Deposit types/Nickel, Copper, Platinum

Magmatic nickel-copper-PGE sulphide

Sulphide melt that separated from mafic or ultramafic magma and settled as lenses and layers.

What it is

Sulphide melt that separated from mafic or ultramafic magma and settled as lenses and layers.1

How it forms

A hot mafic or ultramafic magma meets an outside source of sulphur, often evaporite rock, and an immiscible sulphide liquid gathers nickel, copper and platinum-group metals. At Norilsk the intrusions are small and shallow in a rift; komatiite types sit in greenstone belts.1

Host rocks

Flood basalt and picritic intrusions (Norilsk); komatiitic dunite and peridotite (Kambalda).1

Where it forms

Rift settings (Norilsk) and Archean greenstone belts (komatiitic).1

How old

Norilsk Paleozoic; komatiitic types Archean or Proterozoic1

Mines of this type

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Mines

An example ofKambalda nickelSee Kambalda nickel, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofMount KeithSee Mount Keith, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofNova (Nova-Bollinger)See Nova (Nova-Bollinger), an example of this deposit type.1An example ofCopper Cliff Mine (Sudbury)See Copper Cliff Mine (Sudbury), an example of this deposit type.1An example ofCreightonSee Creighton, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofSudbury Integrated Nickel Operations - FraserSee Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations - Fraser, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofVoisey's BaySee Voisey's Bay, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofVoisey's Bay / OvoidSee Voisey's Bay / Ovoid, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofNorilsk-Taimyr (Nornickel)See Norilsk-Taimyr (Nornickel), an example of this deposit type.1An example ofOktyabrsky and Talnakh mines (Norilsk)See Oktyabrsky and Talnakh mines (Norilsk), an example of this deposit type.1An example ofRaglanSee Raglan, an example of this deposit type.1

Sources

  1. Mineral Deposit Models (Bulletin 1693, Cox and Singer, eds., 1986) US Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: Elektrisk malmletning. Undersökningar på Billiton, 1920., Okänd / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Escondida Mine, Chile, NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).