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Nickel dispersion and enrichment at the bottom of the regolith: formation of pimelite target-like ores in rock block joints (Koniambo Ni deposit, New Caledonia)

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Abstract

In New Caledonian Ni deposits, the richest Ni silicate ores occur in fractures within the bedrock and saprolite, generally several tens of meters to hundred meters below the present-day surface. Fracture-related Ni silicate ore accounts for high Ni grades, at least a few weight percent above the average exploited grade (2.5 %). These Ni-rich veins are affected by active dissolution-precipitation processes at the level of the water table. Ni in solution is precipitated as silicates in thin layer cementing joints. This mineralization is characterized by chemical and mineralogical concentric zoning with an outer green rim around an inner white zone composed, from the edge to the centre of the block, (i) a highly oxidized and altered zone, (ii) a green pure Ni-rich pimelite zone, (iii) a zone (limited to a few centimetres) with a mixture of Ni-poor kerolite and Ni-rich pimelite and intermediate colours and (iv) a large white Mg-kerolite mineralization zone. This study proposes that the concentric zonation results from evapo-precipitation process related to alternate periods of hydration and drying, induced by water table movements. This extensive dispersion of Ni in concentrically zoned ores can partly explain the rather monotonous Ni grade of the bulk exploitation at the base of the regolith with values between 2 and 3 wt%.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been carried out thanks to the financial and technical help from Koniambo S.A. and Labex Ressources 21 (supported by the French National Research Agency through the national program.

“Investissements d’avenir”, reference ANR-10-LABX-21–LABEX RESSOURCES 21), with analytical contributions from the UMR GeoRessources No 7356 laboratory platforms. The field work was based on an early introduction to this subject matter during a first 1-day visit to Koniambo in 2011 by C. Couteau and E. Fritsch (field trip organized as part of a CNRT project (French National Centre for Technological Research: “Nickel and its environment”) and mostly thanks to 2-week stays both in 2012 and 2013 financed by Koniambo within the framework of B. Quesnel’s PhD thesis. Sara Mullin, a translator specializing in scientific publications, improved the English. We thank the associate editor Thomas Bissig, the editor-in-chief George Beaudoin, and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive reviews which allowed to improve this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Lorraine, GeoRessources Laboratory, CNRS, CREGU, BP 70239, F-54506, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

    Michel Cathelineau

  2. Géosciences Rennes, Université Rennes 1, UMR 6118 CNRS, 35042, Rennes Cedex, France

    Benoît Quesnel, Pierre Gautier & Philippe Boulvais

  3. Service géologique, Koniambo Nickel SAS, 98883, Voh, Nouvelle Calédonie, France

    Clément Couteau & Maxime Drouillet

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  1. Michel Cathelineau
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  2. Benoît Quesnel
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  4. Philippe Boulvais
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  5. Clément Couteau
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Correspondence to Michel Cathelineau or Benoît Quesnel.

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Editorial handling: T. Bissig and G. Beaudoin

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Cathelineau, M., Quesnel, B., Gautier, P. et al. Nickel dispersion and enrichment at the bottom of the regolith: formation of pimelite target-like ores in rock block joints (Koniambo Ni deposit, New Caledonia). Miner Deposita 51, 271–282 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-015-0607-y

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