Ore Deposits

Course content
• Metalliferous deposits:
 Origin and processes of ore formation
 Classification of ore deposits
 Magmatogenic ore deposits:
- magmatic and metasomatic processes
 Magmatogenic sea bed deposits selected examples:
- Bushveld complex (Cr, Pt, V)
- Sudbury igneous complex (Cr, Ni)
- Porphyry copper deposits
- Volcanogenic Massive sulphide deposits
 Sedimentary-related deposits, Placer deposits, gossans, oxidation
and supergene environments.
 Content
• Origin and processes of ore formation
• Classification of ore deposits
• According to Kemp, 1909

• Ore is defined as a metalliferous mineral, or an

aggregate of metalliferous minerals, more or less mixed
with gangue, which from the standpoint of the miner can
be won at a profit, or from the standpoint of the
metallurgist can be treated at a profit.

• Definitions of ore all highlight:

(a) that it is material from which we extract a metal, and

(b) that this operation must be a profit-making one.

• Economically mineable aggregates of ore minerals are

termed ore bodies, ore shoots, ore deposits or ore
reserves.
• Industrial minerals
• According to Noetstaller, 1988:
Industrial minerals have been defined
as any rock, mineral or naturally
occurring substance of economic
value, exclusive of metallic ore, mineral
fuels and gemstones.
 Geological setting of mineral deposits
• Solid Earth is divided into the core, mantle, and crust.

Core: Fe and related elements

Mantle: Ultramafic rocks, contain Cr, Co, Ni

Crust: i) oceanic crust: 5 -10km thick - mafic rocks

(basalts)
ii) continental crust: 20-70km thick
felsic igneous, metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rocks -
Mn
Geological setting of mineral deposits
atmosphere Hydrosphere
• Earth consists of four global
scale divisions:
• atmosphere
• hydrosphere
• biosphere, and lithosphere

• Mineral deposits are part

of the lithosphere
 Ore deposits and plate tectonics - exploration
perspective
• implications of plate tectonics to mineral deposits:

The use of plate tectonic principles has

enormous significance to the exploration for
metal deposits!

• Metal deposits are found by the investigation of mineralized or altered

outcrops, and follow-up of geochemical and/or geophysical anomalies. Main
conceptual tools are that of lithology and structure.

• Main impact of plate tectonics is to broaden and deepen our understanding

of the tectonic environments in which many of these lithologies and
structures occur.

• Clearer idea of ore-generating environment.

Tectonic Setting Gold Deposits
• Porphyry Cu (±Au)
• Occur at convergent plate
boundaries
• Strong association with
subduction-related
magmatism
• Porphyry emplacement and
mineralisation often
associated with changes in
tectonics /architecture of the arc
• Arc scale structures involved in
the localisation of districts
/deposits
• Emplacement within 1 - 2 km of
surface
 Geological processes that form mineral
deposits
• The formation of ore minerals and compounds
by magmas and water can take place at Earth’s
surface or at depth in the crust or mantle.

• In many cases, these chemical processes make a

mineral deposit that is rich enough to be an ore
deposit. In other cases, further concentration is
needed by an additional chemical process or a
physical process.
Geological Processes and Mineral Deposits
• Malachite: is a copper carbonate hydroxide
mineral. Chemical formula: Cu2CO3(OH)2.
• Azurite: a soft, deep-blue copper mineral
produced by weathering of copper ore
deposits.
 Subsurface Processes
 Most of the geologic processes that form mineral
deposits involve chemical changes in rocks and
minerals where elements or compounds that were
dispersed through large volumes of rock are
collected and concentrated to form ore minerals or
compounds.

 The most effective agents for chemical changes of

this type are water and magmas both of which
dissolve elements and crystallize new minerals.

 Because hot water is a better solvent than cold

water, waters that form many mineral deposits are
hot and are known by the special name of
hydrothermal solutions.
 Magma and magmatic fluids
 Magma is “naturally occurring mobile rock
material, generated within the Earth and
capable of intrusion and extrusion....” (AGI
Glossary of Geology, 1980).

 As magma cools it crystallizes and separates

into fractions by fractional crystallization.

 Metallic elements can be concentrated by rock-

forming mechanisms in various portions of the
resulting igneous assemblages.
Schematic sequence of magmatic events leading
to ore magmas and their emplacement.
Igneous rocks, differentiation, and hydrothermal fluid
involvement associated with fractional crystallization
 Hydrothermal ore deposits
• Hot water
• Structurally controlled
• Distant fluid source/heat source
• Variable host rocks
• Hydrothermal alteration zones
• Multiple mineralization events
• Variable scale
Processes that deposit ore minerals
from hydrothermal solutions
 Ore-bearing fluids can be subdivided into
six categories:
1. Silicate-dominated magmas or derived oxide, carbonate, or
sulfide-rich magmatic liquids
2. Water-dominated hydrothermal fluids that separate from magmas
2a. Meteoric waters
2b. Seawater
2c. Connate waters trapped in pore spaces in sediments

3. Fluids associated with metamorphic processes

 if the fluid is heated and liquid the aqueous fluids can be

considered a hydrothermal solution.
 if the fluid is a gas, it is called pneumatolitic.
Hydrothermal Fluid Types
 Magmatic fluids
• Mineralizers: mobile elements LIL (Large ion lithophile)
such as Li, Be, B, Rb, Cs
• Also significant quantities of alkalis, alkali earths and
volatiles such as:
• Na, K, Ca, Cl, and CO2
• Metals such as Fe, Cu, Zn
• Water is the principle mobile constituent in all magmas,
increases in amount with increasing differentiation and
plays an important part in the transportation of many ore
components.
• Estimates of water in magmas range form 1 to 15%.
• Micas, clay minerals, zeolites, and amphiboles contain
small amounts of chemically bonded water.
 Meteoric waters
• Water that has passed through and
equilibrated with the atmosphere is called
meteoric waters.
 Seawater
• Seawater as an ore-forming fluid are best described in the
contexts of evaporites, phosphorites, submarine exhalites
• Deposits related to seawaters are:
• Alpine Peridotite chromite,
• VMS
• BIF
• Mt Isa and Broken Hill???
• Sedimentary iron deposits
• Phosphate deposits
• Evaporites
• Manganese
 Connate waters
• Water trapped in sediments at the time they
were deposited is known as connate water
• Connate waters are fossil waters
• Observed in oil field exploration
• Rich in sodium and chloride, also considerable
amounts of calcium, magnesium, and bi-
carbonate, and many contain strontium, barium
and nitrogen compounds
• Can also contain light hydrocarbons
• Mississippi Valley type deposits (MVT).
 Metamorphic fluids
• Recrystallization of hydrous and anhydrous
phases
• Volatile and mobile constituents are
activated during metamorphism and forced
from the rock to migrate toward cooler zone.
Trap Site - Deposit Scale:
Structural control
 The classification of Metallic ore
deposits
1. Descriptive classification: structure, alteration

2. Genetic classification

3. Commodity-based classification

4. Fluid classification
Ore Deposit Types
Commodity
Based
Kesler, (1996)
 Genetic Classification

Orthomagmatic deposits-
• Hydrothermal deposits magma related
• warm water related Komatiite-hosted Ni
• VHMS-seawater
Layered intrusion PGE
• SEDEX-basinal brines±seawater
• BHT-metamorphosed Diamonds
• MVT - basinal brines
Carbonatites (P, Cu, Fe etc.,)
• BIF-iron - basinal brines
• Orogenic Au Greisen (Sn)
• Carlin-type Au
Pegmatites
• Porphyry Cu-Mo-Au
• Epithermal Au-Ag
• Skarn