Exploration Potential of Fine-Fraction Heavy Mineral Concentrates from Till Using Automated Mineralogy: A Case Study from the Izok Lake Cu–Zn–Pb–Ag VMS Deposit, Nunavut, Canada
Exploration under thick glacial sediment cover is an important facet of modern mineral exploration in Canada and northern Europe. Till heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) indicator mineral methods are well established in exploration for diamonds, gold, and base metals in glaciated terrain. Traditional m...
Published in: | Minerals |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/min10040310 https://doaj.org/article/5f7550d00166416580a5cfe2f2c50662 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5f7550d00166416580a5cfe2f2c50662 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:5f7550d00166416580a5cfe2f2c50662 2023-05-15T17:48:05+02:00 Exploration Potential of Fine-Fraction Heavy Mineral Concentrates from Till Using Automated Mineralogy: A Case Study from the Izok Lake Cu–Zn–Pb–Ag VMS Deposit, Nunavut, Canada H. Donald Lougheed M. Beth McClenaghan Dan Layton-Matthews Matthew Leybourne 2020-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/min10040310 https://doaj.org/article/5f7550d00166416580a5cfe2f2c50662 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/10/4/310 https://doaj.org/toc/2075-163X doi:10.3390/min10040310 2075-163X https://doaj.org/article/5f7550d00166416580a5cfe2f2c50662 Minerals, Vol 10, Iss 310, p 310 (2020) indicator minerals heavy mineral concentrates automated mineralogy till sampling VMS MLA Mineralogy QE351-399.2 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/min10040310 2022-12-31T13:34:23Z Exploration under thick glacial sediment cover is an important facet of modern mineral exploration in Canada and northern Europe. Till heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) indicator mineral methods are well established in exploration for diamonds, gold, and base metals in glaciated terrain. Traditional methods rely on visual examination of >250 µm HMC material, however this study applies modern automated mineralogical methods (mineral liberation analysis (MLA)) to investigate the finer (<250 µm) fraction of till HMC. Automated mineralogy of finer material allows for rapid collection of precise compositional and morphological data from a large number (10,000–100,000) of heavy mineral grains in a single sample. The Izok Lake volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit, one of the largest undeveloped Zn–Cu resources in North America, has a well-documented fan-shaped indicator mineral dispersal train and was used as a test site for this study. Axinite, a VMS indicator mineral difficult to identify optically in HMC, is identified in till samples up to 8 km down ice. Epidote and Fe-oxide minerals are identified, with concentrations peaking proximal to mineralization. Corundum and gahnite are intergrown in till samples immediately down ice of mineralization. Till samples also contain chalcopyrite and galena up to 8 km down ice of mineralization, an increase from 1.3 km for sulfide minerals in till previously reported for coarse HMC fractions. Some of these sulfide grains occur as inclusions within chemically and physically robust mineral grains and would not be identified visually in the coarse HMC visual counts. Best practices for epoxy mineral grain mounting and abundance reporting are presented along with the automated mineralogy of till samples down ice of the deposit. Article in Journal/Newspaper Nunavut Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Nunavut Minerals 10 4 310 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
indicator minerals heavy mineral concentrates automated mineralogy till sampling VMS MLA Mineralogy QE351-399.2 |
spellingShingle |
indicator minerals heavy mineral concentrates automated mineralogy till sampling VMS MLA Mineralogy QE351-399.2 H. Donald Lougheed M. Beth McClenaghan Dan Layton-Matthews Matthew Leybourne Exploration Potential of Fine-Fraction Heavy Mineral Concentrates from Till Using Automated Mineralogy: A Case Study from the Izok Lake Cu–Zn–Pb–Ag VMS Deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
topic_facet |
indicator minerals heavy mineral concentrates automated mineralogy till sampling VMS MLA Mineralogy QE351-399.2 |
description |
Exploration under thick glacial sediment cover is an important facet of modern mineral exploration in Canada and northern Europe. Till heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) indicator mineral methods are well established in exploration for diamonds, gold, and base metals in glaciated terrain. Traditional methods rely on visual examination of >250 µm HMC material, however this study applies modern automated mineralogical methods (mineral liberation analysis (MLA)) to investigate the finer (<250 µm) fraction of till HMC. Automated mineralogy of finer material allows for rapid collection of precise compositional and morphological data from a large number (10,000–100,000) of heavy mineral grains in a single sample. The Izok Lake volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit, one of the largest undeveloped Zn–Cu resources in North America, has a well-documented fan-shaped indicator mineral dispersal train and was used as a test site for this study. Axinite, a VMS indicator mineral difficult to identify optically in HMC, is identified in till samples up to 8 km down ice. Epidote and Fe-oxide minerals are identified, with concentrations peaking proximal to mineralization. Corundum and gahnite are intergrown in till samples immediately down ice of mineralization. Till samples also contain chalcopyrite and galena up to 8 km down ice of mineralization, an increase from 1.3 km for sulfide minerals in till previously reported for coarse HMC fractions. Some of these sulfide grains occur as inclusions within chemically and physically robust mineral grains and would not be identified visually in the coarse HMC visual counts. Best practices for epoxy mineral grain mounting and abundance reporting are presented along with the automated mineralogy of till samples down ice of the deposit. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
H. Donald Lougheed M. Beth McClenaghan Dan Layton-Matthews Matthew Leybourne |
author_facet |
H. Donald Lougheed M. Beth McClenaghan Dan Layton-Matthews Matthew Leybourne |
author_sort |
H. Donald Lougheed |
title |
Exploration Potential of Fine-Fraction Heavy Mineral Concentrates from Till Using Automated Mineralogy: A Case Study from the Izok Lake Cu–Zn–Pb–Ag VMS Deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_short |
Exploration Potential of Fine-Fraction Heavy Mineral Concentrates from Till Using Automated Mineralogy: A Case Study from the Izok Lake Cu–Zn–Pb–Ag VMS Deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_full |
Exploration Potential of Fine-Fraction Heavy Mineral Concentrates from Till Using Automated Mineralogy: A Case Study from the Izok Lake Cu–Zn–Pb–Ag VMS Deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Exploration Potential of Fine-Fraction Heavy Mineral Concentrates from Till Using Automated Mineralogy: A Case Study from the Izok Lake Cu–Zn–Pb–Ag VMS Deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exploration Potential of Fine-Fraction Heavy Mineral Concentrates from Till Using Automated Mineralogy: A Case Study from the Izok Lake Cu–Zn–Pb–Ag VMS Deposit, Nunavut, Canada |
title_sort |
exploration potential of fine-fraction heavy mineral concentrates from till using automated mineralogy: a case study from the izok lake cu–zn–pb–ag vms deposit, nunavut, canada |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/min10040310 https://doaj.org/article/5f7550d00166416580a5cfe2f2c50662 |
geographic |
Canada Nunavut |
geographic_facet |
Canada Nunavut |
genre |
Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Nunavut |
op_source |
Minerals, Vol 10, Iss 310, p 310 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/10/4/310 https://doaj.org/toc/2075-163X doi:10.3390/min10040310 2075-163X https://doaj.org/article/5f7550d00166416580a5cfe2f2c50662 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/min10040310 |
container_title |
Minerals |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
310 |
_version_ |
1766153273987825664 |