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Geochemistry of the Kalatongke Ni–Cu–(PGE) sulfide deposit, NW China: implications for the formation of magmatic sulfide mineralization in a postcollisional environment

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Abstract

The Kalatongke (also spelt as Karatungk) Ni–Cu–(platinum-group element, PGE) sulfide deposit, containing 33 Mt sulfide ore with a grade of 0.8 wt.% Ni and 1.3 wt.% Cu, is located in the Eastern Junggar terrane, Northern Xinjiang, NW China. The largest sulfide ore body, which occupies more than 50 vol.% of the intrusion Y1, is dominantly comprised of disseminated sulfide with a massive sulfide inner zone. Economic disseminated sulfides also occur at the base of the intrusions Y2 and Y3. The main host rock types are norite in the lower part and diorite in the upper part of each intrusion. Enrichment in large ion lithophile elements and depletion in heavy rare earth elements relative to mid-ocean ridge basalt indicate that the mafic intrusions were produced from magmas derived from a metasomatized garnet lherzolite mantle. The average grades of the disseminated ores are 0.6 wt.% Ni and 1.1 wt.% Cu, whereas those of the massive ores are 2 wt.% Ni and 8 wt.% Cu. The PGE contents of the disseminated ores (14–69 ppb Pt and 78–162 ppb Pd) are lower than those of the massive ores (120–505 ppb Pt and 30–827 ppb Pd). However, on the basis of 100% sulfide, PGE contents of the massive sulfides are lower than those of the disseminated sulfides. Very high Cu/Pd ratios (>4.5 × 104) indicate that the Kalatongke sulfides segregated from PGE-depleted magma produced by prior sulfide saturation and separation. A negative correlation between the Cu/Pd ratio and the Pd content in 100% sulfide indicates that the PGE content of the sulfide is controlled by both the PGE concentrations in the parental silicate magma and the ratio of the amount of silicate to sulfide magma. The negative correlations between Ir and Pd indicate that the massive sulfides experienced fractionation.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by research grants from NSFC (40573014, 40730420) and “CAS Hundred Talents” Project from Chinese Academy of Sciences to Xie-Yan Song. We thank Mr. Jun Liu, Bin Wang, and Cai-Neng Tu of the Kalatongke mine for their kind help during field work. In addition, we thank Ms. Jing Hu for her assistance with LA-ICP-MS analysis. The manuscript was improved by the thoughtful comments and suggestions from Richard Ernst and Franco Pirajno. Additional suggestions for improvement were made by Peter Lightfoot.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Ore Deposit Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 46th Guanshui RD, Guiyang, 550002, People’s Republic of China

    Xie-Yan Song

  2. Sixth Geological Unit, Bureau of Geological and Mineral Resources of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Altai, Xinjiang, 836500, People’s Republic of China

    Xiang-Ren Li

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  1. Xie-Yan Song
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  2. Xiang-Ren Li
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Correspondence to Xie-Yan Song.

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Editorial handling: Peter Lightfood

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Song, XY., Li, XR. Geochemistry of the Kalatongke Ni–Cu–(PGE) sulfide deposit, NW China: implications for the formation of magmatic sulfide mineralization in a postcollisional environment. Miner Deposita 44, 303–327 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-008-0219-x

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