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VOISEY’S BAY – Magmatic Ni

Labrador, Canada

Anaktalak Bay, as viewed from Old Joe

General Characteristics
• Proterozoic troctolites and gabbros (Nain Plutonic Suite).
• Pyrrhotite, pentlandite, chalcopyrite, cubanite
• 5 distinct ore environments
• Ni, Cu, Co, PGE

General Geology
The deposit is associated with the 1334 Ma Voisey’s Bay intrusion which transects the
east-dipping 1850 Ma collisional boundary between interbanded garnet-sillimanite and
sulphide-bearing graphitic quartzo-feldspathic gneisses of the Proterozoic Churchill
Province, collectively know as the Tasiuyak gneiss to the west and quartzo-feldspathic
gneisses of the Archean Nain Province to the east (Ryan et al., 1995, and Li and
Naldrett, 1999 [below]).
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From Li and Naldrett, 1999

The geological setting of Voisey’s Bay Intrusion, containing the 4 western ore
environments (troctolites and gabbros), is shown above (A). Three of these occur in
the 2.5km-long Feeder Olivine Gabbro (FOG), of which 2 are in the Reidbrook Zone,
and one in the Discovery Hill Zone :
• Of the massive sulphides, that farthest west, is the small Reidbrook Zone
(~100m x 50m) [formerly known as the “Far West” zone]
• Discovery Hill has the Mini Ovoid (~300m x 50-100m), and the Ovoid (350m by
600m) which is the richest body

The 5th distinct ore environment is the upper magma chamber of the Eastern Deeps (B)
-an area of troctolites and gabbros ~3km x 2 km that constitutes the remainder of the
mafic to ultramafic intrusion.

Surface Geochemical Criteria

Regional lake sediment surveys indicate modest Ni enrichment down-ice from Voisey’s
Bay, decreasing to background over a distance of ~12 km (Figure below). Five lakes up
to 12 km due east of the deposit contain locally elevated Ni values (29-40 ppm), but
these values are <95th percentile for all of Labrador. The Cu and Co values are even
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less pronounced. To compensate for variations in local background, the observed Ni
values were divided by the interpolated regional values to give residual ratios. This
process gave Ni values >99th percentile for 20 km to the east.

From Davenport et al., 1997

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Lithogeochemistry and Elemental Zoning

A probable good source of data (not readily available) is Lightfoot, P.C. and Naldrett,
A.J. 1999 (short course notes).

S values range from 0.01 – 6.47%, and Se from 0.01 – 10 ppm. S/Se ratios cover a
wide range in outcrop (350 – 57,000 x 106), whereas from core, with one exception, the
range is 30 – 350.

Alteration
No information

Isotopes
S isotopes
δ34S from –17 to + 18.3o/oo(vcdt) (average –1.4o/oo) in pyrrhotite and Tasiuyak gneisses
(Ripley et al., 2002)

Pb isotopes
No information

O isotopes
• δ18Osmow in plagioclase in the breccia matrix is < 6.6 ‰ (~ = magmas of mantle
origin).
• Country rock paragneiss has δ18 O values of 8 to14 ‰.
• In the west part of the deposit, where xenolith digestion has been less intense,
plagioclase and corundum-rich cores of xenoliths exhibit elevated δ18 O values of
10.5 to12.5 ‰.
• In the east part of the deposit, where xenolith digestion is more advanced, cores
show much lower δ18O values of 6.2 to7.5 ‰ (Mariga et al., 2002).
• gamma Os for the magma chamber is ~3500.

C isotopes
δ13Cpdb –18.3 to –24.8o/oo in mineralised and unmineralized parts of the Voisey’s Bay
intrusion

Re/Os isotopes
187
Os/188Os range from 2.2 – 4.8. At the Ovoid they are 3.8 – 4.
187
Re/188Os range from 50-150. At the Ovoid they are 105-115.
Data are consistent with a basaltic or troctolitic parent magma (Lambert et al., 1999)

Fluid Inclusions
No information
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Gaps in Knowledge
Very little information on the analysis of surficial materials. No concise details on
lithogeochemistry have been found.

Geochemical Footprint
• Orebodies ~100m x 50m, ~300m x 50-100m, and the Ovoid (350m by
600m) which is the richest body. Eastern Deeps - an area of troctolites and
gabbros is ~3km x 2
• Subtle lake sediment Ni anomaly for ~20 km down-ice (to east).

Exploration medium Yes/No Details

Soils – conventional N
Soils – selective extraction N
Regolith N
Drainage sediments Y Lake sed. Ni for 20 km
Glacial sediments N
Surface waters N
Formation waters N
Organic samples N
Gases N
Hydrocarbons N
Lithogeochemistry Y Sparse information
Alteration halo N
Fluid inclusions N
Isotopes Y δ34S –17 to + 18.3o/oo(vcdt) (ave. –1.4o/oo)
δ18Osmow in plagioclase is < 6.6 ‰
paragneiss has δ18 O values of 8 to14 ‰.
δ13Cpdb –18.3 to –24.8o/oo
187
Os/188Os 2.2 – 4.8.
187
Re/188Os range from 50-150
Other N

References
Davenport, P.H., Friske, P.W.B. & Beaumier, M., 1997. The application of lake
sediment geochemistry to mineral exploration: Recent advances and examples
from Canada. In Proceedings of Exploration ’97: Fourth decennial international
conference on mineral exploration (Ed. A.G.Gubins), 261-270.

Lambert, D.D., Foster, J.G., Frick, L.R. & Ripley, E.M., 19999. Re-Os isotope
geochemistry of magmatic sulfide ore systems. SEG Review in Economic
Geologogy, 12, 29-57.

Li, C. & Naldrett, A. J., 1999. The geology and petrology of the Voisey's Bay intrusion:
Reaction of olivine with trapped sulphide and silicate liquids: Lithos 47, 1-31.
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Li, C., Lightfoot, P. C., Amelin, Y. & Naldrett, A.J., 2000, Contrasting petrological and
geochemical relationships in the Voisey's Bay and Mushuau intrusions, Labrador:
Implications for ore genesis: Economic Geology 95, 771-800.

Lightfoot, P.C. & Naldrett, A.J. 1999.Geological and geochemical relationships in the
Voisey’s Bay Intrusion, Nain Plutonic Suite, Labrador, Canada. In: Dynamic
Processes in Magmatic Ore Deposits and their Application in Mineral Exploration.
Geological Association of Canada, Short Course Notes, vol. 13, 1999

Mariga, J., Ripley, E.M., & Li, C., 2002. Oxygen isotopic studies of the assimilation of
paragneiss xenoliths at the Voisey’s Bay Cu-Ni-Co deposit, Labrador. Abstract
of Paper #52-5, GSA Annual Meeting, Denver, Oct.

Naldrett, A.J., Keats, H., Sparkes, K. & Moore, R., 1996. Geology of the Voisey’s Bay
Ni-Cu-Co deposit, Labrador, Canada. Explor. Mining Geol., vo.5, No.2, 169-179.

Ripley, E.M., Li, C., & Shin, D., 2002. Paragneiss assimilation in the genesis of
magmatic Ni-Cu-Co sulfide mineralization at Voisey’s Bay, Labrador: δ34S, δ13C,
and Se/S evidence. Econ. Geol., 97, 1307-1318.