Value of mineral deposits associated with mafic and ultramafic magmatism: Implications for exploration strategies

Peck, Dave; Huminicki, M. A. E.

doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2015.06.004

Cited by 19 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Magmatic sulfide ore deposits account for some of the world's most valuable metal accumulations, currently accounting for ~56% of the world's nickel production and over 96% of supply of platinum, palladium and the other platinum group elements (Mudd and Jowitt, 2014;Zientek et al, 2014;Peck and Huminicki, 2016). They form by the accumulation of immiscible sulfide liquid that has scavenged chalcophile elements from a coexisting silicate magma, in a variety of settings:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sulfide-silicate textures in magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide ore deposits: Disseminated and net-textured ores

Barnes

Mungall

Godel

et al. 2017

American Mineralogist

121

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A large proportion of ores in magmatic sulfide deposits consist of mixtures of cumulus silicate minerals, sulfide liquid and silicate melt, with characteristic textural relationships that provide essential clues to their origin. Within silicate-sulfide cumulates, there is a range of sulfide abundance in magmatic-textured silicate-sulfide ores between ores with up to about five modal percent sulfides, called "disseminated ores", and "net-textured" (or "matrix") ores containing about 30 to 70 modal percent sulfide forming continuous networks enclosing cumulus silicates. Disseminated ores in cumulates have a variety of textural types relating to the presence or absence of trapped interstitial silicate melt and (rarely) vapour bubbles. Spherical or oblate spherical globules with smooth menisci, as in the Black Swan disseminated ores, are associated with silicate-filled cavities interpreted as amygdales or segregation vesicles. More irregular globules lacking internal differentiation and having partially facetted margins are interpreted as entrainment of previously segregated, partially solidified sulfide. There is a textural continuum between various types of disseminated and net-textured ores, intermediate types commonly taking the form of "patchy net-textured ores" containing sulfide-rich and sulfide-poor domains at cm to dm scale. These textures are ascribed primarily to the process of sulfide percolation, itself triggered by the process of competitive wetting whereby the silicate melt preferentially wets silicate crystal surfaces. The process is self-reinforcing as sulfide migration causes sulfide networks to grow by coalescence, with a larger rise height and hence a greater gravitational driving force for percolation and silicate melt displacement. Many of the textural variants catalogued here, including poikilitic or leopard-textured ores, can be explained in these terms. Additional complexity is added by factors such as the presence of oikocrysts and segregation of sulfide liquid during strain-rate dependent thixotropic behaviour of partially consolidated cumulates. Integrated textural and geochemical studies are critical to full understanding of ore-forming systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sulfide-silicate textures in magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide ore deposits: Disseminated and net-textured ores

Barnes

Mungall

Godel

et al. 2017

American Mineralogist

121

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“…Metals sourced from magmatic sulfide ores have many use cases on Earth (Zientek, 2012), which together generated ∼$70 billion in 2013, representing ∼7% of total global metal and mineral mine output (Peck & Huminicki, 2016). Moreover, ∼60% of the world's nickel (Ni), 23% Cobalt, ∼3% Copper (Cu), and >99% of the PGEs (PGE) in the global market are produced from the exploitation and recovery of Ni‐Cu‐(PGE) magmatic sulfides (Le Vaillant et al., 2016; Naldrett, 2010; Song et al., 2011; Slack et al., 2017).…”

Section: The Significance Of Sulfide Mineralsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, ∼60% of the world's nickel (Ni), 23% Cobalt, ∼3% Copper (Cu), and >99% of the PGEs (PGE) in the global market are produced from the exploitation and recovery of Ni‐Cu‐(PGE) magmatic sulfides (Le Vaillant et al., 2016; Naldrett, 2010; Song et al., 2011; Slack et al., 2017). The total value of the metal in the 157 Ni‐Cu‐PGE major sulfide mining operations has been estimated to be $6.15 trillion (Peck & Huminicki, 2016). Thus, sulfide deposits should make for enticing targets for prospecting, exploration, and extraction as we expand our human presence to Mars.…”

Section: The Significance Of Sulfide Mineralsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal‐Infrared Emission Spectroscopy of Graybody Minerals (Sulfide): Implications for Extraterrestrial Exploration for Magmatic Ore Deposits

Hubbard

Haberle

Elkins‐Tanton

et al. 2023

Earth and Space Science

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Graybody materials exhibit systematically low emissivity across their spectrum. This characteristic violates the key assumption of unit emissivity at some wavenumber in the spectrum used to calibrate thermal‐infrared emission data. This assumption makes graybody materials “appear colder” than their actual physical temperature and imparts a slope in emission spectra that is non‐physical in nature, both of which affect interpretations of planetary surfaces. Pyrrhotite derived from the Stillwater Complex's J‐M Reef in Montana, USA exhibits systemic graybody behavior across its mid‐infrared spectrum and thus has a steep negative spectral slope from high to low wavenumbers when calibrated using conventional methods. A new measurement technique is introduced for deriving the absolute emissivity of graybody materials using reference samples with known Christiansen Frequencies during calibration. The reference temperature method significantly reduces the spectral slope of and provides a more accurate estimation of the absolute emissivity of graybody materials. After correcting the temperature of pyrrhotite using results from a series of reference experiments, we conclude that the emission spectrum of pyrrhotite is spectrally featureless and has a maximum emissivity of ∼0.7. If sulfide mineral deposits are exposed on Mars, they will not be identified using spectral features found in the mid‐infrared (5–40 μm). However, they could be located by identifying basaltic terrain that appears colder than their surroundings and with apparent emissivity spectra that exhibit negative spectral slopes from high to low wavenumbers and are spectrally neutral.

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“…It is usually coexists with copper sulde in nature and this is called the nickel sulde concentrate. [1][2][3][4] Pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical routes have been applied in the industry to extract nickel from the nickel sulde concentrate. 5 Preactivation roasting-water leaching has proven to be a promising technique for comprehensively recovering valuable metals from the nickel sulde concentrate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental and computational approaches to study the chlorination mechanism of pentlandite with ammonium chloride

Xiong

Pang

et al. 2022

RSC Adv.

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Value of mineral deposits associated with mafic and ultramafic magmatism: Implications for exploration strategies

Cited by 19 publications

References 28 publications

Sulfide-silicate textures in magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide ore deposits: Disseminated and net-textured ores

Sulfide-silicate textures in magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide ore deposits: Disseminated and net-textured ores

Thermal‐Infrared Emission Spectroscopy of Graybody Minerals (Sulfide): Implications for Extraterrestrial Exploration for Magmatic Ore Deposits

Experimental and computational approaches to study the chlorination mechanism of pentlandite with ammonium chloride

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