The copper-gold fertility of mountain belts

该项目旨在确定花岗岩套中硫化物饱和度的时间和原因，以验证硫化物饱和度控制铜金矿床肥力的假设。世界上一半以上的铜和金来自花岗质岩石，但大多数花岗质套房都是贫瘠的。随着铜金矿越来越难找到，而勘探预算也被大幅削减，可靠地区分含矿和无矿系统变得至关重要。铂族元素地球化学可以通过精确确定演化中的岩浆系统中硫化物饱和的时间来进行区分。不再将贫瘠的套层作为勘探目标，将节省澳大利亚的勘探资金，这些资金可以直接用于成功前景最大的地方。

This project aims to identify the timing of, and understand the causes of, sulphide saturation in granitic suites to test the hypothesis that sulphide saturation controls the fertility of copper-gold deposits. More than half of the world’s copper and gold comes from granitic rocks, but most granitic suites are barren. As copper-gold deposits become increasingly difficult to find, and exploration budgets have been slashed, it is critical to reliably distinguish ore bearing from barren systems. Platinum group element geochemistry could make this distinction by pinpointing the timing of sulphide saturation in evolving magma systems. Eliminating barren suites as exploration targets will save Australia’s exploration dollars which can be directed to where the prospects of success are greatest.