyu Copper Polymetallic Deposit, Southern Lancangjiang Zone, SW China

The Wenyu copper polymetallic deposit, with proven reserves of about 0.23 Mt Cu, 394 t Ag and 0.04 Mt Pb, is located in the central part of the Lancangjiang volcanic rock belt （Fig. l a）, which is one of the most potential copper polymetallic exploration areas in SW China.

The Sachakou Deposit in West Kunlun of Xinjiang: A Pb-Zn Polymetallic Deposit Associated with Magmatic Metasomatism of Carbonate Rock

Objective The Sachakou Pb-Zn polymetallic deposit is located in Hetian County, Xinjiang （geographical coordinates of E78° 57＇ 54.30＂-78°59＇ 53.63＂, N34° 39＇ 27.50＂-34° 40＇ 57.21＂）. It belongs to the West Kunlun orogenic belt on the northwest edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and is connected to the Sanjiang orogenic belt to the south （Spurlin et al., 2005）. In recent years, a series of Pb-Zn mineralized spots and deposits have been discovered in this area one after another, which is called the Huoshaoyun ore concentration area. Among them, the Sachakou Pb-Zn deposit has reserves up to140 Mt, which has reached a large scale. However, the study on the genesis of deposits in this area has only just begun. This work studied the genesis ofthis Pb-Zn deposit in order to provide new ideas for the genesis of regional deposits and regional prospecting.

Magmatic Evolution and Mineralization of Porphyry Copper-Gold Deposits in the Duolong Ore Concentration Area, Tibet

The Bangong Lake-Nujiang River metallogenic belt is located between the Qiangtang Block and Lhasa Block, and the Duolong ore concentration area is located in the western section of the Bangong Lake-Nujiang River metallogenic belt. Till now, several large and super large copper-gold deposits, such as Duobuza, Bolong, Dibaonamugang, Naruo and Rongna deposits have been discovered in this area, mainly porphyry copper-gold ones.

Dating Magmatic Hornblende and Biotite and Hydrothermal Sericite by Laser Probe Technique:Constraints on Genesis of Wangershan Gold Deposit,Eastern Shandong Province,China

The Wangershan gold deposit and spatially related Shangzhuang granite, eastern Shandong Province, have been precisely dated by 40 Ar/ 39 Ar laser incremental heating technique. Magmatic hornblende and biotite, collected from the Shangzhuang granites, yielded well-defined and reproducible plateau ages at 128.1-127.5 and 124.4-124.1 Ma (2 σ ), measuring the cooling ages of the intrusion at ca. 500 ℃ and 300-350 ℃, respectively. Hydrothermal sericite extracted from auriferous vein gave high-quality plateau ages between (120.6±0.3) Ma and (120.0±0.4) Ma (2 σ ). Given the similarity of the closure temperature for argon diffusion (300-350 ℃) in the sericite mineral to the homogenization temperature of primary fluid inclusions in the quartz from gold ores, and the intergrowth of sericite with native gold, present 40 Ar/ 39 Ar sericite ages can be reliably interpreted in terms of the mineralization age for the Wangershan deposit. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar hornblende and biotite ages permit an estimate for the cooling rate of the Shangzhuang granite at about 50 ℃/Ma. There are abundant intermediate-mafic dikes in most gold camps of eastern Shandong, whose ages of formation have been previously constrained mainly at 121-119 Ma. The temporal association between the Shangzhuang granite, the Wangershan gold deposit, and the widespread dikes confirms that intrusive activity, gold mineralization, and dike emplacement in this region were broadly coeval, reflecting significant continental lithosphere thinning and resulting crustal extension of Early Cretaceous in eastern China.

Geochemical Characteristics and Metallogenesis of the Qingkuangshan Ni-Cu-PGE Mineralized Mafic-Ultramafic Intrusion in Huili County, Sichuan Province, SW China

The Qingkuangshan Ni-Cu-PGE deposit, located in the Xiaoguanhe region of Huili County, Sichuan Province, is one of several Ni-Cu-PGE deposits in the Emeishan Large Igneous Province （ELIP）. The ore-bearing intrusion is a mafic-ultramafic body. This paper reports major elements, trace elements and platinum-group elements in different types of rocks and sulfide-mineralized samples in the intrusion. These data are used to evaluate the source mantle characteristics, the degree of mantle partial melting, the composition of parental magma and the ore-forming processes. The results show that Qingkuangshan intrusion is part of the ELIP. The rocks have trace element ratios similar to the coeval Emeishan basalts. The primitive mantle-normalized patterns of Ni-Cu-PGE have positive slopes, and the ratios of Pd/Ir are lower than 22. The PGE compositions of sulfide ores and associated rocks are characterized by Ru depletion. The PGE contents in bulk sulfides are slightly depleted relative to Ni and Cu, which is similar to the Yangliuping Ni-Cu-PGE deposit. The composition of the parental magma for the intrusion is estimated to contain about 14.65 wt% MgO, 48.66 wt% SiO2 and 15.48 wt% FeOt, and the degree of mantle partial melting is estimated to be about 20%. In comparison with other typical Ni-Cu-PGE deposits in the ELIP, the Qingkuangshan Ni-Cu-PGE deposit has lower PGE contents than the Jinbaoshan PGE deposit, but has higher PGE contents than the Limahe and Baimazhai Ni-Cu deposit, and has similar PGE contents to the Yangliuping Ni-Cu-PGE deposit. The moderate PGE depletions in the bulk sulfide of the Qingkuanghan deposit suggest that the parental magma of the host intrusion may have undergone minor sulfide segregation at depth. The mixing calculations suggests that an average of 10% crustal contamination in the magma, which may have been the main cause of sulfide saturation in the magma. We propose that sulfide segregation from a moderately PGE depleted magma took place prior to magma emplacement at Qingkuangshan, that small amounts of immiscible sulfide droplets and olivine and chromite crystals were suspended in the ascending magma, and that the suspended materials settled down when the magma passed trough the Qingkuangshan conduit. The Qingkuangshan sulfide-bearing intrusion is interpreted to a feeder of Emeishan flood basalts in the region.

Contrasting oxidation states of low-Ti and high-Ti magmas control Ni-Cu sulfide and Fe-Ti oxide mineralization in Emeishan Large Igneous Province

Magmatic Ni-Cu-(PGE) sulfide and Fe-Ti oxide deposits in plume-related large igneous provinces(LIPs)are commonly related to low-Ti and high-Ti series magmas, respectively, but the major factors that control such a relationship of metallogenic types and magma compositions are unclear. Magma fOcontrols sulfur status and relative timing of Fe-Ti oxide saturation in mafic magmas, which may help clarify this issue. Taking the Emeishan LIP as a case, we calculated the magma fOof the high-Ti and low-Ti picrites based on the olivine-spinel oxygen barometer, and the partitioning of V in olivine. The obtained fOof the high-Ti series magma(FMQ + 1.1 to FMQ + 2.6) is higher than that of the low-Ti series magma(FMQ-0.5to FMQ + 0.5). The magma fOof the high-Ti and low-Ti picrites containing Fo > 90 olivine reveals that the mantle source of the high-Ti series is likely more oxidized than that of the low-Ti series. The results using the ’lambda REE’ approach show that the high-Ti series may have been derived from relatively oxidized mantle with garnet pyroxenite component. The S contents at sulfide saturation(SCSS) of the two series magmas were calculated based on liquid compositions obtained from the alpha Melts modeling, and the results show that the low-Ti series magma could easily attain the sulfide saturation as it has low fOwith S being dominantly as S. In contrast, the oxidized high-Ti series magma is difficult to attain the sulfide saturation, but could crystallize Fe-Ti oxides at magma MgO content of ~7.0 wt.%. Thus, contrasting magma fOof low-Ti and high-Ti series in plume-related LIPs may play an important role in producing two different styles of metallogeny.

Physicochemical Control of the Early Permian Xiangshan Fe-Ti Oxide Deposit in Eastern Tianshan(Xinjiang),NW China

The Xiangshan mafic-ultramafic complex is one of the major Early Permian maficultramafic intrusions in eastern Tianshan （Xinjiang, NW China）, and consists of two major intrusive phases. The first intrusive phase is mainly gabbroic rocks hosting ilmenite mineralization, while the second intrusive phase is mainly lherzoilite associated with Ni-Cu sulfide mineralization. The Xiangshan ilmenite orebodies hosted in the Fe-Ti oxide-bearing gabbro occur along the contact between hornblende gabbros and leucogabbros. The hornblende gabbros and Fe-Ti oxide rich gabbros at Xiangshan are newly dated to be Early Permian （280.1 and 279.2 Ma, respectively）. Major and trace element compositions of zircons and whole rocks from Xiangshan hornblende gabbro and Fe-Ti oxide gabbro have been measured by in situ excimer laser ablation ICP-MS. Zircon Ce^4＋/Ce^3＋ ratios based on lattice-strain model and Ti-in-zircon temperatures of hornblende gabbro and Fe-Ti oxide gabbro of the Xiangshan complex are calculated to evaluate the physicochemical variations during the ilmenite mineralization. Whole-rock geochemistry and zircon trace element geochemistry suggest that Fe-Ti oxide gabbros were formed from a basaltic parent magma which had undergone a transfromation from being H2O-rich to H2O-poor. During the magmatic evolution, primitive, HEO-poor basaltic melts may have been replenished into the system, increasing its solidus temperature and decreasing its oxygen fugacity and H2O contents. This may have supperessed the Ti-rich poikilitic hornblende fractionation and promoted the plagioclase fractionation, which consequently concentrated the ore-forming components in the residual melts and generated the ilmenite mineralization.