The high heat flow and extensional setting extant during the initial stages of arc development were essential components for forming a vms hydrothermal system. Rifting of continental margin arcs, in contrast, results in the development of more volcaniclasticrich bimodalfelsic extensional settings. Volcanic and intrusive rocks hosting the mineralization yielded upb zircon ages of 2152to2 ma and a crosscutting porphyry intrusion constrains the minimum age of the vms at 2117. Vms lithological classification note the shapes and sizes of sulphide deposits compared to alteration footprint barrie and hannington,1999. These vms deposits include what were formerly classified as kuroko, cyprus, and. In the ibp, there are some of the most important vms deposits worldwide. In fact, the hamama deposit is hosted in bimodal mafic sequence, but. There is a very good database from previous research on these vms deposits, and this has influenced wider models for the genesis of such deposits. Volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposit wikimili, the. Intraoceanic volcanic arcs and related backarc rifts bimodalmafic. Volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposit wikipedia. Vms volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits and nicuco type magmatic massive sulphide deposits volcanicassociated massive sulphide vms deposits occur throughout the world and throughout the geological time column in virtually every tectonic domain that has submarine volcanic rocks as an important constituent.
Chimneys in paleozoic massive sulfide mounds of the urals. Mining operations at winston lake and pick lake ceased in 1998 due to poor metal prices. Throughout earths history, all volcanogenic massive sulfide vms hosting environments are associated with specific assemblages of mafic and felsic rocks with distinct petrochemistry petrochemical assemblages indicative of formation at anomalously high temperatures within extensional geodynamic environments. Most znenriched deposits are hosted in phanerozoic sequences, but there are a numerous of znrich, zinciferous, and znanomalous deposits in archean and. The average silver grade in the felsic vms subtype is significantly higher than that in the bimodal mafic or mafic subtypes table 2. Ore mineralogy of bimodalmafic vms deposits hosted in.
Usually, on a good surface prospect or geophysical target, a program of. Zincrich, bimodal felsictype vms deposits are located. Genesis and evolution of the hamama volcanic massive sulphide. Golden share announces the acquisition of sandridge project.
Hamama znpbcu vms deposits are hosted along the contact of bimodal metavolcanic. In the urals, a wide range of wellpreserved chimneys are found in vms deposits, which are associated with ultramafic atlantic type. The subsequent phase 2 9991 ma volcanic sequence comprises more evolved mafic rocks and similar, but more depleted, felsic rocks erupted in a relatively shallow marine setting. In the late cretaceous, early mafic rocks were followed by felsic rock series, and then by upper mafic rocks.
In this paper, 867 deposits were used to construct revised grade and tonnage models. Vms deposits proexmin prospecting exploration minerals. The montagne dor deposit is a bimodalmafic type vms deposit hosted by a southfacing highlystrained volcanic sequence of the paramaca greenstone belt. Primitive bimodal mafic volcanicdominated oceanic rifted arc and bimodal felsicdominated siliciclastic continental backarc terranes contain some of the worlds most economically important vms districts. Cumulative frequency of copper grades of bimodalmafic volcanic massive. Mineralization is often associated with the felsic strata. Society of america, 2002 annual meeting, abstracts with programs 34. The kidd creek is classified as the bimodal mafic vms type because of the following characteristics. A coeval activity of two submarine volcanic centers at a water depth. Geochemical investigation of the origin of the back forty. Ghalerigi and siahmadan bimodalmafictype deposits in the sssz. Past production at the pick lake mine was 172,956 tons at 9.
The three vmsdeposit types are compared to previous vmsclassification schemes in. The volcanic sequence is cut by the richards lake synvolcanic pluton and the chisel mafic intrusion. These vmsdeposit types were adopted on the basis of simplicity of use, greater relevance to map units, and our grade and tonnage models. Vms deposits have been generated from the archean to the present day, with vms deposits being currently formed on the seafloor. Examples include the noranda, flin flonsnow lake and kidd creek camps canada. Volcanogenic massive sulphide vms deposits are also known as volcanicassociated, volcanichosted, and vol canosedimentaryhosted massive sulphide deposits. Volcanogenic massive sulfide vms deposits are important global sources of base and precious metals. This nomenclature considers not only the huge volumes of reserves but also its high grades in copper, tin, zinc and other nonferrous metals. Deposits are classified based on host rock compositions. Vms deposits associated with siliciclastic sedimentary rock dominated settings with abundant felsic rocks and less than 10% mafic material. Felsic, bimodal mafic, and mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits. Chapter 11 the giant kidd creek volcanicassociated.
Mcilvenna bay is part of the bimodalmafic subclass of vms deposits. World map showing the distribution of volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit subtypes 26 tables 1. Genetic model of ore deposits mining engineering science. Bimodal maficdominated vmshosting calderas include the archean noranda and the. In developing grade and tonnage models for 1,090 vms deposits, mosier and others 2009 found no significant differ ences between grade and tonnage curves for deposits hosted by pelite mafic and backarc mafic rocks and for deposits hosted by felsicsiliciclastic and bimodal felsic rocks, result ing in their threefold classification of. Volcanogenic massive cuznpb sulfide vms deposits occur primarily in subaqueous riftrelated environments e.
The vms model dmec decennial mineral exploration conference. An overview of petrochemistry in the regional exploration. The origin of bimodal mafic felsic rock suites is a fundamental question in volcanology. These settings are often shalerich siliciclasticfelsic or bimodal siliciclastic. The noranda, flin flonsnow lake and kidd creek camps would be classic districts of this group. Goldrich volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits au vms are a subtype of both volcanogenic massive sulphide vms and lode gold deposits poulsen and. Volcanogenic massive sulphide vms deposits are also known as. Some bimodal mafic and mafictype vms deposits are also enriched in precious metals, but. The drilling programs performed on the ore zones showed that. Deeprock minerals commences drilling on the ralleau vms. Vms deposits associated with environments dominated by mafic volcanic rocks, but with up to 25% felsic volcanic rocks, the latter often. Among the three vms subtypes, average silver grades range up to 500 gt sierrecilla, spain in felsic deposits, 603 gt suriana, mexico in bimodal mafic deposits, and 785 gt samatosum, british columbia in. It is important to classify vms deposits based on these types, allowing for comparison between similar deposits based on tectonic.
Stratigraphic setting and timing of the montagne dor. Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits lakehead university. Vms deposits can also be effectively classified by their host lithologies. Most zincenriched deposits are vms subtypes that are associated with felsic volcanic andor sedimentary rocks i. Most, but not all, significant vms mining districts are defined by deposit clusters formed within rifts or calderas. Pdf classification of volcanicassociated massive sulfide. These groups correlate with different submarine tectonic settings, from the most primitive vms environments, represented by ophiolite settings, through oceanic rifted arc. They typically occur as lenses of polymetallic massive sulphide that form at or near the seafloor in submarine volcanic envi ronments. The irf conforms to the bimodalmafic vms lithotectonic assemblage of. The lithological units range from mafic to felsic compositions, which is consistent with bimodal volcanism. Some bimodal mafic and mafictype vms deposits are also enriched in precious metals, but many felsicbimodal deposits also show significant au and ag enrichment. Pdf metallogeny of volcanogenic massive sulfide vms deposits.
Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of the world. An overview of the use of petrochemistry in regional. Morb are associated with vms deposits in backarc ophiolites, and modern midocean ridges and backarc basins figs. Vms volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits and nicuco type magmatic. Some of those vms deposit are considered supergiant deposits, with more than 250 mton of. Volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits, also known as vms ore deposits, are a type of metal sulfide ore deposit, mainly copperzinc which are associated with and created by volcanicassociated hydrothermal events in submarine environments. Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits of the worlddatabase. Igneous geochemistry petrochemistry of mafic and felsic rocks associated with vms deposits is extremely useful in delineating potentially fertile ground for vms mineralization.
Our new models are based on a reclassification of deposits based on host lithologies. This translates to 4,429 tonnes of gold content in the felsic deposits, 3,646 tonnes in the bimodal mafic deposits, and 481 tonnes in the mafic deposits, thus demonstrating the importance of gold in the three vms subtypes. The clast sizes range from large breccia rocks to tuffsize clast. Volcanogenic massive sulfide occurrence model usgs. Bimodal magmatism produced by progressively inhibited. All three deposits are classified as bimodal mafic volcanichosted massive sulphide vms type. Following the lithological classification, the vms deposits are divided in five groups, i. Here we use major and trace elements, highresolution sr, nd and pb isotope analyses, experimental petrology and thermodynamic modelling to investigate bimodal magmatism at the iconic carlingford igneous centre, ireland. Montagne dor is a bimodal mafic aurich vms of northern paramaca greenstone belt. Yubileynoye, sultanovskoye, yamankasy, molodezhnoye, uzelga4, valentorskoye and bimodal felsic kuroko or baymak type. Bimodal maficdominated vmshosting calderas include the archean noranda and the paleoproterozoic flin flon mining camps gibson and watkinson, 1990. Licenciate thesis hydrothermal mobilisation of au and. Vms deposits associated with environments dominated by mafic volcanic rocks, but with up to 25% felsic volcanic rocks, the latter often hosting the deposits.
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