Ore body environments

Introduction

There are a number of different styles of ore bodies, each with its distinctive signature.
As already noted, although specialist engineering geologists or geotechnical engineers
are not expected to understand the finer details of ore body formation, they should be
able to recognise the characteristic geomechanical features of the different deposit types.
Clearly, a detailed knowledge of the geotechnical attributes of every type of deposit is
impracticable. However, a working knowledge of at least the following major ore bodies
would be expected:

• porphyry deposits;
• epithermal deposits;
• kimberlites (diamonds);
• volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits;
• skarn deposits;
• stratabound deposits, including Mississippi Valley type deposits, banded iron
formations (BIFs), sediment hosted copper, iron, cobalt and uranium, and coal.

In all cases, it is important to understand the regional and local geological context of
individual deposits as well as the broad structure commonly associated with the deposit
type.