Porphyry copper deposit model, chapter b of mineral deposit. Porphyry copper deposits are large commonly hundreds to thousands of million tonnes and low to medium in grade 0. Consequently, this descriptive model uses a working definition of a porphyry copper deposit. Map showing the location of the maricunga belt relative to other regional zones of important coppergold mineralization in chile and argentina. Porphyry is a textural term for an igneous rock consisting of largegrained crystals such as feldspar or quartz dispersed in a finegrained silicate rich, generally aphanitic matrix or groundmass. Porphyry deposits are one of the most important sources of copper and molybdenum, and are also major sources of silver, gold, and tin. Map showing the location of the maricunga belt relative to other regional zones of important copper gold mineralization in chile and argentina. The cadia district lies within shoshonitic subaqueous volcanic rocks of the late ordovician molong volcanic belt in the eastern lachlan fold belt. Gold distribution of gold in porphyry copper deposits by dennis p. It is located 5 kilometres north of molong in eastern new south wales and is held 100% by golden cross resources ltd gcr figure 1. For modeling purposes a simplified porphyry model was constructed based on known geologic information titley, 1982, and pierce and bolm, 1995.
Pakistan geological survey mineral information series 9, 21 p. Pdf distribution of gold in porphyry copper deposits researchgate. Singer abstract analysis of 55 porphyry copper deposits demonstrates a continuum between porphyry copper gold. It refers to large, relatively low grade, epigenetic, intrusionrelated deposits. In addition, porphyry deposits may host valuable byproducts. Awx arcwest is pleased to announce the results of 2019 mapping and sampling of the yellow bowl porphyry coppergold cuau target on its 34,700 hectare todd creek project located 30 km northeast. Golddistribution of gold in porphyry copper deposits. Gtt is pleased to report assay results from early reconnaissance drilling of the very large saddle north target, located approximately 500 metres. Although copper has been mined from a number of different types of mineral deposits, porphyry copper deposits are the most important source for copper, accounting for more than 60 percent of the annual world copper production and approximately 65 percent of the known total copper resource. Holliday et al, 1998, at cadia 20 kms south of orange in the central tablelands of nsw. The term porphyry is also used for a mineral deposit called a copper porphyry.
East lachlan world class goldcopper terrain diverse porphyry and related mineralisation styles 80moz gold au and mt copper cu regional endowment phillips 2017 cadia valley aucu porphyry cluster northparkes cuau porphyry cluster cowal epithermal au multiple northern molong belt targets show similarities with cadia east. Pdf distribution of gold in porphyry copper deposits. Porphyry copper deposit, large body of rock, typically a porphyry of granitic to dioritic composition, that has been fractured on a fine scale and through which chalcopyrite and other copper minerals are disseminated. Discovery of significant porphyry goldcopper mineralisation. Dunnedin commences drilling at mpd coppergold porphyry. For best results viewing and printing pdf documents, it is recommended that you download the documents to your computer and open them with adobe reader. Porphyry copper deposits of the american cordillera. The cadia porphyry goldcopper district is the largest hydrothermal, intrusionrelated gold deposit in eastern australia. Porphyry copper deposits result from the complex interactions and feedbacks of many processes. They include the trapper coppergold porphyry project in the northern golden triangle region of british columbia, the mpd coppergold porphyry project in the prolific quesnel trough in southcentral british columbia and the mohave coppermolybdenumsilver porphyry project near the worldclass bagdad mine in arizona. The original definition was based on the aumo ratios of porphyry copper deposits with no reference to their copper content, and resulted in the suggestion that goldrich deposits were found largely in island arc regions kesler, 1973. Sep 09, 2019 grade of porphyry gold copper mineralisation at depth.
Quantitative mineral resource assessment of copper, molybdenum, gold, and silver in undiscovered porphyry copper deposits in the andes mountains of south america, openfile report 20081253. The copper hill porphyry copper gold project summary the copper hill cuau deposit contains 535,000 tonnes of copper and 1. Gold contents of the kerman porphyry copper deposits are generally low, ranging from 0. Copper, gold, and molybdenum are among the important minerals extracted from these deposits. Gold endowments of porphyry deposits controlled by. What the best geophysical survey method for exploring and discovering a porphyry copper deposit. Expands yellow bowl porphyry coppergold target, todd creek project. Each porphyry cu epoch is closely linked to a timeequivalent magmatic event. Geological survey of new south wales, report gs 20190306, digs. Porphyry copper deposits commonly contain hundreds of millions of metric tons of. Large coppergold porphyry target quantified at bronze fox. Quantitative mineral resource assessment of copper.
Copper gold molybdenum porphyry deposits are large tonnage. Porphyry copper and gold deposits are the dominant natural suppliers of these metals to our society, yet the large variations in metal endowments of porphyry cuau. Gold abundances in porphyry copper deposits vary greatly, complicating efforts to define goldrich porphyry copper deposits. The term porphyry copper now includes engineering as well as geological considerations.
Historical mag plan of the figure 3 region nwse transfer structure tramlines were drawn between cadia and northparkes at one stage by ncm, but clearly do not account for boda, or other porphyry goldcopper deposits outside of the tramlines. These drill results suggest a significant and exciting discovery in a. Porphyry deposits are the worlds principal resources of cu, mo, and re, and are major. Gold abundances in porphyry copper deposits vary greatly, complicating efforts to define gold rich porphyry copper deposits. Copper porphyry deposits are almost always mined in industrialscale open pit operations.
Department of mining geology, royal school of mines, imperial college of science and. The formation of economic porphyry copper gold deposits. The copper hill porphyry coppergold project summary the copper hill cuau deposit contains 535,000 tonnes of copper and 1. The original definition was based on the aumo ratios of porphyry copper deposits with no reference to their copper content, and resulted in the suggestion that gold rich deposits were found largely in island arc regions kesler, 1973. Mcmoran copper and gold, was undertaken with the twin goals of characterizing the mineralogy and distribution of precious metals in the hypogene mineralization and developing insight into the possible reasons for the unusual metal endowments in this atypically for. Perkrocky is a porphyry coppergold exploration project located within a 6,700 ha claim block, approximately 225 km west of williams lake, british columbia. First sulphide gold averaging 20 gt shipped to kinross golds republic mine republic, washington 83% average gold recovery from 12 shipments 20,000 tons 14,597 tons of gold skarn, 5,208 tons copper skarn shipped as bulk samples during underground development and milled with recoveries of 7,570 ounces of gold and. Porphyry deposits are the worlds principal resources of cu, mo, and re, and are major resources of au and ag. Pdf it is a widely accepted fact that porphyry cuau deposits form from highly oxidized ore fluids. Discovered in 1992 by newcrest mining limited, premine resources in the district were in excess of 585 t au and 2. Gold associated with the earliest high temperature sodicpotassic and potassic assemblages occurs as electrum inclusions in chalcopyrite and to a lesser extent pyrite, and pyrite trace element signatures have high gold, silver, and copper concentrations pyrite1.
Geophysical signatures of coppergold porphyry and epithermal gold deposits, and implications for exploration thesis submitted by terence hoschke, bsc hons submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of master of science exploration geoscience university of. Mineralization in the sepon area was identified as having affinities to the carlintype sediment hosted gold deposits of nevada sillitoe, 1994. Gold distribution in porphyry copper deposits of kerman region. The radiometric survey its important to discover the alteration k u. This new discovery provides for a very strong porphyry drill target area figure 1 for the 2019 exploration program. The paleoproterozoic coppergold deposits of the gaoua. Geology of the sepon copper and gold deposits, laos. Jan 14, 2020 porphyry coppergold deposits are large volume, lowgrade disseminations formed by precipitation of copper and gold plus molybdenum from fluids of magmatic origin 1. It therefore draws upon, and updates, recent studies corbett and leach, 1998. After doing an extensive literature survey at the best university library i find these exploration methods. We acquired iskut because we saw clear evidence of a large porphyry system which looked to be similar in age and geology to our ksm project 30 kilometers to the east. We have now refined the location of this porphyry target, confirmed the presence of gold and copper, established its ageand determined that.
The mitchell deposit of ksm was only discovered in 2006 and the deep holes at red chris were drilled in 2007. Geophysical signatures of coppergold porphyry and epithermal gold deposits, and implications for exploration thesis submitted by terence hoschke, bsc hons submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of master of science exploration geoscience university of tasmania june, 2010. It is not an offer for the purchase or sale of securities and it. Porphyry style coppergold mineralisation the large geochemical copper signature from ridge and spur soil sampling for the west delta prospect see figure 2 has been interpreted as structural remobilisation of copper and gold along breccia pipes and faults within the upper levels of a porphyry system. With the recognition this year of porphyry style veining in drill holes fc0601a and am0701, we can confirm that a largely unexplored porphyry copper gold system of significant size exists at todd creek. Owing to the complexity, a succinct definition that includes the essential attributes of this deposit class is elusive. Porphyry coppergold deposits are large volume, lowgrade disseminations formed by precipitation of copper and gold plus molybdenum from fluids of. Cadia, gold, copper, porphyry, drilling, magnetics, induced polarisation. Characteristics of porphyry aucu systems in the ordovician macquarie arc of nsw bruce mowat, goldminco, mitchell hwy, orange nsw 2800 stuart smith, oxiana ltd, 9th floor, 31 queen st, melbourne, vic 3000 key words. In its nongeologic, traditional use, the term porphyry refers to the purplered form of this stone, valued for its appearance. Seabridge defines new goldcopper porphyry target at iskut. Corbett short course manual epithermal goldsilver and porphyry coppergold exploration short course manual greg corbett incomplete draft as at february 2018. The cadia district lies within shoshonitic subaqueous volcanic rocks of the late ordovician molong volcanic belt in the eastern lachlan fold.
The majority of goldrich porphyry deposits occur in the circumpacific and commonly contain 0. Characteristics of porphyry aucu systems in the ordovician. The different stages of cooling that create porphyritic textures in intrusive and hypabyssal porphyritic rocks also lead to a separation of dissolved metals into distinct zones. Gt gold drills highgrade gold and a new coppergold porphyry at saddle north vancouver, british columbia december, 2017 gt gold corp. Between these end members is an economically important group containing significant amounts of both gold and. This paper presents a brief history of the technological evo lution of southwest porphyry copper deposits as bulk lowgrade. With the recognition this year of porphyrystyle veining in drill holes fc0601a and am0701, we can confirm that a largely unexplored porphyry coppergold system of significant size exists at. The geological characteristics, geochemical signature and. Porphyrystyle ore deposits constitute our main source of copper and molybdenum and they contribute significant resources of gold and other rare metals such. Part or all of this report is presented in portable document format pdf. Gt gold drills highgrade gold and a new coppergold porphyry.
The cadia ridgeway deposit is one of a group of porphyrystyle deposits discovered since 1992 by newcrest geologists wood and holliday, 1995. An idealized porphyry copper system is shown in fig. Gt gold drills highgrade gold and a new coppergold. The ore deposit model for porphyry cu au deposits is universally. Bramaderos au cu project, ecuador exploration breakthrough. This presentation is for informational purposes only. Since 1905, more than 700 articles concerning porphyry deposits have been published by the society of economic geologists in its various publications economic geology. Porphyry gold deposits of the refugio district, maricunga. Pdf analysis of 55 porphyry copper deposits demonstrates a continuum between porphyry coppergold deposits emplaced at a median depth of 1 km, with a. Copper porphyry is a form of copper deposit that is often characterized as lowgrade, typically with 0. Ethos options perkrocky coppergold porphyry project.
Geometallurgy of the pebble porphyry coppergoldmolybdenum. Numerous worldclass porphyry copper gold deposits are hosted by highk or shoshonitic intrusions, such as bingham copper gold mine in usa, grasberg copper gold mine in indonesia, northparkes copper gold mine in australia, oyu tolgoi copper gold mine in mongolia and peschanka copper gold prospect in russia. Mcmoran copper and gold, was undertaken with the twin goals of characterizing the mineralogy and distribution of precious metals in the hypogene mineralization and developing insight into the possible reasons for the unusual metal endowments in this atypically for arizona aurich porphyry copper system. Porphyry and vein coppergold deposits in the ordovician macquarie volcanic province, lachlan orogen. Pdf documents opened from your browser may not display or print as intended.
Access is excellent, with road and trail access on the property. Codes the australian research councils centre for excellence in ore deposit research, university of tasmania, private bag 126, hobart, tasmania 7001, australia. Porphyry copper, gold, and molybdenum deposits society of. Porphyry cu belts developed during welldefined metallogenic epochs, which isotopic dating shows to have typical durations of 10 to 20 m. Pdf gold endowments of porphyry deposits controlled by. Pdf skarns in the porphyry coppergold environment david. When it comes to porphyry deposits there are a number of variations on a theme and the deposits can be copper only, they can be copper gold, copper molybdenum or molybdenum only but regardless of the metal mix the process of deposit formation is the same. Iron replacement and skarn deposits with accessory gold and copper are associated with dioritic to syenitic intrusions and apparently represent a more mafic type. The macquarie arc of the lfb is a worldclass gold copper porphyry belt 1 bespoke mar20 request by richard schodde from minex consulting for kincora copper.
The major products from porphyry copper deposits are copper and molybdenum or copper and gold. Geophysical signatures of coppergold porphyry and epithermal. Again, the andes porphyry copper systems porphyry cu. The deposit consists of porphyrystyle gold mineralization. Molybdenum commonly occurs in low grade peripheral zones outside the copper ore body in the porphyry coppergold type.
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