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COURSE TITLE: GEOLOGY

PAPER TITLE: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY & MINERAL RESOURCES OF INDIA
TOPIC OF LESSON: ORE DEPOSITS RELATED TO MAFIC AND ULTRAMAFIC ROCKS.
PART I: LAYERED MAFIC INTRUSION AND ULTRAMAFIC VOLCANIC ROCK AND
ASSOCIATED MINERALIZATION.
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Mode of formation
1.2 List of Orthomagmatic deposits
2. MAJOR ORTHOMAGMATIC DEPOSITS
2.1: Bushveld complex
2.1.1 Evolution of Bushveld complex
2.1.2 Mode of occurrence
2.1.3 Genesis of Bushveld complex
2.1.4 Economic significance of the ore- bearing layers/ seams
2.1.4.1 Chromite
2.1.4.2 Platinum
2.1.4.3 Magnetite
2.2: Great dyke, Zimbabwe
2.3: Sudbury complex, Ontario, Canada
2.3.1 Economic significance
2.3.2 Geological setting and genesis
2.3.3 Creighton ore zone
2.3.4 Frood-Stobie ore body
2.4: Norilsk-Talnakh, Russia
2.4.1: Geological setting
2.4.2 Mode of formation of ore deposits.
2.5: Eastern Gold field province
2.5.1 Geological setting
2.5.2 Types of Cu-Ni sulphide deposits
2.5.3 Mode of occurrence and genesis of Cu-Ni sulphide deposits
3. SUMMARY

OBJECTIVES:-
To understand :
(a) Mode of occurrence and genesis of orthomagmatic deposits associated with ultramafic &
mafic rocks.
(b) Examples of orthomagmatic deposits associated with ultramafic & mafic rocks in the world.
Geological setting and genesis of ore deposits associated with (1) layered igneous intrusives
(Bushveld, Great Dyke and Sudbury), (2) intrusions related to flood basalts of cratonic areas
(Norilsk–Talnakh) and (3) bodies emplaced in active orogenic areas (Eastern Gold Field
Province).
1. INTRODUCTION
Ore deposits formed during fractional crystallization of magma are designated as magmatic
segregation deposits (also known as orthomagmatic deposits). These deposits are the direct
crystallization products of magma.

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Magmatic segregation deposits usually form in the magma chamber and thus constitute deep-
seated intrusive bodies. However differentiated or immiscible melts and crystal mushes can be driven
into the walls or roofs of the magma chamber to form ore bodies in the form of dikes, sills, and even
extrusive flows.
1.1 Mode of occurrence: A magmatic segregation deposit may occur in any of the following forms:
(i) constitute an entire intrusive body (ii) form a single compositional layer within the igneous rock
body (iii) may be defined by the presence of disseminated minerals.
The ore minerals may be early or late fractionation products concentrated by gravitative
settling of crystals or liquids, liquid immiscibility (separation and co-existence of oxide and/or
sulphide liquid and silicate melt prior to their crystallization) or filter pressing. They may remain in
place or be injected as an ore magma into a previously solidified pluton or surrounding country rocks.
1.2 List of Orthomagmatic deposits : Table 1 presents a list of major orthomagmatic deposits of Cr-Pt-
Ti-Fe and Cu-Ni-Fe (-Pt) associated with basic and ultrabasic rocks emplaced in cratonic and active
orogenic settings.

Table1 : Classification of the major orthomagmatic deposits of Cr-Pt-Ti-Fe and Cu-Ni-Fe (-Pt)
associated with basic and ultrabasic rocks emplaced in cratonic and active orogenic settings.

Class A : Bodies emplaced in cratons

1. Largely stratiform layered complexes: Bushveld, South Africa; Stillwater, Montana, USA;
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada; Great Dyke, Zimbabwe; Jimberlana, Western Australia.

2. Intrusion related flood basalt and associated with rifting: Duluth, Minnesota, USA; Norilsk
– Talnakh, Russia; Dufek complex, Antarctica; Insizwa–Ingeli complex, South
Africa; Palisades Sill, New Jersey, USA.

3. Medium– and Small– sized intrusions associated with rifted plate margins and ocean
basins:-
i) Komatiitic: Cape Smith, Quebec, Canada; Thompson bet, Manitoba, USA.
ii) Largely Gabbroic: Kemi-koillisma Belt, Finland; Skaergaard, Greenland; Rhum,
Scotland, UK.

Class B: Bodies emplaced in active orogenic areas

4. Bodies contemporaneous with plate margin volcanism, largely restricted to Archaean
greenstone belts:-
(i) Tholeitic suite:
(a) Picritic subtype: Dundonald Sill, Ontario, Canada; Eastern Gold fields Province,
Western Australia; Pechanga, Russia; Lynn Lake, Manitoba, USA; Carr Boyd,
Western Australia.
(ii) Komatiic Suite:
(a) Lava Flows: Munro Township, Ontario, Canada; Eastern Gold Fields Province,
Western Australia; Shangani, Inyati–Damba, Zimbabwe; Marbridge, Quebec,
Canada.
(b) Dunite lenses: Eastern Gold field Province, Western Australia; Thompson Nickel
belt, Manitoba, USA; Dumont, Ungava, Quebec, Canada.

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2 MAJOR ORTHOMAGMATIC DEPOSITS

The following sections deal with some ore deposits associated with (1) layered igneous
intrusives (Bushveld, Great Dyke and Sudbury), (2) intrusions related to flood basalts of cratonic
areas (Norilsk–Talnakh) and (3) bodies emplaced in active orogenic areas (Eastern Gold Field
Province).
2.1 Bushveld Complex, South Africa : Bushveld complex is large, measuring 375 km east-west by
300 km North-south. It covers an area of 67,000 km2 at the present levels of exposure (Fig.1).

Fig. 1 Sketch map of the Bushveld Complex. (After van Gruenewaldt 1977)

2.1.1 Evolution of Bushveld complex: The sequence of events involved in the evolution of the
Bushveld Complex is follows (Hunter, 1976):
1. Deposition of the Early Proterozoic Transvaal Supergroup sedimentary and volcanic rocks,
2. Injection of diabase sills into the uppermost Pretoria group of the Transvaal Supergroup
sedimentary rocks,
3. Extrusion of epicrustal Rooiberg felsites and granophyres,

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4. Intrusion of main plutonic phase and formation of layered ultramafic, mafic and intermediate rocks
along with concordant layers of chromite, platinum–rich sulfides and titaniferous and vanadiferous
magnetite, and
5. Intrusion of late felsic plutonic phase represented by the Red Granite.
2.1.2 Mode of occurrence: Layered intrusion occurs as a quadrilobed body, and exposed mainly near
the eastern, northern and western boundaries of the Bushveld Complex. Near the southern boundary
of the complex, the southern lobe of the layered intrusion has a limited exposure and seems to be
barren as no ore–bearing layers have been reported so far.
It is not known whether each of the lobes of the layered intrusion represents a separate but
contemporaneous comagmatic intrusions. It is also not known whether the lobes are interconnected.
2.1.3 Genesis: Duke (1983) and Van Gruenewaldt et al. (1985) consider that the enormously
differentiated igneous intrusion of the Bushveld complex has resulted from the repeated intrusion of
two main magma types into partly overlapping conical intrusions that eventually coalesced into three
large magma chambers corresponding to the eastern, northern and western lobes.
According to Guilbert and Park (1986) the four lobes of the layered intrusion represent
centres of contemporaneous magmatic activity and in chemical communication.
There is strong similarity between the layers of the eastern and western lobes and the two ore
layers (Merensky Reef and UG-1 chromite layer) are present in both lobes and exhibit similar
features. Similarities are less well developed in the northern and southern lobes.
In a vertical section, the layered intrusion of the eastern lobe is funnel- shaped with the layers
dipping gently towards the center (Fig.2). The eastern lobe is made up of ~ 7.8km thick rock layers
with several layers of chromite and magnetite and a couple of sulfidic layers.
Cameron (1978) and earlier workers divided the “stratigraphic” units into a few intervals (Fig.
3) and designated them as Lower zone (1450 m thick), Critical zone (1430 m thick), Main zone (2780
m thick) and Upper zone (1430 m thick). The lower zone consists of six rock layers and critical zone
is made up of 15 rocks layers. The rock layers include bronzite, feldspathic bronzite, harzburgite,
norite, gabbro and anorthosite.

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Fig. 2 Section across the Eastern Norite belt of the Bushveld Complex. The unpatterned unit is the
Transvaal Supergroup. It includes Dasporrte and Magaliesberg quartzites, which are prominently
outcropping marker beds in the floor rocks.

Fig. 3 Sections showing the occurrence of economic minerals in the Bushveld Complex.

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In the stratigraphic column several lithounits occur at different levels; bronzite and feldspathic
layers are frequently encountered in the lower and critical zones at several levels (Cameron 1978).
Layering exhibited by the lithounits may be relatively inconspicuous, or dramatic. Layering
may occur on a scale of tens to hundreds of meters, or on a scale of millimetres and centimetres; and it
may yield knife-sharp millimetre wide contacts, or gradational ones, typically over several
centimetres or tens of centimetres. Layering is best developed in the critical zone.

2.1.4: Economic significance of the ore- bearing layers/ seam

2.1.4.1 Chromite: Bushveld layered complex contains about 75% of the world’s chromium reserves.
The eastern lobe of the intrusion contains more than 30 chromitite layers or groups of layers, of which
the following account for bulk of the chromite excavated: LG6 Steelport Main Chromite Seam
(SMS); Leader Chromite Seam, 2 m above SMS; UG – 1 Dwars Rivier Seam, 637 m above SMS;
UG-2 Chromite Seam, 864 m above SMS and Merensky Reef, 974 m above SMS. All the seams are
confined to the critical zone of the stratified complex.
SMS is 110 ± 8 cm thick and extends along the strike for more than 65 km. It is also nearly
constant in composition and contains world’s best chemical grade chromite reserves. The Leader
Seam is 47± 8 cm thick and also constant in composition. UG-2 chromite seam and Merensky Reef
are equally prominent in the western lobe of the layered complex. The northern lobe of the complex
consists of Plat reef chromite seam.
The chromite layers are composed of cumulus chromite grains and range in thickness from a
few mm to more than 100 cm. The observed rhythmic layering suggests that each unit resulted from
the influx of new magma pulse which formed a layer at the base of the magma chamber where it
cooled and precipitated a mineral or mineral phases until its reduced density permitted mixing with
the overlying magma. The precipitated crystals are thought to have nucleated and grown insitu on the
floor and walls of the chamber (Wilson 1989).
2.1.4.2 Platinum: The Bushveld complex is bestowed with large reserves of platinoid ores (60,400
tons of platinum group metals (composed of Pt+Pd+Rh+Ru+Ir+Os) and the average ore grade is
8.27ppm.
In the eastern and western lobes of the layered complex, the platinoid ores are confined to
Merensky Reef and UG-2 chromitite layer (Cousins, 1969). In the eastern lobe the Merensky Reef can
be traced in outcrop for 250 km and has a thickness of 0.3–0.6 cm. Chromite bands approximately 1
cm thick mark the top and bottom of the reef and the chromite layers are equally enriched with
platinoid metals.
In the chromite layers and the Reef sandwiched between them, platinoid ores along with Ni -
and Cu–bearing sulfides contain sperrylite (Pt As2 ), braggite [(Pt, Pd, Ni)S], stibiopalladinite (Pd3Sb),
laurite (RuS2 ), Chalcopyrite, Pyrrhotite (with high Pt), pentlandite ( with high Pd, Rh), nickeliferous

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pyrite (with all Platinum Group Metals-PGM), cubanite, millerite and violarite, together with some
native platinum and gold.
In the ores, platinoid–metal minerals contribute about 40% of Platinum Group Metal values
and the remaining 60% of these values occur in solid solution in the base–metal sulfides. The
Merensky Reef along with the underlying and overlying 1cm thick chromitite layers contain 33 x 109
tons of exploitable ore having 7.5 to 11 ppm Platinum Group Metals, 0.18% Nickel and 0.11%
Copper.
The UG-2 chromite layer lies 150–300 m below the Merensky Reef. It is 60 – 250m thick
and occurs within a bronzite cumulate that overlies a zone of bronzite–plagioclase–pegmatoid. The
UG-2 chromite layer carries 3.5 to 19 ppm platinum together with copper and nickel values. Its
reserves exceed 5.42 x 109 tons. The UG-2 chromite layer consists of 60–90 vol% chromite, 5–25
vol% bronzite and 5–15 vol% plagioclase with accessory clinopyroxene, base metal sulphides, PGM
minerals, ilmenite, magnetite, rutile and biotite.
The Plat reef in the northern lobe is 200 m thick with rich mineralization of thickness more
than 6 – 45 m. Ore grade ranges from 7 to 27 ppm total Platinum Group Metals. Ore reserves are
about 4.08 x 109 tons.
The genesis of the platinum – rich layers in the Bushveld Complex is still debated. The
mystery centres on why the platinum group of metals and the associated sulfides are concentrated just
in a few thin layers. There is a strong correlation between Platinum Group Metals and sulphur
contents in these layers supporting the idea that sulfides acted as collectors scavenging the Platinum
Group Metals from the silicate magma. Many ingenious hypotheses for the platinum concentrations
have been put forward.
Naldrett (1981) proposed a convincing hypothesis that unusual magmatic events caused
sulphide droplets came in contact with large volumes of turbulent convecting magma allowing them
to scavenge much Platinum Group Metals from the magma. When cooling gives rise to laminar flow,
the sulfides and suspended crystals sunk to form a cumulate layer.
2.1.4.3 Magnetite: Another significant resource of the Bushveld complex is the layered magnetite –
rich units in the Main and Upper zones of the layered complex. Monomineralic rocks near the
magnetite layers include anorthosite and pyroxenite and all three of these occur as specialized layers
within dioritic, gabbroic and noritic units.
More than 30 magnetite layers of thickness ranging from a few cm to several meters have
been identified in the upper most 2 km of the layered sequence of the eastern lobe. There is
extraordinary lateral persistence of even the thinnest, millimetre–scale magnetite layers. Most of the
magnetite layers have sharp lower and gradational upper contacts, but all combinations of “sharp” and
“gradational” have been observed.
The magnetite layers consist of 80 to 98 % magnetite, 1 to 10 % exsolved granular ilmenite,
less than 1% sulfides, with the remaining composed mostly of plagioclase and lesser pyroxene. The

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magnetite contains a few percent Ti and 0 to 2 % V2O5. In the magnetite layers, titanium content
increases upward and the V2O5 content decreases steadily upwards. Magnetite ores are utilized for
production of vanadium also.
The exact mechanism by which the titanium– and vanadium– bearing magnetite layers
formed is still uncertain. It is generally considered that the precipitation of copious amounts of
titaniferous magnetite was triggered by episodic increase in fO2, but the exact process giving rise to
such increases is still uncertain.
According to Reynolds (1985) in the Bushveld complex, a complex interplay of factors
resulted in copious Ti-V-magnetite precipitation. The factors included concentration of Fe, Ti and V
in the residual magma and large scale, insitu bottom crystallization of plagioclase with the
development of a layer of stagnant magma above, from which the magnetite crystallized as well as
changes in fO2, temperature and fH2O/fH2 occurred.
2.2 Great Dyke, Zimbabwe
The great dyke of Zimbabwe is a layered igneous intrusion, 532 km long, 5 to 9.5 km wide
and consists of 4 narrow layered complexes. In cross section the mineral layers are synclinal Chromite
layers occur along the entire length and the individual layers extend across the entire width (Fig. 4).

Fig.4 Sketch diagrams illustrating the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe and the occurrence of
chromitite layers in it. (In part after Bichan 1969)

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The thickness of the chromite layers range from 5 – 100 cm and nearly all the chromite is of
metallurgical and chemical grade. Only layers of more than 15cm thick are mined. The Great Dyke
has an estimated reserve of 10,000 million tons of chromite in as many as 11 persistent main seams.

2.3 Sudbury Complex, Ontario, Canada

The Sudbury Complex is a unique crustal feature of the Canadian Shield.
2.3.1 Economic significance: It has been the world’s most productive nickel deposit and yielded more
than 8 million tons of nickel, about the same amount copper, and minor quantities of the platinum
group of metals, cobalt, iron, sulphur, gold, silver, selenium and tellurium. The grade of ores worked
in the past was about 3.5% Ni and 2% Cu. Today with large scale mining methods, the grade worked
is around 1% for both the metals.
2.3.2 Geological setting and genesis: The Sudbury Complex has been the centre of many geological
controversies. Debate now centres largely upon whether or not magmatic activity was triggered by a
meteorite colliding with a Precambrian surface. Shock metamorphic features including shatter cones
are common in the rocks around the complex for as much as 10km from the footwall of the layered
complex. This feature favours the meteorite impact hypothesis for the eruption of magma.
The Sudbury basin is elliptically shaped and is about 60 x 27 km (Fig. 5) and its most obvious
feature is the Sudbury Igneous complex (1849 Ma), which consists of a lower zone of augite - norite,
a thin middle zone of quartz–gabbro and an upper zone of granophyres. According to Kuo and
Crocket (1979) these three rock units are comagmatic.
The complex is believed to have the shape of a deformed funnel. The northern contact of the
complex dips about 41° south and the southern contact dips 65° north. At the base of the norite there
is a discontinuous zone of inclusion and sulphide–rich norite and gabbro known as the sublayer. In the
so-called offsets (steep to vertical, radial and concentric dykes that appear to penetrate downward into
the foot wall from the base of the complex) the inclusion–rich sulphide bearing rock is quartz diorite.
The sublayer and offsets are at present the world’s richest source of nickel as well as an
important source of copper, cobalt, iron, platinum and 11 other elements (Howley, 1962). There are
more than 48 mines in the ore bearing sublayers and offshoots.
Inside the complex is the white water group consisting of a volcanoclastic-like sequence
(Onaping Formation), a manganese–rich slate sequence (Onwatin Formation) and a carbonaceous and
arenaceous proximal turbidite (Chelmsford Formation) as indicated in Fig 5.

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Fig.5 Geological map of the Sudbury district. (After Souch et al. 1969 and Brocoum &
Dalziel 1974)

Most of the ore bodies occur in the sublayer (inclusion- and sulphide- rich norite and gabbro)
whose magma was rich in sulfides with inclusions and peridotite, pyroxenite and gabbro. In some
places the sublayer appears to be older than the main mass of the complex and in other places the
sublayer appears to be younger and presumably intruded along the footwall of the main mass. It
appears to have acquired its high content of inclusions during its passage through an underlying
hidden basic igneous complex. The sulfides tended to sink into synclinal embayments in the footwall.

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Fig. 6 Generalized section through the Creighton ore zone looking west. (After Souch et at.
1969)

2.3.3 Creighton ore zone: The Creighton ore zone has the greatest number of ore varieties (Fig. 6).
The hanging wall of quartz-norite above the sublayer occasionally contains enough interstitial sulfides
to form low grade ore. In the upper part of the sublayer, ragged disseminated sulphide ore occurs,
consisting of closely packed inclusions (several millimetres to 10 cm in size) in a matrix of sulfides
and subordinate norite. The sulphide content increases downwards as also the ratio of matrix (sulfides
+ norite) to inclusion, with a concomitant increase in inclusion size up to 1 m resulting in an ore
called gabbro-peridotite inclusion sulphide.
The ore changes towards the footwall into massive sulfide ore containing fragments of
footwall rocks. It is called inclusion massive sulfide ore and it is discontinuous, and also forms
stringers and pods in the footwall. All ore types contain dominantly of pyrrhotite, pentlandite and
chalcopyrite with minor amounts of pyrite, cubanite, although cubanite exceeds chalcopyrite in places
in massive ores. Magnetite occurs as accessory mineral.

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Fig. 7 Generalized section through the Frood orebody looking south-west. (After Souch et al.
1969.)

2.3.4 Frood-Stobie ore body: The Frood-Stobie ore body is an example of an ore body in an offset
dyke (Fig. 7). This parallels the footwall of the complex.
It is a huge ore body 1.3km long, 1km deep and nearly 300m across at its widest point. It
consists of a wedge-shaped body of inclusion bearing quartz-norite with disseminated sulfide partially
covered by inclusion massive sulfide. In the lower half, immiscible silicate-sulfide ore occurs (Fig. 8).
This ore type grades into massive ore outwards and downwards. Inclusions in the quartz-diorite vary
from a few centimetres to many meters in length. The largest inclusion found was one of peridotite
that was 45m long.

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Fig. 8 Tracing of an ore specimen from Sudbury, Ontario. Sulphides, mainly pyrrhotite with
minor pentlandite and chalcopyrite, are shown white: surrounding silicates are shown grey.
Note the rounded discontinuous nature of the sulphide globules. They appear to have formed
as a result of liquid immiscibility from a silicate-sulphide melt. Note especially the rounded
silicate blebs within the sulphide bodies, and that many of the sulphide globules appear to
have formed from the coalescence of smaller bodies of sulphide liquid.

Sudbury complex is also considered as an example of ore bearing layered igneous complexes
(e.g., Bushveld Complex), but the observed presence of dyke-like offset ore bodies of the Sudbury
complex and the non-sulfidic fragmented rock components in the inclusion sulfide ores are unique
features not reported from other layered complexes. The observed unique features of the Sudbury
complex may have to be attributed to violent injection of ore bearing magma as a consequence of
suspected meteoric impact.
2.4 Noril’sk-Talnakh Region, Russia
Ore-bearing gabbroic intrusion of the Noril’sk-Talnakh Region (Siberia) belongs to the
Category of flood basalt-related basic intrusives of rifted cratonic zones.
2.4.1 Geological setting: The country rocks of the Noril’sk-Talnakh region (Fig. 9) are carbonates
and argillaceous sediments of the early and middle Palaeozoic overlain by Carboniferous rocks with
coals, Permian and a Triassic volcanic sequence. The associated gabbroic intrusions form sheets,
irregular masses and trough-shaped intrusives.

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Fig. 9 Geology of the Noril'sk-Talnakh region. For location see Fig. 7.7. (After Naldrett
1981).

2.4.2 Mode of formation of ore deposits: The Noril’sk deposit 1 occurs in the differentiated layered,
dominantly gabbroic intrusion which extends for 12km and is 30 – 350m thick. In cross section it is
lensoid with steep sides (Fig. 10). The copper-nickel sulfides form breccia and disseminated and
massive ores at the base of the intrusion and vein ore bodies developed in the footwall rocks and the
basal portion of the intrusion.
Ores contain pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pentlandite and are characterized by high
Cu:Ni ratio. The copper-nickel sulfide ores of the Noril’sk-Talnakh Region contain significant
amounts of Platinum Group Metals (Av. Grade 3.8 ppm) and the known reserves of the sulfide ore
contains 6200 tons of Platinum Group Metals.

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Fig.10 Cross section through the Noril'sk I deposit. (After Glazkovsky et al. 1977.)
2.5 Eastern Goldfields Province, Yilgran craton, Western Australia
Eastern Goldfields province is bestowed with several occurrences of orthomagmatic copper-nickel
sulfide deposits including the ones at Mount Keith, Perseverence, Mount Clifford, Windarra, Scotia,
Kambalda and Widgiemooltha (Fig. 11).
2.5.1 Geological setting: These deposits are associated with komatiitic suite of lava flows and related
shallow dyke-like or sill-like dunitic intrusions (Ewers & Hudson, 1972; Marston & Kay, 1980).
Komatiites are both extrusive and intrusive and the komatiitic lavas are the extrusive
equivalents of peridotites, harzburgites and even dunites. Ultramafic members of the Komatiitic lava
are believed to have crystallized from liquid with up to 35 wt % MgO and carrying 20-30% of olivine
phynocrysts in suspension. It is also believed that the komatiitic lave flows, at the time of eruption,
carry immiscible droplets of Fe-Ni-Cu sulfides.
In some flows and near surface sills, quench textures are present in the upper part. Quench
textures, also known as spinifex textures, result from the intergrowth and interpenetration of long,
skeletal quench crystals of olivine and pyroxene which resemble a mat of an Australian grass called
“spinifex grass”. Komatiitic lavas are of submarine origin and extrude at temperatures up to 1650°C.
Spinifex texture of the komatiitic lava flows is attributed to rapid cooling of the lava/shallowly
intruded magma aided by sea water.

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Fig. 11 Generalized geological map of the Eastern Goldfields Province of the Yilgarn Block
showing some of the important nickel deposits. (Modified from Gee 1975).

2.5.2 Types of Cu-Ni sulphide deposits: Copper-nickel sulfide deposits of the Eastern Goldfields
Province (Fig. 11) are classified into two main types (Groves and Lesher, 1982). The first type
consists of segregations of massive and disseminated ores at the base of lens-like komatiitic
(Peridotitic or dunitic) flows or subvolcanic sills at the bottom of thick sequences of komatiitic flows
(e.g., Cu-Ni-Fe sulfide deposits at Kambalda, Windarra and Scotia) which are termed volcanic type
deposits. The second type, dyke-like or sill-like deposits, occurs in largely concordant, but partially
discordant, dunitic intrusions emplaced in narrow zones up to several hundred kilometres in length
(e.g., Cu-Ni-Fe sulfide deposits at Perseverance and Mount Keith). These deposits occur in the 800km
long Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt, which was interpreted by Groves et.al. (1984) as a rift zone
of 200km width. This belt consists of rocks belonging to two ultramafic to felsic volcanic cycles. All

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the important known Cu-Ni deposits are confined to the ultramafic rocks of the lower cycle, which is
about 2700 Ma old.
The classification of the Cu-Ni-Fe sulfide deposits of the Eastern Goldfields province into
volcanic –type (extrusive type) and dyke-like (intrusive type) deposits (Groves and Lesher, 1982) may
not be valid. Donaldson et.al., (1986) provided field evidences to suggest that there is a complete
continuum between the dunite hosted intrusive ores and the Komatiitic lava-hosted deposits. This
observation is strongly supported by the work of Barnes and Barnes (1990) who contend that actually
these dunite “intrusives” are coarse-grained olivine “adcumulates”, which formed in long-lived
Komatiitic lava rivers that overflowed periodically to form the flanking sequences of orthocumulates
and spinifex –textured flows.

2.5.3 Mode of occurrence and genesis of Cu-Ni sulphide deposits: Cu-Ni-Fe sulfide mineralization at
Kambalda is associated with komatiitic lava flows and is encountered at or near the base of the flow
or sill suggesting gravitational settling of a sulfide liquid (Fig. 12). The mineralized zone exhibits the
following features, which are similar to komatiite related sulfide ores elsewhere (e.g., Alexo mine
near Timmins, Ontario, Canada).

Fig. 12 Typical sections through two nickel sulphide orebodies associated with Archaean class l (ii)
ultrabasic bodies, The Alexo Mine is 40 km east-north-east of Timmins, Ontario, (After Naldrett
1973.)

1. Massive ore at the base (the banding in the Lunnon ore body of the Kambalda region is
probably the result of metamorphism); 2. a sharp contact between the massive ore and overlying

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disseminated ore, which consists of net-textured sulfides in peridotite; 3. another sharp contact
between the net-textured ore and the weak mineralization above it, which grades up into peridotite
with a very low sulphur content.
The sulfide ore is made up of cobaltiferous pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and pentlandite and
the ore bodies are confined to former topographical depressions beneath the ultramafic lava flows.
Some of these depressions appear to be fault related while others may be thermal erosion channels
formed by the exceptionally hot and very fluid lavas. The depressions are narrow and elongate with
length–to-width ratios of about 10: 1 and are a few meters to 100 m deep. Ore bodies may have
formed in these depressions not just by simple sinking of sulfide droplets from a static silicate liquid
but also by a “riffling” process as the main lava stream moved for some time over these footwall
embayments.
At kambalda, post-consolidation metamorphism thickened some ore bodies and mobilized
some into faults and along previously barren contacts, but created no new sulfides.
The dyke-like or sill-like (e.g., Deposits at Perserverance) deposits contain higher
concentration of sulphides. They occur in long dunite dykes or sills and these bodies bulge out to
thickness of several hundred meters. For example, at Perseverance deposit, the host dyke thickens
from a few meters to 700m (Fig. 13). The ore bodies generally appear to be associated with areas of
considerable serpentinization during which enrichment of the ores seems to have occurred. The ores
are dominantly of disseminated type though some massive sulfides occur at Perseverance.
Mineralogical composition of the Ni-Cu sulfide ores of the deposits at Perseverance is similar to those
of Komatiite – hosted sulfidic ores at Kambalda.

Fig. 13 Generalized geology of the Perseverance deposit. Many faults have been omitted. (Modified
from Martin & Allchurch 1975.)

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3 SUMMARY
· Ore deposits formed during fractional crystallization of magmas are designated as magmatic
segregation deposits (also known as orthomagmatic deposits). These deposits are the direct
crystallization products of magma, usually form in the magma chamber and thus constitute
deep-seated intrusive bodies. However differentiated or immiscible melts and crystal mushes
can be driven into the walls or roofs of the magma chamber to form ore bodies in the form of
dikes, sills, and even extrusive flows. A magmatic segregation deposit may constitute an
entire intrusive body, form a single compositional layer within the igneous rock body, or
occur as disseminated minerals.
· Orthomagmatic deposits of Cr-Pt-Ti-Fe and Cu-Ni-Fe (-Pt) associated with basic and
ultrabasic rocks emplaced in cratonic and active orogenic settings. The worlds major
Orthomagmatic deposits are assoiated with (1) layered igneous intrusives (Bushveld, Great
Dyke and Sudbury), (2) intrusions related to flood basalts of cratonic areas (Norilsk–Talnakh)
and (3) bodies emplaced in active orogenic areas (Eastern Gold Field Province).
· Bushveld layered complex contains about 75% of the world’s chromium reserves. The
Bushveld complex is bestowed with large reserves of platinoid ores (composed of
Pt+Pd+Rh+Ru+Ir+Os) and the average ore grade is 8.27ppm. Another significant resource of
the Bushveld complex is the layered magnetite – rich units associated with titanium and
vanadium.
· The Great Dyke of Zimbabwe is a layered igneous intrusion, 532 km long, 5 to 9.5 km wide
and consists of chromite layers that occur along the entire length and the individual layers
extend across the entire width.
· The Sudbury basin is about 60 x 27 km. Shock metamorphic features favours a meteorite
impact hypothesis for the eruption of magma. Sudbury Igneous complex (1849 Ma) consists
of a lower zone of augite - norite, a thin middle zone of quartz–gabbro and an upper zone of
granophyres and these three rock units are reported to be comagamatic. In steep to vertical,
radial and concentric dykes that appear to penetrate downward into the foot wall from the
base of the complex and referred to as offsets, the inclusion–rich sulphide bearing rock is
quartz diorite. Most of the ore bodies occur in the sublayer (inclusion- and sulphide- rich
norite and gabbro) whose magma was rich in sulfides with inclusions and peridotite,
pyroxenite and gabbro. The sublayer and offsets are at present the world’s richest source of
nickel as well as an important source of copper, cobalt, iron, platinum and 11 other elements.
· Noril’sk deposit , Russia, occurs in the differentiated layered, dominantly gabbroic intrusion.
The copper-nickel sulfides form breccia and disseminated and massive ores at the base of the
intrusion and vein ore bodies developed in the footwall rocks and the basal portion of the
intrusion.

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· Eastern Goldfields province, Yilgran craton, Western Australia, is bestowed with several
occurrences of orthomagmatic copper-nickel sulfide deposits associated with komatiitic suite
of lava flows and related shallow dyke-like or sill-like dunitic intrusions.

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