What is porphyry copper systems?
Porphyry Cu systems are defined as large volumes (10->100 km3) of hydrothermally altered rock centered on porphyry Cu stocks that may also contain skarn, carbonate-replacement, sediment-hosted, and high- and intermediate-sulfidation epithermal base and precious metal mineralization.
Does porphyry contain copper?
1 Introduction. Porphyry ore deposits are the Earth’s major resources of copper, molybdenum, and rhenium (Sillitoe, 2010) and also provide significant amounts of gold, silver, and other metals. Mineralization styles include stockwork veins, hydrothermal breccias, and wall-rock replacements.
What tectonic setting produces porphyry copper ore deposits?
Tectonic setting of porphyry copper and epithermal ore deposits. Porphyry copper, skarn and epithermal ore deposits are the most common type of hydrothermal ore deposits. They are genetically linked to convergent tectonic margins characterized by calcalkaline magmatism.
How is a copper deposit formed?
Copper is a metal that has been deposited from hot sulphur solutions, created in volcanic regions. The hot solutions concentrated the copper up to a thousand times more than would normally be found in rocks. The resultant enriched rocks are called copper ores.
Where do the largest copper deposits occur?
Chile
The largest copper mine is found in Utah (Bingham Canyon). Other major mines are found in Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico and Montana. In South America, Chile, the world’s largest producer, and Peru are both major producers of copper.
Where is the best place to look for copper porphyry deposits?
The greatest concentration of the largest copper porphyry deposits is in northern Chile.
Where is the purest copper found?
The largest copper mine is found in Utah (Bingham Canyon). Other major mines are found in Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico and Montana. In South America, Chile, the world’s largest producer, and Peru are both major producers of copper.
What is a good grade of copper?
COPPER: Anything over 100 metres and 1% copper equivalent or better is considered to be high-grade. For example, Serengeti Resources announced 119.6 metres of 0.9% copper equivalent (copper plus gold values added together) at depths from 180 to 300 metres.
What is the highest quality of copper?
According to FQM, copper cathode produced at Las Cruces reaches a maximum quality of 99.9% copper. The mine with the highest grade of copper in the world is Sudbury (also known as Victoria) in Canada, where the grade of ore is nearly 8%.
How can you tell the quality of copper?
All you have to do is clean your copper item with a mixture of table salt and vinegar and then observe the color change to find out if your object is made of copper. If the color that comes out after cleaning shinning reddish-brown, then it is indeed copper in a considerably pure form.
How big is a copper deposit in porphyry?
The median size of the longest axis of alteration surrounding a porphyry copper deposit is 4–5 km, while the median size area of alteration is 7–8 km2 (table 2). The vertical extent of ore is dependent upon the lower copper cutoff grade, which will vary with the price of copper and local mining costs.
What kind of minerals are found in porphyry copper?
Brief Description In hypogene parts of porphyry copper deposits, the copper occurs predominantly in chalcopyrite; other important copper ore minerals may include bornite and enargite.
Where are porphyry deposits found in the world?
In Canada, they account for more than 40% of Cu production, virtually all Mo production, and about 10% of Au production.
Which is the best grade for a porphyry deposit?
In porphyry Cu deposits, for example, Cu grades range from 0.2% to more than 1% Cu; in porphyry Mo deposits, Mo grades range from 0.07% to nearly 0.3% Mo. In porphyry Au and Cu-Au deposits, Au grades range from 0.2 to 2 g/t Au.