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ECONOMIC GEOLOGY
Clues to hidden copper deposits
Economic-grade deposits of copper are hard to find. The aluminium content of magmatic rocks at the surface may
provide an indicator of ore deposits buried deep below.
Jeremy Richards
C
opper deposits derived from porphyry
magmas are the largest sources of
copper and molybdenum, and are a
significant source of gold to world markets1.
These deposits have fascinated economic
geologists and excited miners for over a
century, but they are becoming harder
to find most of the deposits that reach
the surface have already been discovered.
Those working in exploration must look for
surface signals of buried deposits for new
discoveries. Writing in Nature Geoscience,
Williamson etal.2 propose that such a signal
can be found in the aluminium content of
crystals in solidified magmas associated with
nearby porphyry deposits.
Porphyry copper deposits are large. They
commonly consist of hundreds of millions
to billions of tonnes of ore. However, they
contain typically only 0.51.5% copper and
are therefore classified as large, low-grade
deposits1. The metals are concentrated
within sulfide minerals that, in turn, occur
as veins or disseminations within a shallowly
intruded magma. Rapid cooling of the
magma body creates an igneous rock with
a porphyritic texture composed of both
large and small crystals hence the name
porphyry deposits. The processes that form
porphyry ore deposits have been debated
since the early 1900s, but the current
consensus is that metals are concentrated
in the crust by hydrothermal fluids released
from the porphyry magma35 (Fig.1). This
model for ore formation has served as an
effective template for exploration, especially
where deposits are found near the surface.
However, today most of Earths surface
has been charted, leaving little room for
new discoveries of exposed deposits, and
exploration must search for less obvious
buried deposits. This can be achieved by
looking for signatures in igneous rocks that
might indicate the presence of nearby or
buried ore deposits.
One such signal is the Sr/Y ratio of
igneous rocks6. This ratio changes depending
on the water content of the magma. Water-
rich magmas have greater potential to
release hydrothermal fluids during cooling
and crystallization, and therefore have the
NATURE GEOSCIENCE | ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience 1
potential to form ore deposits. So, the Sr/Y ratios of these elements decrease away from
ratio serves as a geochemical signature of a porphyry ore body, reflecting the flow of
ore potential. The Ti/Sr or V/Ni ratio of cooling hydrothermal fluids that may have
hydrothermal alteration minerals, such precipitated ore minerals in the centre of the
as chlorite, provides another signal7. The hydrothermal system.
Volcanic structure
Acidic vapour Clay-altered rocks
plume
Igneous
Current understanding: intrusions
Aqueous fluids derived from the
magma cool and react with the
surrounding rocks, resulting in the
precipitation of sulfides and the
metals they contain. Outward fluid flow
1
Porphyry Cu ore body
Cu-sulfides 2 Ti/Sr and V/Ni in chlorite in rocks
Vapour + brine decrease away from the deposit7
K-rich (K-feldspar, biotite) altered rocks 3
4
Metal-rich fluids exsolved from magma
Mid- to upper-crustal
5 magma reservoir
S-rich gases exsolved
New theories: from magma
1. S-rich gases mix with Cu-rich brines to
precipitate Cu-sulfides8.
2. SO2 reacts with plagioclase and
precipitates Cu-sulfides9.
S-rich magma recharge
3. Sulfide melt globules float to the top
of the magma chamber attached to
vapour bubbles12.
4. High magmatic H2O content indicated
by Al-rich plagioclase2. ~1 km
5. Cu-rich sulfide liquids left in deep to
mid-crust10,11.
Figure 1 | Theories of porphyry copper ore formation. Porphyry copper ore deposits mostly form
beneath volcanoes, where magmas derived from a mid- to upper-crustal magma reservoir intrude
into the shallower crust. Hydrothermal fluids transporting copper and sulfur (as well as other metals)
are released from the magma and migrate into the surrounding and shallower crust. As the fluids cool
and react with the surrounding rocks, metal-sulfide minerals are deposited and become concentrated
in the crust. Recent research suggests that ore bodies may form during specific fluid-release events
and by a combination of different processes (15). Williams et al.2 show that zones of high aluminium
concentration in plagioclase minerals may provide a record of these distinct fluid-release events.
2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
news & views
Williamson and colleagues2 propose
that another signal is provided by the
composition, in particular the aluminium
content, of plagioclase crystals in the
igneous rocks associated with copper
deposits. Specifically, they measured higher
aluminium contents of plagioclase in
igneous intrusions associated with metal-
rich compared to metal-poor deposits,
and report that aluminium had substituted
for silicon in the crystal structure of the
plagioclase. The reason for this substitution
is not entirely clear, but it may be linked
to the high water content of porphyry
magmas. Williamson etal. thus propose
that analyses of plagioclase crystals from
surface igneous rocks could be indicative
of the ore potential of rocks buried
deeperunderground.
Each of the above geochemical signals is
merely permissive, that is, they all indicate
a potential for, rather than the actual
presence of, an ore body. Nevertheless,
these signals allow suites of igneous rocks
with low potential for ore formation to be
ruled out so that exploration can focus on
more prospective targets. More detailed
exploration methods that can probe below
the surface for hidden ore bodies, such as
deep-penetrating geophysical techniques
or drilling, can then be used to test for the
actual presence of metals.
Williamson and colleagues study
also points towards specific ore-forming
processes. They show that zones in
plagioclase crystals with high aluminium
concentration mark discrete pulses of
hydrothermal fluid release that might
correspond to individual ore-forming
events. Indeed, specific events of
2 NATURE GEOSCIENCE | ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION | www.nature.com/naturegeoscience
hydrothermal fluid release are emerging as
a critical factor in porphyry ore formation.
Proposed release events that trigger metal
deposition include the mixing of metal-rich
brines with sulfur-rich, magmatic gases8;
reactions between sulfur dioxide gas and
plagioclase in the surrounding rocks to
precipitate sulfide minerals9; accumulation
and later remobilization of sulfide melt in
the deep or mid-crust 10,11; and the flotation
of sulfide melt droplets attached to vapour
bubbles to enrich shallower parts of magma
chambers in metals12 (Fig.1).
These processes are conceptually feasible,
but it is hard to test whether they play a
significant role in the formation of real ore
deposits because little or no record of their
occurrence is preserved after cooling and
crystallization of the rocks. Instead, the
evidence that is preserved, in the form of
mineral textures and microscopic inclusions
of melt and hydrothermal fluids in crystals,
indicates that metal- and sulfur-rich aqueous
brines and vapours were the principal fluids
involved in ore formation13. Mechanisms
for the precipitation of metal-sulfides
from such fluids are well-established, so
it is not clear that special processes such
as those proposed above are required for
oreformation14.
It is clear, however, that large economic-
grade porphyry copper deposits are rare,
whereas smaller or sub-economic deposits
are more common, and barren intrusions are
the norm. Thus, the default is for magmas
not to form economic ore deposits, even
if they are water-rich. Furthermore, many
large porphyry systems have magmatic
histories spanning millions of years, but ore
formation typically occurred during one
2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved
or more short-lived events with durations
of a few hundred thousand years or less15.
This observation is not supportive of ore
formation by continuous processes over the
lifespan of the magmatic system, but rather
suggests discrete periods of high-volume
fluid flow, perhaps triggered by external
processes such as sudden magma chamber
recharge16 or depressurization of the magma
system1. Such episodic events may well
cause the ore-forming processes described
by Williamson etal.2 and others, but there is
still work to be done to identify exactly what
these triggers are and how they operate.
Jeremy Richards is in the Department of Earth
and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E3, Canada.
e-mail: Jeremy.Richards@ualberta.ca
References
1. Sillitoe, R.H. Econ. Geol. 105, 341 (2010).
2. Williamson, B.J., Herrington, R.J. & Morris, A. Nature Geosci.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2651 (2016).
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4. Gustafson, L.B. & Hunt, J.P. Econ. Geol. 70, 857912 (1975).
5. Hedenquist, J.W. & Lowenstern, J.B. Nature 370, 519527 (1994).
6. Richards, J.P. Econ. Geol. 106, 10751081 (2011).
7. Wilkinson, J.J. etal. J.Geochem. Explor. 152, 1026 (2015).
8. Blundy, J., Mavrogenes, J., Tattitch, B., Sparks, S. & Gilmer, A.
Nature Geosci. 8, 235240 (2015).
9. Henley, R.W. etal. Nature Geosci. 8, 210215 (2015).
10. Lee, C.-T.A. etal. Science 336, 6468 (2012).
11. Wilkinson, J.J. Nature Geosci. 6, 917925 (2013).
12. Mungall, J.E., Brenan, J.M., Godel, B., Barnes, S.J. & Gaillard, F.
Nature Geosci. 8, 216219 (2015).
13. Heinrich, C.A. & Candela, P.A. in Treatise on Geochemistry
2nd edn, Vol. 13 (eds Holland, H.D. & Turekian, K.K.) 128
(Elsevier, 2014).
14. Richards, J.P. Nature Geosci. 6, 911916 (2013).
15. Mercer, C.N., Reed, M.H. & Mercer, C.M. Econ. Geol.
110,587602 (2015).
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Published online: 1 February 2016