Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity
The Labrador Trough in northern Québec is currently the focus of ongoing exploration for magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide ores. This geological belt hosts voluminous basaltic sills and lavas of the Montagnais Sill Complex, which are locally emplaced amongst sulphidic metasedimentary country rocks. The re...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
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ftunivcardiff:oai:https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk:127562 2023-05-15T17:13:13+02:00 Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity Smith, William Daniel Maier, Wolfgang D. Bliss, Ian 2020-07-31 application/pdf https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/127562/ https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/127562/1/cjes-2019-0137.R1_Proof_fl.pdf en eng NRC Research Press (Canadian Science Publishing) https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/127562/1/cjes-2019-0137.R1_Proof_fl.pdf Smith, William Daniel https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A2338359S.html orcid:0000-0002-6523-7864 orcid:0000-0002-6523-7864, Maier, Wolfgang D. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A1523083O.html orcid:0000-0002-8654-6658 orcid:0000-0002-8654-6658 and Bliss, Ian 2020. Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 57 (7) , pp. 867-883. 10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 file https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/127562/1/cjes-2019-0137.R1_Proof_fl.pdf doi:10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 Article PeerReviewed 2020 ftunivcardiff https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 2022-11-03T23:45:19Z The Labrador Trough in northern Québec is currently the focus of ongoing exploration for magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide ores. This geological belt hosts voluminous basaltic sills and lavas of the Montagnais Sill Complex, which are locally emplaced amongst sulphidic metasedimentary country rocks. The recently discovered Idefix PGE-Cu prospect represents a stack of gabbroic sills that host stratiform patchy net-textured sulphides (0.2 to 0.4 g/t PGE + Au) over a thickness of ~ 20 m, for up to 7 km. In addition, globular sulphides occur at the base of the sill, adjacent to the metasedimentary floor rocks. Whole-rock and PGE geochemistry indicates that the sills share a common source and that the extracted magma underwent significant fractionation before emplacement in the upper crust. To develop the PGE-enriched ores, sulphide melt saturation was attained before final emplacement, peaking at R factors of ~ 10,000. Globular sulphides entrained along the base of the sill ingested crustally-derived arsenic and were ultimately preserved in the advancing chilled margin. Article in Journal/Newspaper montagnais Cardiff University: ORCA (Online Research @ Cardiff) Canada Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 57 7 867 883 |
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Open Polar |
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Cardiff University: ORCA (Online Research @ Cardiff) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcardiff |
language |
English |
description |
The Labrador Trough in northern Québec is currently the focus of ongoing exploration for magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide ores. This geological belt hosts voluminous basaltic sills and lavas of the Montagnais Sill Complex, which are locally emplaced amongst sulphidic metasedimentary country rocks. The recently discovered Idefix PGE-Cu prospect represents a stack of gabbroic sills that host stratiform patchy net-textured sulphides (0.2 to 0.4 g/t PGE + Au) over a thickness of ~ 20 m, for up to 7 km. In addition, globular sulphides occur at the base of the sill, adjacent to the metasedimentary floor rocks. Whole-rock and PGE geochemistry indicates that the sills share a common source and that the extracted magma underwent significant fractionation before emplacement in the upper crust. To develop the PGE-enriched ores, sulphide melt saturation was attained before final emplacement, peaking at R factors of ~ 10,000. Globular sulphides entrained along the base of the sill ingested crustally-derived arsenic and were ultimately preserved in the advancing chilled margin. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, William Daniel Maier, Wolfgang D. Bliss, Ian |
spellingShingle |
Smith, William Daniel Maier, Wolfgang D. Bliss, Ian Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity |
author_facet |
Smith, William Daniel Maier, Wolfgang D. Bliss, Ian |
author_sort |
Smith, William Daniel |
title |
Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity |
title_short |
Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity |
title_full |
Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity |
title_fullStr |
Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity |
title_sort |
contact-style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the labrador trough, northern québec, canada: implications for regional prospectivity |
publisher |
NRC Research Press (Canadian Science Publishing) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/127562/ https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/127562/1/cjes-2019-0137.R1_Proof_fl.pdf |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
montagnais |
genre_facet |
montagnais |
op_relation |
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/127562/1/cjes-2019-0137.R1_Proof_fl.pdf Smith, William Daniel https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A2338359S.html orcid:0000-0002-6523-7864 orcid:0000-0002-6523-7864, Maier, Wolfgang D. https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/view/cardiffauthors/A1523083O.html orcid:0000-0002-8654-6658 orcid:0000-0002-8654-6658 and Bliss, Ian 2020. Contact-Style magmatic sulphide mineralisation in the Labrador Trough, northern Québec, Canada: Implications for regional prospectivity. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 57 (7) , pp. 867-883. 10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 file https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/127562/1/cjes-2019-0137.R1_Proof_fl.pdf doi:10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0137 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |
container_volume |
57 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
867 |
op_container_end_page |
883 |
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1766070156918784000 |