Origin and emplacement of the Aguablanca magmatic Ni-Cu-(PGE) sulfide deposit, SW Iberia: A multidisciplinary approach

Piña, Rubén; Romeo, I.; Menor, Lorena Ortega; Hernández, Rosario Lunar; Capote, Ramón; Gervilla, Fernando; Tejero, Rosa; Quesada, Cecilio

doi:10.1130/b30046.1

Cited by 46 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Several important magmatic ore deposits are associated with carbonaceous rocks, such as the Platreef/Flatreef of the Bushveld Complex (McDonald and Holwell 2011), the Noril'sk I (Naldrett and Li 2009), Jinchuan (Lehmann et al 2007), and Aguablanca Ni-Cu sulphide deposits (Piña et al 2009), and the Panzihua magnetite deposit in China (Ganino et al 2008). We propose that in all these cases, devolatisation of floor carbonate played an important, and possibly critical role in ore formation.…”

Section: Origin Of the Ni-cu And Cr Oresmentioning

confidence: 85%

The Uitkomst intrusion and Nkomati Ni-Cu-Cr-PGE deposit, South Africa: trace element geochemistry, Nd isotopes and high-precision geochronology

et al. 2017

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The Uitkomst intrusion is a tubular maficultramafic layered body that hosts one of South Africa's largest Ni-Cu-Cr-PGE deposits, Nkomati. The sulphide ore occurs in the form of massive lenses in the immediate quartzitic footwall and as disseminations within peridotite. The chromite ore forms an up to ∼10-m-thick layer in the lower portion of the intrusion. Uitkomst has generally been interpreted as a magma conduit, possibly related to the Bushveld event. Here, we present a new high-precision U-Pb zircon date of 2057.64 ± 0.69 Ma that overlaps with the age of the Merensky Reef of the Bushveld Complex and thus demonstrates a coeval relationship between the intrusions. Based on incompatible trace elements as well as O-and Nd isotope data (εNd −4.5 to −6.2), we show that the Uitkomst parent magmas were contaminated with up to 20% Archean upper crust prior to emplacement, and with up to 15% dolomitic country rock during emplacement. Ore formation at Nkomati was critically aided by substantial devolatisation and removal of dolomitic floor rocks leading to hydrodynamic concentration of sulphide and chromite during slumping of crystal mushes into the trough-like centre of the subsiding intrusion and its footwall.

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Section: Origin Of the Ni-cu And Cr Oresmentioning

confidence: 85%

The Uitkomst intrusion and Nkomati Ni-Cu-Cr-PGE deposit, South Africa: trace element geochemistry, Nd isotopes and high-precision geochronology

et al. 2017

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“…In addition, the older Santa Olalla and Agua Blanca plutonic complexes comprise ultramafic to felsic associations (Fig. 1B, 344 ± 3 Ma U-Pb SHRIMP Ordoñez-Casado et al, 2008;cf., Romero et al, 2006) that have associated Ni-Cu-PGE ore mineralization Tornos et al, 2005Tornos et al, , 2006Piña et al, 2010).…”

Section: Geochronological Constraints On the Valencia Del Ventoso Plumentioning

confidence: 95%

SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating of the Valencia del Ventoso plutonic complex, Ossa-Morena Zone, SW Iberia: Early Carboniferous intra-orogenic extension-related ‘calc-alkaline’ magmatism

et al. 2015

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“…Primary pyroxene and plagioclase of the host igneous rocks are variably altered to a secondary silicate assemblage comprising chlorite, actinolite, epidote, sericite and talc. The emplacement of the breccia probably took place when the mafic-ultramafic sequence was disrupted by the explosive injection of Ni-Cu sulphide-bearing gabbronorite melts due to the opening of tensional fractures related to the emplacement of the Aguablanca intrusion (Piña et al, 2010).…”

Section: The Aguablanca Ni-cu Sulphide Depositmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the Aguablanca Ni-Cu sulphide deposit (SW Spain, Tornos et al, 2006;Lunar et al, 2008;Piña et al, 2010), an early laser ablation study focused on the PGE distribution in the magmatic sulphides revealed that pyrite hosts traces of PGE . Some large idiomorphic grains of pyrite contain high concentrations of Pt (up to 15 ppm) and Rh (4-31 ppm), and ribbon-like pyrite grains, apparently replacing to pyrrhotite, have Os, Ir, Ru and Rh in the order to ~ 30-360 ppb for each metal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Platinum-group elements-bearing pyrite from the Aguablanca Ni-Cu sulphide deposit (SW Spain): a LA-ICP-MS study

Piña

Gervilla

Barnes

et al. 2013

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Despite the fact that pyrite is a relatively common phase in Ni-Cu-PlatinumGroup Elements (PGE) magmatic sulphide deposits, it has been neglected in the studies on PGE distribution in favour of pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite. An example of this is the Aguablanca deposit, where although pyrite is an important phase in the semi-massive ore and an early study has revealed that it hosts traces of PGE, the presence and origin of PGE into the pyrite has not been investigated in detail. With this in mind, we have measured by laser ablation ICP-MS the content of these and other chalcophile elements (Au, Ag, Co, Ni, Cu, Se, Sb, As, Bi and Te) in pyrite exhibiting different textures. The results show that 1) large idiomorphic pyrite is compositionallyzoned with Os-Ir-Ru-Rh-As-rich layers and Se-Co-rich layers; 2) some idiomorphic pyrites contain unusually high PGE contents (up to 32 ppm Rh and 9 ppm Pt); 3) ribbon-like and small-grained pyrites host IPGE (i.e., Iridium-group PGE, Os, Ir, Ru and Rh) in similar contents (100-200 ppb each) to the host pyrrhotite; and 4) pyrites replacing to plagioclase are depleted in most metals (i.e., PGE, Co, Ni and Ag). Overall, the different textural types of pyrite have similar abundances in Pd, Au, Se, Bi, Te, Sb and As. Mineralogical and compositional data suggests that pyrite is the result of the activity of late magmatic/hydrothermal fluids that triggered the partial replacement of pyrrhotite and plagioclase by pyrite, probably due to an increase in the sulphur fugacity during cooling. During this episode, pyrites inherited the IPGE content of mineral to that was replaced, whereas other elements such as Pd, Au and semi-metals were likely partially introduced into pyrite via altering fluids. These results highlight that pyrite can host appreciable amounts of PGE and therefore it should not be overlooked as a potential carrier of these metals in Ni-Cu-(PGE) sulphide deposits.

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Origin and emplacement of the Aguablanca magmatic Ni-Cu-(PGE) sulfide deposit, SW Iberia: A multidisciplinary approach

Cited by 46 publications

References 40 publications

The Uitkomst intrusion and Nkomati Ni-Cu-Cr-PGE deposit, South Africa: trace element geochemistry, Nd isotopes and high-precision geochronology

The Uitkomst intrusion and Nkomati Ni-Cu-Cr-PGE deposit, South Africa: trace element geochemistry, Nd isotopes and high-precision geochronology

SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating of the Valencia del Ventoso plutonic complex, Ossa-Morena Zone, SW Iberia: Early Carboniferous intra-orogenic extension-related ‘calc-alkaline’ magmatism

Platinum-group elements-bearing pyrite from the Aguablanca Ni-Cu sulphide deposit (SW Spain): a LA-ICP-MS study

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