Genesis of the Anarraaq deposit and lithogeochemical vectors towards ore, Red Dog, Alaska

阿纳拉克矿床的成因和矿石地球化学载体，阿拉斯加红狗

• 批准号: 452969-2013
• 负责人: Creaser, Robert
• 金额: $ 1.76万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=597173
• 关键词: Genesis; Anarraaq; deposit; lithogeochemical; vectors

Mineral exploration and mining contributes significantly to the Canadian economy in terms of the generation of royalties, tax income and employment. Historically Western Canada has been a major producer of Pb and Zn, but currently there are no large mines operating. There are, however, several undeveloped shale-hosted massive sulphide deposits in the Canadian Cordillera including the deposits at MacMillan Pass in the Yukon, Howards Pass in the NWT and Cirque in BC. One of the most important shale hosted Zn ore districts in the world is in Northern Alaska. The Red Dog district comprises a series of large Zn rich deposits; the Main deposit and Aqquluk have been/or are being mined and, Teck Resources are assessing other deposits e.g. Anarraaq for their economic potential. The host rocks to the mineralization weather easily and are poorly exposed and the remoteness of the area, combined with the high latitude and the climate, means that exploration is expensive and challenging. The mineralization is unusual in that it is very high grade, which makes the Red Dog deposits economic despite their geographic isolation. The mineralization in the deposits is complex and consists of several generations of sulphides. Sphalerite is the main ore mineral but there are at least 5 different generations of pre-, syn-, and post-ore pyrite present. Significant amounts of barite are also found in some of the deposits. Geophysical techniques have proven to be successful in targeting barite and pyrite but the relationship of these minerals to sphalerite is not known in all deposits and prospects. One of the primary aims of this project is to develop an understanding of the genetic relationship between pyrite, barite and sphalerite in the Anarraaq deposit and in the barite only and pyrite only regional prospects. We will then use geochemistry to analyse the composition of the high grade ore and the barren host-rocks to see if there are any pathfinder elements that can be used to vector towards the high grade parts of the system. We will combine these data to build a new model of how the deposit formed and explore how geochemistry can be used to vector towards high grade ore. This model can then be applied to other deposits of this type in the Canadian Cordillera.

矿物勘探和采矿在产生特许权使用费、税收收入和就业方面对加拿大经济作出了重大贡献。历史上，加拿大西部一直是铅和锌的主要产地，但目前没有大型矿山在运营。然而，在加拿大科迪勒拉地区，有几个未开发的页岩含块状硫化物矿床，包括育空地区的麦克米伦山口、西北地区的霍华德山口和不列颠哥伦比亚省的Cirque。阿拉斯加北部是世界上最重要的页岩含锌矿区之一。红狗地区由一系列大型富锌矿床组成；主要矿床和Aqquluk已经或正在开采，Teck资源公司正在评估Anarraaq等其他矿床的经济潜力。矿化的寄主岩石容易风化，暴露程度较差，该地区地处偏远，加上高纬度和气候，意味着勘探成本高昂且具有挑战性。矿化是不寻常的，因为它是非常高的品位，这使得红狗矿床经济尽管地理上孤立。矿床中的成矿作用复杂，由几代硫化物组成。闪锌矿是主要的矿石矿物，但矿前、矿中和矿后至少有5代不同的黄铁矿存在。在一些矿床中还发现了大量的重晶石。地球物理技术已证明在重晶石和黄铁矿的定位上是成功的，但这些矿物与闪锌矿的关系并不是在所有矿床和远景中都是已知的。该项目的主要目的之一是了解Anarraaq矿床中黄铁矿、重晶石和闪锌矿之间的成因关系，以及在只有重晶石和黄铁矿的区域前景中。然后，我们将使用地球化学来分析高品位矿石和贫瘠的寄主岩的组成，看看是否有任何探路者元素可以用来指向系统的高品位部分。我们将把这些数据结合起来，建立一个新的矿床形成模型，并探索如何利用地球化学来寻找高品位矿石。然后，这个模型可以应用于加拿大科迪勒拉的其他这种类型的矿床。