Copper Cliff Porphyry Copper Prospect

Mapping Lithology, Alteration and Sulphide Mineralogy from Assays Scott Halley, 23rd January 2016
Completed for Rio Tinto Exploration

Geochemically mapping Alteration from Assays

A useful way to characterize alteration in porphyry copper deposits is to plot K/Al versus Na/Al calculated on a molar basis. Consider a rock that is totally
sericitized. The mineralogy of the rock might be muscovite-quartz-carbonate-pyrite. All of the K and Al in that rock will be within sericite. Muscovite has a
composition of KAl3Si3O10(OH)2. Therefore the ratio of K:Al in the sericitized rock is 1:3. Similarly, a totally K feldspar (KAlSi3O8) altered rock will have a
K:Al ratio of 1:1. In the same way, albitisation can also be tracked. Albite is NaAlSi3O8: Na:Al =1:1. This is a typical pattern for a porphyry copper system.
There is a very clear reaction path where the trend is heading towards biotite. The potassic enrichment is limited by the amount of hornblende; biotite only
replaces Hbl.

K-Spar (adularia)

Biotite

Least-altered porphyry

Phyllic

Advanced Argillic

This data shows a very strong Na-depletion signature. The Na-

The low-Al population was selected and flagged as depleted mineralogy ranges from K-Spar to Muscovite to
quartzite. This shows a classification of the alteration mineralogy derived from the K/Al versus
advanced argillic mineralogy (highlighted by the point density Na/Al molar ratio plot. In the Leapfrog view below, the green shell is Cu> 0.3%. The
contours below). The porphyries, especially porphyry2, show a advanced argillic alteration sits mostly as a plume above the grade shell. Potassic
The geochemical differences between rock types can be reaction path towards biotite. Porphyry3 is relatively unaltered. alteration sits within the grade shell. There is a zoning pattern outwards from
highlighted by plotting appropriate ratios. The sediments Porphyry1 has the strongest phyllic alteration signature. advanced argillic to intense phyllic to K feldspar.
have a distinctly lower V/Sc ratio than the porphyries,
and fractionation trends in the porphyries are highlighted
by a ratio of Nb/Ti.
Nb/Ti ratios increase with fractionation. Crustal rocks
also have higher Nb/Ti than mantle rocks.
Hf and Zr always plot with a near perfect straight line
correlation; Hf can only substitute into the lattice of
zircon crystals. However, as zircon crystallizes, the melt
very gradually evolves to higher Hf/Zr ratios. Zircons
tend not to nucleate as new crystals, rather they just
form overgrowing rims, so the final Hf/Zr ratio remains
constant. However, where there is fractional
crystallization of zircons, early formed zircons are left
behind in a resistate phase, and the separated melt has
a lower zircon content but a higher Hf/Zr ratio. This is a
common signature in porphyry Cu systems.

Copper Cliff intrusions show clear evidence of

fractionation in the Nb/Ti ratios and in Hf/Zr ratios, but
there is no evidence of magnetite fractionation shifting
the V/Sc ratio.

Increasing
fractionation

Cumulative frequency plots show a very strong bias of

copper towards the potassic alteration. Mo is high in the
potassic alteration, but also in the proximal parts of the
advanced argillic. Bi and Te are high in the advanced
Increasing argillic and also in proximal parts of the phyllic alteration.
fractionation

Compare the logged rock types with geochemical

classifications. The porphyry is logged as latite
porphyry, but there are clearly different phases
present which are sequentially more and more
fractionated.
Estimating Sulphide Mineralogy from Assays
Samples with copper assays below 500ppm were selected and classified as “barren”. If the S content of these
was greater than 0.25%, they were reassigned as “Pyrite”. On a ternary plot of Cu-Fe-S, points that plot above
the Fe-apex to chalcopyrite join must contain some bornite. The rest of the samples can be divided on the Cu-S
ratio into chalcopyrite, chalcopyrite-pyrite, and pyrite-chalcopyrite domains. Points on the S-rich side of pyrite
contain some sulfate. A Ca-K-Na ternary plot distinguishes sulfate mineralogy between anhydrite and alunite.

This is a cumulative frequency plot of copper

grades split by rock type. The least fractionated
porphyry has modest Cu grades. The moderately
fractionated porphyry has the highest grades. The
most fractionated porphyry has the lowest grades.
One explanation of this pattern is that these are
pre, syn and late-mineral porphyries. The most
fractionated porphyry is the least altered (see next
section), the least fractionated (orange) contains
mostly phyllic alteration and the syn-mineral
porphyry (red group) contains most of the biotite
alteration.

Metal Zoning

Copper blue<500ppm, red>5000ppm Molybdenum blue<5ppm, red>50ppm Tellurium blue<0.05ppm, red>0.5ppm

Copper Cliff – Lithology and Mineralogy derived from assays - Version 1.0
Author: Scott Halley - 23 January 2016
Contacts
Rio Tinto Exploration: Sue Drieberg (sue.drieberg@riotinto.com)
Rio Tinto Exploration: Phil Baker (philip.baker@riotinto.com)

EDMS Poster Location : EDMS Poster Location : “Geochemistry : Training : Porphyry Copper lithogeochemistry-alteration-mineralisation”