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

矿产勘探和采矿在产生特许权使用费、税收和就业方面对加拿大经济做出了重大贡献。历史上，加拿大西部一直是铅和锌的主要生产国，但目前没有大型矿山在运营。然而，加拿大科迪勒拉地区有几个未开发的页岩赋存的块状硫化物矿床，包括育空地区的麦克米兰山口、西北部的霍华德山口和公元前的马戏团。北阿拉斯加是世界上最重要的页岩含锌矿区之一。红狗区由一系列大型富锌矿藏组成；主要矿藏和Aqquluk已经/或正在开采，Teck Resources正在评估Anarraaq等其他矿藏的经济潜力。赋矿岩石易受成矿天气影响，暴露程度较差，加之地处偏远，再加上高纬度和气候，意味着勘探费用高，具有挑战性。这种矿化的不同寻常之处在于它的品位非常高，这使得红狗矿床尽管地理上与世隔绝，但仍具有经济价值。矿床中的矿化作用复杂，由几代硫化物组成。闪锌矿是主要的矿石矿物，但至少有5代不同世代的矿前、同生和矿后黄铁矿。在一些矿床中还发现了大量的重晶石。地球物理技术已被证明成功地瞄准了重晶石和黄铁矿，但这些矿物与闪锌矿的关系并不是所有的矿床和勘探都知道的。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，以及仅在重晶石和仅在黄铁矿中的区域远景。然后，我们将使用地球化学法分析高品位矿石和贫瘠的寄主岩石的成分，看看是否有任何探索性元素可用于引导系统的高品位部分。我们将结合这些数据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引导高品位矿石。然后，该模型可以应用于加拿大科迪勒拉地区的其他此类矿床。

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.