139230 - Recent advances in the application of mineral chemistry - author version.pdf (3.4 MB)
Download fileRecent advances in the application of mineral chemistry to exploration for porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum deposits: detecting the geochemical fingerprints and footprints of hypogene mineralization and alteration
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 14:45 authored by David CookeDavid Cooke, Agnew, P, Hollings, P, Michael BakerMichael Baker, Chang, Z, Wilkinson, JJ, Ahmed, A, Noel WhiteNoel White, Lejun ZhangLejun Zhang, Thompson, J, John GemmellJohn Gemmell, Leonid Danyushevsky, Chen, HIn the past decade, significant research efforts have been devoted to mineral chemistry studies to assist porphyry exploration. These activities can be divided into two major fields of research: (1) porphyry indicator minerals (PIMs), which are used to identify the presence of, or potential for, porphyry-style mineralization based on the chemistry of magmatic minerals such as zircon, plagioclase and apatite, or resistate hydrothermal minerals such as magnetite; and (2) porphyry vectoring and fertility tools (PVFTs), which use the chemical compositions of hydrothermal minerals such as epidote, chlorite and alunite to predict the likely direction and distance to mineralized centres, and the potential metal endowment of a mineral district. This new generation of exploration tools has been enabled by advances in and increased access to laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), short-wave length infrared (SWIR), visible near-infrared (VNIR) and hyperspectral technologies. PIMs and PVFTs show considerable promise for exploration and are starting to be applied to the diversity of environments that host porphyry and epithermal deposits globally. Industry has consistently supported development of these tools, and in the case of PVFTs encouraged by several successful blind tests where deposit centres have successfully been predicted from distal propylitic settings. Industry adoption is steadily increasing but is restrained by a lack of the necessary analytical equipment and expertise in commercial laboratories, and also by the ongoing reliance on well-established geochemical exploration techniques (e.g. sediment, soil and rock chip sampling) that have aided the discovery of near-surface resources over many decades, but are now proving less effective in the search for deeply buried mineral resources and for those concealed under cover.
Funding
Australian Research Council
AMIRA International Ltd
BHP Billiton Ltd
Newcrest Mining Limited
History
Publication title
Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, AnalysisVolume
20Pagination
176-188ISSN
2041-4943Department/School
School of Natural SciencesPublisher
Geological Society Publishing HousePlace of publication
United KingdomRights statement
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London for GSL and AAG. All rights reservedRepository Status
- Open