ABSTRACT
Whole-rock lithogeochemical analyses combined with short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectroscopy provide a rapid and cost-effective method for pros-pecting for porphyry-type hydrothermal systems. Lithogeochemistry detects trace metals to average crustal abundance levels and allows vectoring via gradients of chalcophile and lithophile elements transported by magmatic-hydrothermal ore and external circulating fluids that are dispersed and trapped in altered rocks. Of particular use are alka-lis in sericite and metals such as Mo, W, Se, Te, Bi, As, and Sb, which form stable oxides that remain in weathered rocks and soils. SWIR mapping of shifts in the 2,200-nm Al-OH absorption feature in sericite define paleofluid pH gradients useful for vectoring toward the center of the buoyant metal- bearing magmatic-hydrothermal plume.
INTRODUCTION
Porphyry and related epithermal Au-Ag ores are the world’s most important ore deposits outside of iron and aluminum mines, produce most of the Cu and Mo, and are the largest producers of Au and Ag globally. It has been known for over a cen-tury that metals in porphyry Cu
deposits are zoned, with a central
Advancing Science and Discovery
JANUARY 2015
NEWSLETTER
www.segweb.org
N
UMBER100
Numbe
r 100
N
UMBER100
Numbe
r 100
www.seg2015.org
World-Class Ore Deposits: Discovery to Recovery
September 27–30, 2015
Hobart, TAS, Australia
SEG 2015
to page12 . . .
†Corresponding author: e-mail, rtosdal@gmail.com
granite porphyry dikes magmatic fluids spec. hemat ite Cu > 0.2wt% (±Mo±Au) 2210 nm 2200 nm 2205 nm Wavelength of white mica SWIR (2200) Illite-chl-smect -relic fspar epid-chl -act-fspar plag-act±epid chl-fspar ±calc/epid-hem biot±Kspar smect±Illite±kaol±chl & relic feldspar phengitic musc-chl-relic fspar musc pyroph-alun ±topaz no n-m agm atic flu ids SODIC-CALCIC PROPYLITIC ADVANCED ARGILLIC LATE INTERMEDIATE ARGILLIC POTASSIC INTERMEDIATE ARGILLIC
a.) Hydrothermal alteration assemblages
Cp-Py Cp±Bn Py±Cp± Sl±Ga SERICITIC PHYLLIC Illite-chl -relic fspar
FIGURE 1. a.) Vertical cross section of a typical porphyry Cu deposit showing distribution
of hydrothermal alteration and sulfide minerals. Also shown are generalized contours of the 2,200-nm peak measured in SWIR instruments.
Footprints: Hydrothermal Alteration and
Geochemical Dispersion Around Porphyry Copper Deposits
Scott Halley, Mineral Mapping Pty Ltd., 24 Webb Street, Rossmoyne, WA 6148, Australia, John H. Dilles, Oregon State
University, College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences,104 CEOAS Administrative Building, Corvallis, OR 97331,
United States, and Richard M. Tosdal,
†PicachoEx LLC, 21 Quince Mill Court, North Potomac, MD 20878, United States
SEG 2015
See p. 29–40
for details
Advancing Science
and Discovery
J
ANUARY2015
NEWSLETTER
www.segweb.org
N
UMBER100
Numb
er 100
N
UMBER100
Numb
er 100
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
metallurgical, mineralogical and environmental expertise. With SGS, the entire team is available when you need us, where you need us. Let us help you push your project ahead.
SGS IS THE WORLD’S LEADING INSPECTION, VERIFICATION, TESTING AND CERTIFICATION COMPANY
MINERALS@SGS.COM WWW.SGS.COM/MINING
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
No 100 • JANUARY 2015 S E G N E W S L E T T E R 3
Nº 100 — JANUARY 2015
ExEcutivE Editor ... Brian G. HoaltEchnical Editor ... Shaun Barker
viEws Editors ... Jeffrey Hedenquist
John Thompson Production Editor ... Chris Brandt
nEws Editor ... Alice Bouley
GraPhic dEsiGn
& advErtisinG ... Vivian Smallwood
announcEmEnts ...Christine Horrigan
Society of Economic Geologists, Inc. 7811 Shaffer Parkway Littleton, CO 80127-3732 USA Tel. +1.720.981.7882 • Fax +1.720.981.7874
E-mail: seg@segweb.org
www.segweb.org
The SEG Newsletter is published quarterly in January, April, July, and October by the Society of Economic Geologists, Littleton, Colorado, exclusively for mem-bers of the Society. Opinions expressed herein are those of the writers and do not necessarily repre-sent official positions of the Society of Economic Geologists. When quoting material from the SEG Newsletter please credit both author and publication. © 2015 The Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.
Printed by MODERN LITHO–PRINT CO. Jefferson City, Missouri
SEG Newsletter non-receipt claims must be made within four (4) months [nine (9) months out-side the U.S.A.] of the date of publication in order to be filled without charge.
— FOR CONTRIBUTORS —
The SEG Newsletter is published for the benefit of the worldwide membership of the Society of Eco-nomic Geologists. We invite news items and short articles on topics of potential interest to the mem-bership. If you have questions on submittal of ma-terial, please call the SEG office at +1.720.981.7882 or send details by FAX to +1.720.981.7874; by e-mail to publications@segweb.org.
Format: E-mailed news items should be 5 Mb maximum. Send to publications@segweb.org. Short items may be faxed. Please include your name and contact information for verification purposes. Please e-mail Chris Brandt at the above address if you have questions.
Advertising: Paid advertising is solicited to help offset publication and mailing costs; for rates, contact VivianSmallwood@segweb.org.
DEADLINE FOR NEWSLETTER #101:
February 28, 2015
NEWSLETTER
Feature articles are peer reviewed before they are accepted for publication. Please submit material to the
Technical Editor. Tel. +1.720.981.7882 Fax +1.720.981.7874 E-mail: sbarker@waikato.ac.nz
Contents
F E AT U R E A R T I C L E1 Footprints: Hydrothermal Alteration and Geochemical Dispersion Around Porphyry Copper Deposits
N E W S L E T T E R C O L U M N S
4 From the Executive Director: 100th Issue of the SEG Newsletter
5 From the Executive Director: SEG Council Actions
8 Presidential Perspective: Consolidation, Growth and Challenges…
9 SEGF Presidential Perspective: Threads of Continuity— Keeping the Fabric of Our Profession Strong
S E G N E W S
6 Society of Economic Geologists Awards 2014–2015
10-11 Contributions – SEG, SEG Foundation, and SEG Canada Foundation 18-19 SEG 2014 Conference, Keystone, Colorado, USA
20-21 SEG Awards Ceremony at the SEG 2014 Conference 22 Announcing the SEG 2015 Distinguished Lecturer 22 Announcing the SEG 2015 Traveling Lecturers 24 Presidential Address: In Praise of Life-Long Learning 26 2014 SEG Thayer Lindsley Visiting Lecture Tour
27 Field Trip to High Sulfidation Epithermal Gold Deposits in Southern Peru 27 SEG at the XVII Peruvian Geological Congress in Lima, Peru
29-40 SEG 2015 Conference—World-Class Ore Deposits: Discovery to Recovery S E G S T U D E N T N E W S
41 SEG Student Chapter Grant Recipients for 2014
42 Student Chapter Support Available: SEG Stewart R. Wallace Fund 42 Student Member and Chapter Announcements
42 Graduate Student Fellowships Available for 2015 43 Student Research Grants Available for 2015 44-45 Student Chapter Report Summaries
E X P L O R AT I O N R E V I E W S
47 – Alaska • 47 – Australasia • 48 – Northern Eurasia • 49 – Contiguous United States M E M B E R S H I P
58-61 SEG Membership: Candidates and New Fellows, Members, and Student Members 63 SEG 2015 Officers and Committees
64 SEG Announcements and Deadlines 65 Personal Notes and News
A N N O U N C E M E N T S
28 2015 GSN Symposium & SEG Forum, Reno/Sparks, Nevada 46 World-Class Tin-Silver Deposits Field Trip, Oruro, Bolivia
56 UNESCO-SEG-SGA Latin American Metallogeny Course 2015, Campinas, Brazil 57 ProExplo 2015, Lima, Peru
62 3rd Symposium on Igneous Petrology and Ore Deposits, Rio Negro Province, Argentina
62 4th SGA-SEG-UNESCO-IUGS Short Course, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
62 SRK & University of Toronto Workshop, Toronto, Canada 67 Geofacets from Elsevier – Sign Up Today! (inside back cover)
68 PACRIM 2015 & SEG Post-Conference Workshop, Hong Kong, China (back cover) S E G E D U C AT I O N & T R A I N I N G C U R R I C U L U M
50-51 Preliminary 2015 Education & Training Curriculum
52 Geology of Gold Deposits Short Course, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa 53 SEG at PDAC 2015: Geology of Copper: Porphyry Copper, IOGC and Sedimentary
Rock-Hosted Stratiform Copper Deposits, Toronto, Canada
54 SEG at PDAC 2015: Structural Geology of Gold and Copper Deposits, with Emphasis on Ores in Continental Margin Tectonic Settings, Toronto, Canada
55 SEG at GAC/MAC/AGU/CGU 2015 Meeting: Short Course on Geology of Granite- Greenstone Terranes and Their Mineral Deposits, Montreal, Canada
56 Geology and Geochemistry of Gold Deposits Workshop at SGA, Nancy, France C A L E N D A R O F E V E N T S
66 Calendar ADVERTISERS —
2 Actlabs, Ltd. (inside front cover)
67 ALS Minerals (inside back cover)
49 Anzman, Joseph R.
41 AVRUPA Minerals
48 Condor Consulting, Inc.
41 CSM/Namibia Field Trip
64 de Haller & Schmidt
11 EGRU
25 Laravie, Joseph A.
57 Laurentian University
46 NBMG/Job Opening
2 ORE (inside front cover)
7 Parkhill, Thomas A.
64 Petrographic Consultants Intl.
7 Recursos del Caribe, S.A.
49 Resource Geosciences de Mexico 2 SGS (inside front cover)
25 Shea Clark Smith
Expanding in size from a total of 20 to more than 60 pages in 100 issues over a span of 25 years, the growth of the SEG
Newsletter reflects the vigorous evolution
of the Society during that same period. Those leaders who saw the need to give a voice to the activities of its member-ship obviously made a wise decision in creating what is cited by some as the most popular
publica-tion of the SEG. Issue Number 1 of the SEG Newsletter was published in April 1990. This publica-tion was set to
coin-cide with the beginning of the Society “year” (changed to a calendar year start-ing January 2002) and the beginnstart-ing of the Presidential term of G. Arthur (Art) Barber, with Walden (Wally) P. Pratt as the first Newsletter Editor, Jack E. Murphy serving as the “Executive Secretary,” Donald M. Davidson, Jr. as Treasurer, and Don Everhart as President of the SEG Foundation. The need for a newsletter to supplement the journal,
Economic Geology, is noted by Editor
Pratt in his inaugural column, where he
refers to the formative role played by the Publications Committee the previ-ous fall. Prior to the quarterly Newsletter, the journal had published all the Soci-ety news in its back pages—typically a dozen or more pages on such topics as new member/fellow listings, field trip reports, officer biographies, regional vice-president reports, various notes and
news, announcements, publi-cation order forms, advertise-ments for publications and meetings, and a calendar of events.
The first issue of the SEG
Newsletter provides an
interest-ing retrospective through the columns of the officers noted above and, to make up the 20 pages of content, includes a number of interesting deviations from the Society content typically includ-ed in the journal. Among them are a membership survey compiled by an ad hoc committee (chaired by John C. Wilson) to “improve the flow of quality field-oriented ore deposit papers to
Eco-nomic Geology and other (possibly new)
SEG publications,” a member’s forum, a position paper on geologic mapping, student chapter activities (six student chapters existed in 1990, all in North America), an exploration review, and a more comprehensive feature on upcom-ing meetupcom-ings.
So what has changed? On the face of it, not a great deal in terms of structure and content—the basic elements are still easily recogniz-able in the current issue. Arguably the biggest change has been the
introduc-tion of a widely read technical feature or lead article and the growth in con-tent and color illustrations. Contrast the
Newsletter banners over the years in the
graphic below and you acquire some sense of the evolution to the current issue, Number 100. The introduction of all-color issues has been very popu-lar with readers and the availability of digital format equally so, given the ease of electronic searches. Since 2010, all issues of the SEG Newsletter have been readily available as PDF files on the SEG website.
Much has happened to the Society in 25 years since the introduction of the first Newsletter and SEG now has a presence that was probably difficult to envision, even as recently as 1990. Membership has tripled since then and the number of student chapters has grown by well over a 1,000%, so many more contributions to the
News-letter have flowed in from all over the
world to generate issues frequently three times the size of that first one. With the need to limit print and dis-tribution costs, an electronic Newsletter supplement of the Exploration Reviews was initiated in 2010. Many of the key changes were effected through shifting production of the publication from volunteers to a professional staff at the SEG offices in Littleton. But the key content still is submitted by volunteers who continue to provide “ore for the mill” in the form of new and exciting events and developments in the field of economic geology. The SEG Newsletter has established itself as a key benefit of membership for many and that is the highest compliment that we could hope for. Thank you to all our readers and contributors for your valuable and ongoing support. 1
F R O M T H E E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R
100
th
Issue of the SEG Newsletter
B
rianG. H
oalSEG Executive Director and Editor
SEG
SEG
www.segweb.orgAdvancing Science and Discovery
OCTOBER 2014 NUMBER99
N E W S L E T T E R
Since 2010, all issues of the
SEG Newsletter have been
readily available as PDF files on the SEG website.
Advancing Science and Discovery
NUMBER 100
NEWSLETTER
www.segweb.org
Number 100
Advancing Science and Discovery
JANUARY 2015
NEWSLETTER
www.segweb.org
NUMBER 100 Number 100 NUMBER 100 Number 100Advancing Science and Discovery
JANUARY 2015
NEWSLETTER
www.segweb.org
NUMBER 100 Number 100 NUMBER 100 Number 100No 100 • JANUARY 2015 S E G N E W S L E T T E R 5
The SEG Council held a regularly sched-uled meeting in Castle Peak I & II, Key-stone Convention Centre in KeyKey-stone, Colorado, USA. Members of the Council present were J.A. Kinnaird (Chair), R.M. Baumgartner, G.M. Brown, F.I. de Azevedo, R.J. Goldfarb, D.J. Hall, B.G. Hoal, K.D. Kelley, H.J. Noyes, F. Robert, M. Soylu, and A.T. Swarthout (President of Foundation). C.A. Horrigan (SEG Executive Assistant) and N. Fayol also attended. Apologies were received from A. Arribas, R., G.G. Carlson (President of Canada Foundation), J. Cline, J. Mao, T.C. McCuaig, T. Monecke, and G. Olivo. President Kinnaird called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m.
After establishing that there was a quo-rum, President Kinnaird asked attendees to briefly introduce themselves.
The following actions were taken at the meeting:
n Approved a motion from F. Robert to accept the minutes of the meeting held on March 1, 2014.
n Accepted the verbal report of the President in which she noted that she had recently visited staff at the Littleton office and considered the organization to be doing well. She further summarized a number of highlights including a membership that was holding strong at 7,000 despite a weak industry and a signif-icant increase in the number of stu-dent chapters to over 80. Although students continued to make up 20% of the membership, recent graduates would receive a discount in their membership dues of close to 50% to encourage retention. Traveling lecturer programs remained active throughout the world and educa-tional courses and field trips formed an important part of SEG’s visibility. The Keystone conference under-scored SEG’s success at a challenging time in our industry and the level of participation by sponsors and attend-ees was exceptional.
n Approved a motion from Swarthout to ratify the following actions taken by the Executive Committee since its meeting on February 28, 2014: — Approved Fellowship List No.
14-01 on March 6, 2014, thereby
admitting the following 26 candi-dates to SEG Fellowship: John F.W. Bowles, David P. Braxton, Sebas-tiao G. Carvalho, Alain Chauvet, Jason K. Dunning, Enrique Garay, Paul S. Heithersay, Catherine J. Hickson, Nigel M. Kelly, James P. Llorca, Alejandro L. Ly, Gail A. Mahood, Maria I. Marín-Cerón, David R. Miller, Andrea Mindsz-enty, Michael S.J. Mlynarczyk, Clay E. Postlethwaite, Stephen G. Redak, Patrick B. Redmond, Karl J. Roa, Shawn A. Ryan, Martiya Sadeghi, Gilbert Stein, Joao Batista Guimarães Teixeira, John V. Tiber-indwa, and Bradley A. Wake. — Approved on March 20, 2014, the
draft Executive Committee min-utes for the February 28, 2014, meeting held at the Radisson Admiral Harbourfront Hotel in Toronto, Canada.
— Approved Fellowship List No. 14-02 on June 2, 2014, thereby admitting the following 15 can-didates to SEG Fellowship: Omer Albayrak, Marc Bardoux, Fletcher Bourke, William R. Brown, Cen-giz Y. Demirci, Garth Earls, Mat-thew Field, John N. Lauderdale, Anthony A. Longo, Matthew J. McCarthy, Russell M. Meares, Eric Roth, Jenny Skoog, Alan J. Wain-wright, and James A. Walker. — Recommended on August 10, 2014,
that Council approve the nomi-nation of the following members to Honorary Fellow status: John P. Hunt and Robert O. Fournier. — Approved Fellowship List No.
14-03 on September 12, 2014, thereby admitting the following 15 candidates to SEG Fellowship: Serdar Akca, Colin T. Barnett, Frances Cooper, Carla Dimalanta, Guillermo Gastelum-Morales, John M. Hanchar, James M. Logan, Dan Marshall, Aoife M. McGrath, Vasileios Melfos, Andrew J. Rowe, Friedrich Speidel, Justin J.W. Van Der Toorn, Peter J.M. Van Maas-trigt, and Baojin Zhao.
And the following actions taken by the Council since its meeting on March 1, 2014:
— Approved on March 1, 2014, the following Student Chapter applications as recommended by the Student Affairs Committee: Stanford University, California, USA (new chapter); Imperial Col-lege of London, United Kingdom (reactivated chapter); and Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada (reactivated chapter).
— Approved on April 4, 2014, the draft Council minutes for the March 1, 2014, meeting held at the Radisson Admiral Harbour-front Hotel in Toronto, Canada. — Approved on April 29, 2014, the following Student Chapter appli-cations as recommended by the Student Affairs Committee: (SFU) Simon Fraser University, BC, Can-ada and (CSM-Exeter) Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, UK.
— Approved on July 2, 2014, the Nominating Committee’s slate of candidates to take office in the period 2015-2017: Robert P. Fos-ter, 2015 President-Elect; A. James Macdonald, 2015-2017 Vice Pres-ident for Regional Affairs; How-ard C. Golden, Robert P. Moritz, and Brian G. Rusk, 2015-2017, Councilors.
n Passed a motion from de Azevedo accepting the report of the Founda-tion President, noting the proposed candidates for the 2015-2019 Foun-dation Board of Trustees: Jones Bel-ther (Brazil), Jonathan M.A. Hronsky (Australia), and Raymond R. Jannas (Chile). This slate required a majority vote of the Councilors (the members of SEG Foundation) and this condition was met. Council further noted that John Black and David Kelley would become Foundation President and Vice President, respectively, in 2015. Andrew Swarthout would become Past President and Ruth Carraher con-tinue as Secretary. Swarthout thanked all the Trustees for their service and recognized Donald Birak’s strong efforts on behalf of the Foundation as Chair of the Fundraising Committee. n Passed a motion from
Swarthout accepting
F R O M T H E E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R
SEG Council Actions
Keystone, Colorado, USA – September 26, 2014
the report of the Executive Director. Much of this report would be pub-lished in the January issue of the SEG
Newsletter.
n Passed a motion from Robert to approve the Treasurer’s Report on financials for the period January 1 to July 31, 2014, and the 2015 budget proposed by the Budget Committee. The Treasurer noted that the Society and Foundation were in sound finan-cial condition.
n Passed a motion from Baumgartner to ratify the Investment Committee membership for 2015 as follows: C. Herald (Chair), D. Baker, D. Birak, R. Hall, B. Suchomel, H. Noyes, and B. Hoal.
n Passed a motion from Soylu accept-ing the report of the Chair of the Publications Board, Goldfarb. Noted that the print journal dues would be slightly higher in 2015 to cover shipping mainly, the journal was being published in a timely manner, and fee-based open access was now being offered to all authors. Two new publications had been released since the previous report by the Chair in Toronto, and most SEG publications are being released as e-books through GeoScienceWorld. Two Publication Board members, Stuart Simmons and Zhaoshan Chang, had agreed to extend their terms of office, while a replacement for one other, John Thompson, would be sought. Several
new publications were in the pipe-line, including volumes on rare earth and critical elements, diamonds, and ore deposits of China. The special publication associated with the Key-stone conference would be released at the meeting.
n Noted the report of the Vice President for Regional Affairs, Y. Watanabe, as presented by the Executive Director, and passed the following resolutions: — Approved a new Regional Vice
President for Europe, Jens Gutzmer, to start his 3-year term on Janu-ary 1, 2015. This nomination was received from James Macdonald (VP Regional Affairs 2015-2017) and motion duly made by Kinnaird. — Approved, on a motion from
Robert, the subcommittee (Chair: D.L. Huston) recommendation of Andreas Audétat (F 08), Bayeri-sches Geoinstitut, Germany as the 2015 International Exchange Lec-turer. Topics for lecturing include geochemistry of high temperature metal transport in porphyry and related deposits.
— Approved, on a motion from Kin-naird, the subcommittee (Chair: B. Rusk) recommendation of Karen Kelley (F 81), US Geological Sur-vey, USA, as the 2015 Thayer Lind-sley Visiting Lecturer.
— On a motion from Robert, asked that the subcommittee (Chair: Watanabe) tasked with
recommending a Regional Vice President Lecturer provide a fur-ther candidate and an alternate choice for consideration by the Council.
n On a motion from de Azevedo, approved the committee (Chair, S. Gleeson) recommendation of Sar-ah-Jane Barnes (F 93), Universite du Quebec a Chicoutimi, Canada as the 2015 SEG Distinguished Lecturer. Barnes has made a significant con-tribution in the field of Ni-Cu-PGE deposits.
n On a motion from Baumgartner, approved the Awards Committee (Chair, J. Cline) recommendations as follows:
— Penrose Gold Medal for 2014 to James M. Franklin (SF 85), Frank-lin Geosciences Ltd., Canada — SEG Silver Medal for 2014 to
Stu-art F. Simmons (F 85), Energy & Geoscience Institute, USA
— Ralph W. Marsden Award for 2014 to Mark D. Hannington (FL 91), University of Ottawa, Canada n Passed a motion from Robert to
approve the recommendation of the committee (Chair, M.D. Barton) that Simon M. Jowitt (M 08), Monash University, Australia, receive the 2014 Waldemar Lindgren Award. n Discussed the SEG Honorary Fellow
Committee Report from Arribas, R. and, on a motion from Soylu, re-af-firmed Honorary Fellowships for the following nominees:
— Robert O. Fournier (SF 69), Cali-fornia, USA
— John P. Hunt (SF 71), California, USA
SEG Honorary Fellows are senior eco-nomic geologists recognized for extraor-dinary contributions, particularly those who have not already received an SEG Medal or Award.
n On a motion from de Azevedo, approved the following nominees for committee vacancies as recom-mended by the Committee on Com-mittees (Chair, R.M. Tosdal): — Distinguished Lecturer
Commit-tee: Zhaoshan Chang (F 04, Aus-tralia) and Kalin Kouzmanov (M 08, Switzerland)
— Fellowship Admissions Commit-tee: Huayong Chen (F 09, China) and David Selby (F 01, UK)
SEG Council Actions — Keystone, Colorado — September 26, 2014 (continued)
. . .
from page5
Society of Economic Geologists Awards 2014–2015
SEG R.A.F. Penrose Gold Medal for 2014
James M. Franklin (Franklin Geosciences Ltd, Canada)
SEG Silver Medal for 2014
Stuart F. Simmons (Hot Solutions Ltd, New Zealand and Energy and Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, USA)
SEG Ralph W. Marsden Award for 2014
Mark D. Hannington (University of Ottawa, Canada)
SEG Waldemar Lindgren Award for 2014
Simon M. Jowitt (Monash University, Australia)
SEG Distinguished Lecturer for 2015
Sarah-Jane Barnes (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Canada)
SEG International Exchange Lecturer for 2015
Andreas Audétat (Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Germany)
SEG Thayer Lindsley Visiting Lecturer for 2015
Karen D. Kelley (US Geological Survey, USA)
SEG Regional Vice President Lecturer for 2015
Roy McG. Miller (Consulting Geologist, Namibia)
SEG Honorary Fellow for 2015
Robert O. Fournier (Retired, USA)
SEG Honorary Fellow for 2015
No 100 • JANUARY 2015 S E G N E W S L E T T E R 7
— Lindgren Award Committee: Peter Hollings (F 04, Canada) and Alan Wilson (F 95, Australia)
— Student Affairs Committee: John Clifford (F 89, Ireland) and Mega Rosana (F 99, Indonesia)
— Traveling Lecturers Committee: David Braxton (F 99, UK), Alan Galley (F 92, Canada), and Ilkay Kus¸cu (F 09, Turkey)
n Passed a motion from Soylu to accept the report of the Student Affairs Committee presented by the Chair, R. Baumgartner, with the following specific action:
— Approval of two new SEG Student Chapters: Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Mexico and Aristotle University Thessaloniki, Greece. With the above approval, there are now 83 Student Chapters located in 27 coun-tries; the SEG Stewart R. Wallace Fund distributed $25,794 to 25 Student Chap-ters as part of Round 1 (of 2) funding.
n Passed a motion from Brown to accept the SEG Students’ Committee annual report as presented by the Chair, N. Fayol. The role of Student Chapter advisors in communicating with and supporting students was emphasized. Council requested that Cam McCuaig provide an update on the status of the student-proposed exploration geology contest.
n Thanked Bart Suchomel, Chair of the SEG 2014 Conference Organizing Committee, for providing a very pos-itive status report on the conference “Building Exploration Capability for the 21st Century” scheduled to start
on September 27th. The following information was noteworthy:
— There were 810 attendees registered to date, including164 students. Sponsorship enabled support of more than 100 students. Exhibit booths were sold out.
— The technical program was made up of 74 talks (22 of these invited) and nearly 200 posters.
— Field trip registrants numbered almost 160, with a similar number of workshop attendees.
— An SEG Special Publication would accompany the conference and be released on site.
n Accepted a report from Bruce Gem-mell, Chair of the SEG 2015 Confer-ence Organizing Committee, on the status of the conference “World-Class Ore Deposits: Discovery to Recovery” to be held jointly with CODES in Hobart, Tasmania. Contracts have been signed with the meeting plan-ner and venue hotel, and a sponsor-ship-exhibition prospectus is now available. The technical program is well advanced and workshops and field trips are being finalized. The meeting planner, Leesa McDermott, was in attendance.
n Accepted a report from Mesut Soylu, Chair of the SEG 2016 Conference Organizing Committee, on the status of the conference “Tethyan Tectonics and Metallogeny” to be held jointly with the Turkish Association of Eco-nomic Geologists (TAEG) in Izmir, Turkey. An agreement is in place between the two societies and the organizing committee and subcom-mittees are close to being finalized. A contract with the meeting planner, ZED, is currently under legal review and an onsite visit by SEG to the con-ference venue is in the planning stage. n Accepted, on a motion from
Baumgartner, the report of the Pro-gram Committee (Chair A. Arribas, R.) as presented by the Executive Director. It was noted that many of the events listed through 2018 would be considered in more detail by the Education and Training Committee. n Passed a motion from Swarthout to accept the Education and Training
Committee Report as compiled by Elizabeth Holley, Program Coordina-tor, and presented by Robert, Chair. The following points were noted: — Thirteen short courses, four
work-shops, and twelve field trips make up the 2014 program.
— A 2014 course brochure is available for download on the SEG website. — A catalog of all courses planned
for 2015 is now available. — A meeting of the Education and
Training Committee is scheduled to take place at Keystone and this will focus on further development of the committee’s “roadmap” including the development of an Economic Geology 101 course. n Discussed the following issues under
Other Business:
— The opportunity for closer align-ment between the Society, SEG Foundation and Canada Foun-dation based on a favorable compliance review by Pricewater-houseCoopers in Canada. — An updated proposal for a joint
SEG-GSA Economic Geology Field Program was received from GSA. Council affirmed that timing of implementation would be key given the need for industry funding and that students outside North Amer-ica should be able to participate. — The issue of young graduates
strug-gling in an industry downturn was noted by de Azevedo. Career advice and discussion in this regard was becoming a regular topic on the SEG LinkedIn Group and Council members were advised to partici-pate as appropriate.
n Agreed to schedule the next meeting of the Council on Saturday February 28, 2015, at the Radisson Admiral Harbourfront in Toronto.
n Adjourned the meeting at 4:25 p.m. on a motion from Kinnaird. 1
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Gold Hill Geological Research
Consulting Geology and Petrography Thin Sections and Polished Ore Sections
Thomas A. Parkhill, M.S.
Economic Geology-Petrology Geologist-Petrographer
Post Office Box 3883 Telephone Albuquerque, New Mexico 87190 USA (505) 899-8039
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Mineral Occurrence and
Land Status Databases
in GIS format (MapInfo or ArcGIS) for:
Colombia, the Greater Antilles, Central America
During the past year as President-Elect, I have gained new insights into our Society. As you know from reading the
Newsletter, our Society is strong and
healthy, with an increasingly global reach. This provides an exceptional base on which to build, thanks to the vision-ary steps taken by my predecessors, the volunteers who support our Society, and the dedicated staff at our Littleton head-quarters, which does wonders under the wise guidance of Brian Hoal, our Executive Director. I am therefore very enthusiastic about my new role as Pres-ident and deeply committed to serve all of you to the best of my abilities.
A major objective of SEG is to offer professional development and training opportunities to its members through high quality publications, conferences, lecturers, and a range of field trips, courses, and workshops. These activities are strongly supported by the SEG Foun-dation (SEGF), the SEG Canada Founda-tion (SEGCF) and various fund-raising initiatives. Our membership stands at around 7,000,
represent-ing over 100 countries, with ~60% from industry and 40% from govern-ment and universities, the latter including ~20% students. SEG, SEGF, and SEGCF recognize the particular importance of
students to the future of our profession, through 80 active SEG Student Chapters around the world, grants and fellow-ships, and by supporting student atten-dance to SEG conferences.
The past year was a busy and very productive time for SEG, with a success-ful Keystone conference in September, contributions to several other confer-ences globally, one Special Publica-tion, several field trip guidebooks, two Compilation DVDs, as well as 13 short courses, 4 workshops, and 12 field trips. In addition, over $400,000 in Student Research Grants and Graduate Fellow-ships were awarded to 97 students by the SEG Foundations.
In my vision statement as a candi-date for SEG Officer, I proposed to focus efforts in the next few years on consol-idating and reinforcing existing initia-tives so that we can continue to deliver strong programs to our members. This becomes particularly important in the context of the serious downturn cur-rently faced by the mineral industry.
On the Education and Training front, much progress has been made
in the last 2 to 3 years, with strong programs targeting basic field skills, exploration and mining technical methods, ore deposits and metallog-eny, and management. The curriculum is now well advertised with a current year summary program posted in the
Newsletter (see p. 50–51) and a regularly
updated course brochure posted on the SEG website. These initiatives will assist members in planning attendance to selected courses. To optimize the impact of the program, the Commit-tee is formalizing a core portfolio of courses and field trips to be offered on a semi-regular basis, and a selection of targeted meetings has been identified to help prioritize where these courses and field trips will be delivered. In order to ensure relevance of the pro-gram to SEG members, an informal network of industry representatives has been established for feedback on important questions. Responses to an informal questionnaire distributed to attendees at the Keystone meeting
ranked field-based courses above short courses and above workshops, con-firming that the current program is adequately balanced. Please pass on any suggestions to Eliza-beth Holley, our program coordinator, at elizabethholley@segweb.org.
The other area of focus is consoli-dation of the current global reaches of the Society and a measured expansion in underrepresented regions such as Asia and Africa, especially in important industry hubs such as West Africa. The SEG is progressing well on this path: the next two SEG conferences will be held in Hobart, Tasmania, in 2015, and Izmir, Turkey, in 2016. Short courses and workshops have also recently been offered or are planned in Brazil, China, and Namibia/South Africa. Efforts are underway to enhance our presence in selected new areas; this requires a strategic and focused approach involv-ing close coordination within SEG and industry support in order to offer appealing services/publications and to overcome some of the logistical and banking/payment issues that are com-mon in the developing world.
Finally, we cannot ignore the current downturn in commodity prices and its negative impact on the minerals industry, with consequent layoffs of
geoscience pro-fessionals and challenging out-looks for students. This situation also impacts SEG through a decrease in corporate con-tributions to the SEGF and SEGCF, reduction in indus-try enrollment at
selected short courses such as Practical Methods in Mineral Exploration and even a decline in membership.
As Dan Wood pointed out in the April 2014 Newsletter (p. 20–21), our industry is cyclic and there is not much we can do about that. History teaches us that the situation will definitely turn around—but not when! So what can we do? For the SEG, this means engag-ing industry leaders closely to ensure that our programs remain aligned with professional needs and priorities. We need to remind corporations of the importance of developing their young geoscientists by sending them to rele-vant courses and field trips, and of the long-term value of contributing to SEGF or SEGCF for continued strong and direct support to students. Established professionals, recent graduates, and current students should consider the advice of Dan Wood (April Newsletter, p. 20–21) and Andy Swarthout (July
News-letter, p. 8) and turn this challenge into
an opportunity—the opportunity to become as employable as possible. Con-sider using this time to broaden your skills to other deposit types, mineral economics, geometallurgy, or languages, by attending short courses or field trips, and simply by reading technical material. Explorationists who have the opportunity should consider mine-based employment as a way of better understanding what it takes to convert mineralization into ore.
At a recent Mining Innovation Forum in Toronto, guest speaker Pierre Lassonde, a famous Canadian mining investor and founder of Franco-Nevada, made a strong case for an eventual upturn in commodity prices, driven in part by growing population and mid-dle-class in developing areas such as Asia. The message for all of us should be to invest time and effort now to be fully prepared when the situation turns around. Now is when networking becomes very important, and this is a clear benefit of SEG membership. 1
P R E S I D E N T I A L P E R S P E C T I V E
Consolidation, Growth and Challenges…
F
rançoisr
oBertSEG President 2015
…we cannot ignore the current downturn in commodity prices and its negative impact on the minerals industry, with consequent layoffs of geoscience professionals and challenging outlooks for students.
No 100 • JANUARY 2015 S E G N E W S L E T T E R 9
A pleasant sense of nostalgia has set upon me as I contemplate the honor of stepping into the role of President of the SEG Foundation. To have the chance to give back to the preeminent professional society for my chosen career is a special opportunity, and I look forward to working with a great group of peers to further strengthen an already outstanding SEG and SEG Foundation.
The fact that I am following in the footsteps of Andy Swarthout has caused me to reflect on the importance of continuity in the mineral exploration industry. Andy was one of the first and best bosses I have had in a career that now spans more decades than either of us will probably admit to. I started at Bear Creek Mining at a time when young geologists were often recruited out of universities for summer posi-tions and teamed in the field with more seasoned explorationists to learn the trade. This mentoring relationship was fundamental in creating a strong pro-fessional culture within the company, and it was common to hear people talk about being a lifetime “Bear Creeker” or having come up through the “Anacon-da School of Exploration.” I even recall senior geologists who had spent their entire careers with one company and passed on their experience and knowl-edge to dozens of geologists who had followed in their footsteps. Exploration companies had a fundamental role in the development of their employees. Furthermore, many economic geology professors had strong links to industry and became lifetime mentors for their students.
However, over the last few decades, our industry has changed; continuity of employment is no longer common and economic geology programs at many universities no longer exist or have become increasingly focused on academic study. Andy and I have each worked for several other companies over the years, but I have always been able to look to him for advice and guidance. I know that he and others will continue to provide support as we guide the SEG
Foundation through the challenging times faced by our industry.
The importance of mentors and men-toring relationships cannot be overem-phasized in our industry, but, as noted above, they are increasingly difficult to establish and maintain due to less employment stability and the paucity of mid-career geoscientists—the miss-ing generation that has been noted by many of my predecessors. Career devel-opment has become an increasing chal-lenge for many young explorationists. However, as the role that companies and universities play in career develop-ment for mineral exploration geologists has decreased, I have been very pleased to note that the SEG has substantial-ly increased support, particularsubstantial-ly for our student members. This support comes in the form of student grants, field courses, visiting lecturers, work-shops, student chapter support, confer-ences, and more—all of which provide opportunities to establish professional contacts and develop mentoring rela-tionships. These activities are critical to the continuity of our profession. The principal role of the SEG Foundation is to raise funds to continue to support these activities.
After several years of double-digit percentage growth, particularly in the number of student members, the SEG membership now appears to be stabiliz-ing. The amount of support provided by the SEG Foundation and the SEG Cana-da FounCana-dation to student members and SEG programs has also increased during this time to more than US$500,000 per year. However, as we face a sustained downturn in mineral exploration fund-ing and activity, it has been increasfund-ingly challenging to provide this level of support, even though this is the time when it is most critical. Traditional multi-year support from mining compa-nies has dropped off notably as budgets are further trimmed, but we have been fortunate to report a strong increase in individual donations to the SEGF over the past few years. It is truly encourag-ing to see this support for our society, which is indicative of our commitment
to giving back to our profession. Don Birak, past SEGF President, has recently accepted the challenge to lead the SEGF Fund Raising Commit-tee and will work
closely with Gerry Carlson and his team at the SEG Canada Foundation as well as Nikki Jamison of SEG Littleton head-quarters to seek creative ways to obtain funding to maintain the level of support we have been fortunate to provide for the past several years.
I look forward to a challenging but rewarding year as the SEGF continues to seek ways to support our profession-al society. With an excellent group of Trustees and strong support from Brian Hoal and Christine Horrigan at SEG Lit-tleton headquarters, I am confident we will rise to the challenge.
Although the principal objective of the SEGF is to provide funding for educational activities that benefit mem-bers, particularly students, I believe that our role extends well beyond this. As ambassadors for our profession, we need to lay the groundwork for future generations. To this end, I would like to strongly encourage all members of SEG to seek opportunities to give back to our profession by making individual or corporate donations to the SEGF or by making time to participate in the many SEG activities that benefit other members and share your exploration experience. Your participation, in any form, will serve to provide threads of continuity that will strengthen the rich fabric of our profession. 1
F O U N D AT I O N P R E S I D E N T I A L P E R S P E C T I V E
Threads of Continuity —
Keeping the Fabric of Our Profession Strong
J
ackB
lackSEG Foundation President 2015
Contributions
8/1/2014–10/31/2014
Thank you for your generous contributions to the Society and the SEG Foundation.
SEG General Fund
$250 –$500
Hodkiewicz, Paul, Australia McIntosh, Stephen, Australia McLemore, Virginia, USA
$100–$150
Almasan, Radu, Chile Barnes, Hubert, USA
Boyes, Matthew, United Kingdom Bundtzen, Thomas, USA Fournier, Robert, USA Henry, Christopher, USA Hitzman, Murray, USA Klipfel, Paul, USA Large, Duncan, Germany Mauk, Jeffrey, USA McCurdy, Karr, USA Rodriguez Pevida, Luis, Spain Swarthout, Andrew, USA
Up to $99
Albinson, Tawn, Mexico Amazon Smile, USA Asare, Anthony, Ghana Backus, Rachel, Australia Barnard, Fred, USA Beleque, Andreia, Brazil Benson, Robert, USA Bernabe Evans, Pablo, Chile Bettles, Keith, USA Bookstrom, Arthur, USA Brosius, Eric, USA Carnier, Alexandre, Brazil Carrasco, Pablo, Chile Chitalin, Andrey, Russia Clifford, John, Ireland Danderfer, Andre, Brazil Davis, Nicholas, USA Della Libera, Michele, Italy Dilles, John, USA
Drake-Brockman, Joseph, Australia El-Raghy, Sami, Australia
Foster, Robert, United Kingdom Garay, Enrique, Peru
Gialli, Stefano, Italy Hanneman, Harold, USA Haskins, Roger, USA Hoal, Brian, USA James, Ronald, Australia Johnson, David, USA Kay, Suzanne, USA Kekana, Sello, South Africa Kershaw, Byard, USA Klau, Wolfgang, Germany Krewedl, Dieter, USA Lecumberri Sanchez, Pilar,
Switzerland Logsdon, Mark, USA McEwan, Craig, Australia Meldrum, Simon, Peru
More, Syver, USA Motta, Joao, Brazil Moye, Robert, Australia Mudrey, Michael, USA Nakashima, Kazuo, Japan Ogata, Takeyuki, Japan Painter, Matthew, Australia Petla, Sivarama Prasad, Swaziland Ramos, Frank, USA
Reed, Mark, USA Rezende, Nelio, Brazil Shimizu, Toru, Japan Silva, Pedro, Chile
Taksavasu, Taksorn, Thailand van Maastrigt, Peter, Netherlands Woodman, John, USA
SEG Foundation
General Fund
$5,000
Parratt, Ronald, USA
$250–$500
Hodkiewicz, Paul, Australia Lenters, Martin, Canada Steininger, Roger, USA
$100–$150
Carraher, Ruth, USA Flawn, Peter, USA Gardiner, Fraser, Bulgaria Graybeal, Frederick, USA Hitzman, Murray, USA Jennings, Donald, USA Large, Duncan, Germany Marlowe, Karl, USA Mathewson, David, USA Megaw, Peter, USA Myers, Russell, USA Parry, John, USA Price, Jonathan, USA
Up to $99
Barnard, Fred, USA Beukes, Nicolas, South Africa Channer, Dominic, Ecuador Della Libera, Michele, Italy Foster, Robert, United Kingdom Hoal, Brian, USA
Krewedl, Dieter, USA Li, Xiaofeng, China Lienhard, Walter, USA Logsdon, Mark, USA More, Syver, USA Moye, Robert, Australia Taksavasu, Taksorn, Thailand
The Discovery Fund
$100–$150
Schutz, J. Leroy, USA Thomsen, Michael, USA
Up to $99
Hasson, Sean, Bulgaria Whiteford, Sean, USA Woodman, John, USA
Hickok-Radford Fund
$100
Bundtzen, Thomas, USA Millholland, Madelyn, USA Myers, Russell, USA Proffett, John, USA Puchner, Christopher, USA
Up to $99
Bernstein, Stefan, Denmark Cox, Bruce, USA
Freeman, Curtis, USA Leonard, Kevin, USA Leveille, Richard, USA Turner, Thomas, USA
Hugo Dummett Fund
$250–$500
Broughton, David, Canada Drobeck, Peter, USA Kirwin, Douglas, Thailand
$100–$200
Brown, H. Gassaway, USA Cocker, Mark, USA Mathewson, David, USA Maynard, James, USA Price, Jonathan, USA
Up to $99
Bolton, Barrie, Australia Cappa, James, USA Jarvis, William, USA Krewedl, Dieter, USA Logsdon, Mark, USA McLean, Neil, Australia More, Syver, USA Parker, Harry, USA Price, Barry, Canada Schafer, Robert, USA Wilde, Andy, Australia Wilton, Dean, USA
McKinstry Fund
$100–$250
Brimhall, George, USA Broughton, David, Canada
Coveney, Raymond, USA Gustafson, Lewis, USA Hamm, Jack, USA
Jenkin, Gawen, United Kingdom Jones, Richard, USA
Up to $99
Chapman, John, Canada Glass, Frank, Canada MacIntyre, Timothy, USA McConachy, Timothy, Australia More, Syver, USA
Ogata, Takeyuki, Japan Oyarzun, Jorge, Chile Taguchi, Sachihiro, Japan
The Timothy Nutt
Memorial Fund
$100
Chadwick, Peter, Canada Foster, Robert, United Kingdom Speers, Roger, Burkina Faso
Up to $99
Barnard, Fred, USA
Oberthuer, Thomas, Germany Schafer, Robert, USA
Student Field Trip Fund
$45,000
Anonymous, USA
$1,000
Kirwin, Douglas, Thailand Seavoy, Ronald, USA
$300–$500
Broughton, David, Canada Groves, David, USA
$100–$250
Backer, Harold, USA Blakestad, Robert, USA Brown, H. Gassaway, USA Buhov, Valentin, Bulgaria Burstow, William, USA Duncan, David, Canada Foster, Robert, United Kingdom Henry, Christopher, USA Hudak, George, USA Janecky, David, USA Joensen, Svend, Denmark Longo, Anthony, USA MacTavish, Allan, Canada Mathewson, David, USA McCusker, Robert, USA Nettle, John, Australia Nordin, Gary, Canada Powell, Jon, USA Puentes, Cristian, USA
No 100 • JANUARY 2015 S E G N E W S L E T T E R 11
Contributions
8/1/2014–10/31/2014
Thank you for your generous contributions to the Society and the SEG Foundation.
Schloderer, John, USA Smith, Patrick, USA Steinberger, Ingo, Germany
Up to $99
Ashley, Paul, Australia Azadbakht, Zeinab, Canada Barnard, Fred, USA Beckley, Richard, Australia Bettles, Keith, USA Bjerg, Ernesto, Argentina Brown, Rick, Brazil
Burgoa Videla, Claudio, Chile Burisch, Mathias, Germany Chitalin, Andrey, Russia Clifford, John, Ireland Cortes, Marcelo, Chile Davis, James, USA
Doucet, Dominique, Canada Dykeman, Candace, USA Herbort, Thomas, Switzerland Jones, Philip, Australia Klipfel, Paul, USA Lebert, Breagh, Canada Li, Jian-Wei, China McEwan, Craig, Australia Myers, Russell, USA Ndalulilwa, Kaarina, Namibia Parker, Harry, USA Polozov, Alexander, Russia Simpson, Thomas, USA Stanton-Cook, Kim, Australia Sulfrian, Charles, USA
Underwood, David, South Africa Wilton, Dean, USA
Yonemura, Kazuhiro, Japan
The Alberto
Terrones L. Fund
Up to $99
Barnard, Fred, USA Martinez, Manuel, Chile
Sanchez Mora, Dennis, Costa Rica
Student Fellowship Fund
Corporate Contributions
$50, 000
Anglo American plc, United Kingdom
$30,000
Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada
$45,000
Anonymous, USA
$1,000
Seavoy, Ronald, USA
$500
Drobeck, Peter, USA
$100–$200
Hitzman, Murray, USA Kotlyar, Boris, USA Powell, Jon, USA Smith, Patrick, USA Xu, Jiuhua, China
Up to $99
Beckley, Richard, Australia Boullier, Anne-Marie, France Chitalin, Andrey, Russia Lebert, Breagh, Canada Polozov, Alexander, Russia Simpson, Thomas, USA
Canada Foundation
$1,000
Franklin, James, Canada
$250–$500
Brisbin, Daniel, Canada Hattori, Keiko, Canada Hodder, Robert, Canada Linnen, Robert, Canada MacTavish, Allan, Canada Reeve, Edward, Canada Robert, François, Canada
$100–$200
Armstrong, Brett, Canada Boyd, Robert, Canada Cashin, Peter, Canada Cote-Mantha, Olivier, Canada
Debicki, Edward, Canada Dion, Claude, Canada Fitzpatrick, Arthur, Canada Galley, Alan, Canada Hannington, Mark, Canada Hart, Thomas, Canada Idziszek, Chet, Canada Liverton, Timothy, Canada Malfair, Mark, Canada Pawliuk, David, Canada Pearson, William, Canada Perreault, Serge, Canada Richards, Jeremy, Canada Tosdal, Richard, USA Walton, Ian, Canada Zajac, I., Canada Zentilli, Marcos, Canada
Up to $99
Barnard, Fred, USA Carmichael, Bob, Canada Channer, Dominic, Ecuador Della Libera, Michele, Italy Doucet, Dominique, Canada Gagnier, Claude, Canada Grace, Kenneth, Canada Hollings, Peter, Canada Price, Barry, Canada Rampton, Vernon, Canada Razique, Abdul, Canada Schafer, Robert, USA Thompson, Ian, Canada Whiteford, Sean, USA
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
IOCG Deposits: The Cloncurry Experience
Deposit Understanding – Exploration Case Studies – Field Trip
4th – 6th March 2015
Cloncurry, NW Queensland, Australia
Presented by
The Economic Geology Research Centre (EGRU), James Cook University and
NW QLD mining companies
Deposits to be discussed and/or visited include
Ernest Henry, the E1 Group, Monakoff, Osborne, Mt Eliot/SWAN, Starra,
The Great Australian, Little Eva and Lorena
zone with Cu ± Mo/Au that is enclosed in zones enriched in Zn, Pb, and Ag and, in some cases, Mn (Meyer et al., 1968). Gold-Ag may be present laterally away from (e.g., Lang and Eastoe, 1988) or above (Hedenquist et al., 1998) the porphyry Cu core.
Exploration programs for porphyry Cu deposits rely on many techniques, but from a geologist’s perspective, whole-rock lithogeochemistry and short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectrome-try have become standard tools in addi-tion to the hammer and hand lens. To assist this effort, we established the ver-tical and lateral footprint of a porphyry Cu deposit using SWIR and lithogeo-chemistry (Fig. 1). We tracked alter-ation paths ~1 to 5 km vertically (e.g., Yerington, Red Chris, Galore Creek) or
up to 7 km laterally (Butte, Christmas, Highland Valley) from the porphyry ore center. To understand the metal disper-sion outside the ore zone, we focused on the D-type veins with alteration selvages containing sericite, pyrite, and chlorite, the latter being common in hydrolytic assemblages where rocks are dominantly of intermediate to mafic compositions. These veins extend vary-ing distances vertically and laterally from the ore zone.
The distribution of SWIR recognized minerals and changes in rock composi-tions of just two of the many elements (Tl, Bi) that were mapped vertically and laterally in the Ann Mason porphyry Cu-Mo deposit in Yerington and are shown in Figure 2 as examples. Petrog-raphy, electron microprobe analysis,
and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of the hydrolytic mineral alteration assemblages analyzed in the lithogeo-chemical and SWIR data sets further constrain the interpretation of the resulting patterns (Alva-Jimenez, 2011; Cohen, 2011).
METHODOLOGY
Rocks were chosen as the sample medium in order to ascertain the primary elemental and mineralogic dispersion halos. However, in many environments during initial explora-tion, soil may be nearly as effective as rocks, as soils capture a geographic aver-age that may include both weakly and strongly altered rocks.
Elevation of Highest Grade Cu Top of Mineralized Zone
1 km 1 km 1 km SODIC-CALCIC PROPYLITIC POTASSIC SERICITIC
Na, Ca, and Sr enrichment, K, Fe, Mn, V, Pb, Zn, Cs, Cu depletion
Mo±Bi, Se, Te halo Localized Tl, As, Bi Depletion in As, Mn, Pb, Zn, Cs, Sb, Tl in K silicate core Mo±Bi, Se, Te Outer Zn, Pb, Mn elevated compared to core Mo +Bi-Se-Te Increasing Tl, As, Bi, Se, Te Li, Zn, V, ± As, Sb elevated compared to core
c.) Lateral distribution of elements
Deep Environment
Above Mineralized Zone
1 km PROPYLITIC SERICITIC Bi-Se-Te±Mo Tl, As, Sb, Li ±Bi ADVANCED ARGILLIC Polymetallic veins magmatic fluids spec. hemat ite SODIC-CALCIC PROPYLITIC ADVANCED ARGILLIC LATE INTERMEDIATE ARGILLIC INTERMEDIATE ARGILLIC SERICITIC PHYLLIC fl ag fl ag ma m m gm ui titic ds a m uiidid ma m ccc LA LA L A A EI I ATTE A I IN ARNRGTEGEER ARNTNRR RMRRLLLLLMMLIEDECCCCDIDD TEEEEEIAATAATAA SE PH SE H D ED S NCEDCE DVANCE C GILLICCEDED S ADV RG AD AR AD R A A A A A A A A A ADV RG
granite porphyry dikes +Li > 15 ppm +Tl > 1.5 ppm +Sb > 4 ppm; As > 50 ppm +Se > 4 ppm +Te > 1 ppm +Bi > 1 ppm +Sn > 4 ppm +W > 5 ppm Mo > 5 ppm +Cu >0.1 wt% Explanation
Flow path of external fluid Added Depleted
+
-zone of m agma tic hy drothe rmal al terationFlow path of magmatic-derived fluid
b.) Vertical distribution of elements
-Zn, Mn,Co, Ni, Sr, Pb, As, Tl, Cs, Rb, Li + Na, Ca, Sr
-Fe, K, Cu , Zn, Mn, Co, Ni,
+ Na, Ca, Sr
-Fe, K, Cu , Zn, Mn, Co, Ni, As, Sb Return to
background or slightly elevated
Zn, Mn, Pb, Sr, Co, Ni, Li, ± As, Sb Return to
background or slightly elevated
Zn, Mn, Pb, Sr, Co, Ni, Li, ± As, Sb
POTASSIC
FIGURE 1. (Cont.) b.) Vertical variations in trace elements in a porphyry Cu system. c.) Schematic
changes in hydrothermal alteration assemblages and trace elements through a porphyry Cu system viewed as a series of map views through a vertical system.
Footprints: Hydrothermal Alteration and Geochemical Dispersion Around Porphyry Copper Deposits (continued)
No 100 • JANUARY 2015 S E G N E W S L E T T E R 13
Dominant Hydroxl-bearing Mineral
(symbols reflect dominant or local presence of sericitic mineral) Fresh rocks hornblende SWIR 2200nM peak <2203 nM 2203-2210 nM >2210 to 2230 Na-Ca or propylitic actinolite chlorite epidote Advanced argillic pyrophyllite Sericitic
sericite (mus or ill.) tourmaline
Potassic (drill hole) / fresh rock biotite 0 km 2 39°00’N 119°15’W Singa tse faul t Blue Hill
fault Ann MasonPCD offset part of Ann Mason PCD beneath Blue Hill fault N Jurassic up < 0.8 ppm 0.8 - 2.5 ppm > 2.5 ppm Tl concentration
c.
0 km 2 39°00’N 119°15’W Singa tse fault Blue Hillfault Ann MasonPCD offset part of Ann Mason PCD beneath Blue Hill fault N Jurassic up < 1 ppm 1 - 2.5 ppm > 2.5 ppm Bi concentration
d.
Alteration Assemblages Pyrophyllite-alunite-topazSericitic Sericite-albiteAlbite-sericite Sodic-calcicAlbite K-silicate - ore zoneFresh rock
Advanc Arg (Qz-Pyrop-Alun-Topaz) Sericite±Tourm-Py
Ser-Chl±Felds-Hem (weak Ser)
Hydrothermal Alteration Zones
Albite-Chl-Epid±Ksp Na-Ca (Plag-Act) Endoskarn (Plag-Cpx) Skarn (Gar-Cpx) Albite-Ser±Chl-Py Chl-Epid+Felds-Hem (Propylitic) K-silicate: Biotite (weak, <50%) & 100%
0 km 2 39°00’N 119°15’W Singat se faul t Blue Hill fault Ann Mason PCD offset part of Ann Mason PCD beneath Blue Hill fault N Jurassic up 100% Biot 100% Biot 100% Biot 100% Bi ot 0 km 2 39°00’N 119°15’W Singat se faul t Blue Hill fault Ann Mason PCD offset part of Ann Mason PCD beneath Blue Hill fault N Jurassic up 100% Biot 100% Biot 100% Biot 100% Biot
a.
b.
100% 100% >50%FIGURE 2. a.) Map of hydrothermal alteration assemblages in the region of the Ann Mason porphyry Cu-Mo deposit from Dilles and Einaudi (1992) and
from J.H. Dilles (unpub. mapping, 2014) superposed on the geology from Proffett and Dilles (1984). Pale purple units are postmineral Tertiary volcanic rocks. All Jurassic rocks are outlined, but the different units are not shown to avoid a cluttered map. b.) Map of hydrothermal alteration with distribution of hydrous alteration minerals identified and 2,200-nm peak using SWIR instrument. Identified hydrous mineralogy is plotted according to the dominant mineral in color and the mineral phase in the rocks. Geochemical maps of c.) Tl and d.) Bi for rocks from Yerington, Nevada. Symbols are color coded
Lithogeochemical analyses
Commercial laboratories provide rapid turnaround of chemical analyses including sample preparation, internal standardization, and replicates. In this study, we used ALS Global for 48 ele-ments (ME-MS61 method) that include all major elements but silica, which is lost as SiF4 gas. The best sample dissolu-tion combined with low detecdissolu-tion limit is achieved when rock is digested by a mixture of four acids (hydrofluoric-ni-tric-perchloric-hydrochloric). This dis-solution method liberates nearly 100% of all elements except for Zr, Hf, and a small percentage of heavy rare earth ele-ments (REE) and Y contained in refrac-tory zircon. Coupled with the ICP-MS + ICP-atomic emission spectroscopy (AES) instrumental finish, the result-ing assays report elements at detection limits similar to crustal abundance. At a minimum, assay values an order of magnitude or more greater than aver-age crustal abundances in rocks (Table 1) should be viewed as anomalous and attract further attention from an explo-ration program.
Alternative sample digestion proce-dures are available but, compared to four-acid digestions, are more costly, lead to incomplete dissolutions, or have higher detection limits. Aqua regia dis-solves sulfides and oxides effectively,
but cannot dissolve silicate phases where many useful pathfinder elements reside and, furthermore, that commonly survive weathering of rocks to form soil. Lithium metaborate flux results in complete dissolution of rocks so that total silica, Zr, and Hf concentrations are obtained, but this fusion technique is expensive, increases the sample blank, and produces higher detection limits for trace elements.
SWIR analyses
Short-wave infrared spectra were col-lected from rock chips from larger sam-ples analyzed for lithogeochemistry. As the SWIR spectrum is collected from a small rock surface (~0.5-cm diameter), the sample volume is much smaller than the corresponding one for litho-geochemistry. Samples were broken in the field such that the effect of surface weathering is minimized.
The hydrous minerals that are the most widespread in sericitic alteration are white micas/clays (muscovite/illite commonly called “sericite”) and chlo-rite. Each has distinctive spectra that also yield compositional information (Thompson et al., 1999). SWIR instru-ments efficiently analyze 500 to 1,000 samples per day in the laboratory, or in the field from samples archived in chip trays.
PORPHYRY COPPER
DEPOSITS
The geology of porphyry Cu (Mo-Au) deposits is well described (Gustafson and Hunt, 1975; Seedorff et al., 2005; Sillitoe, 2010). Hydrothermally altered rocks, sulfides, and veins in the por-phyry Cu environment result where ascending magmatic-hydrothermal fluids escaping from a deep intrusion cool, depressurize, and react with rocks. Fluids chiefly rise vertically (Fig. 1a), but may spread laterally in their upper parts as they encounter topograph-ically driven meteoric waters in the epithermal (<2 km) environment. Mag-matic-hydrothermal alteration is char-acterized by abundant sulfides zoned from Cu sulfide rich in ore zones to pyrite rich in upper zones (Fig. 1a). The silicate alteration minerals are zoned upward (Fig. 1a) from potassic (or K-sil-icate: biotite ± K-feldspar) to sericitic (or phyllic: muscovite ± chlorite) to advanced argillic (alunite ± pyrophyl-lite ± dickite). In general, the upward zonation reflects decreasing tempera-ture and pH of fluids during ascent, but there is also a temporal evolution with widespread collapse and downward superposition of sericitic alteration on older potassic alteration (Gustafson and Hunt, 1975). Late intermediate argillic alteration (smectite-illite-chlorite or smectite-chlorite) forms at low tempera-ture and introduces little sulfide, but may extensively overprint higher-tem-perature assemblages.
Nonmagmatic fluids such as meteoric water, seawater, or sedimentary brines are common external to the rising plume (Fig. 1a). Meteoric waters dom-inate the shallow parts of continental geothermal systems at temperatures less than about 350°C. Deeply circulating formation waters or brines dominate sedimentary and volcanic sections, par-ticularly where evaporitic rocks are pres-ent. The latter in the Yerington district, Nevada, have penetrated up to 5-km depth and produced sodic-calcic alter-ation (Na-plagioclase-actinolite-epidote) and propylitic alteration at shallower depths (albite-K-feldspar-epidote-chlo-rite ± actinolite; Carten, 1986; Dilles and Einaudi, 1992). These alteration types are notably poor in sulfides, lack hydrolytic alteration unless overprinted, contain abundant feldspar, and may remove sulfides.
TABLE 1. Typical Pathfinder Elemental Ranges (ppm)
Metal Average crust abundance1 Potassic Deep sericitic Shallow sericitic
Cu 75 >200–ore 100 50 Mo 1 0.5–ore 2–20 0.5–5 Sn 2.5 0.5–10 2–30 bkgd W 1 bkgd 2–20 0.5–5 Mn 1,400 <bkgd 1,000–5,000 400–1,000 Zn 80 <bkgd 200–1,000 10–100 Pb 8 50 200–1,000 10–1002 Ag 0.08 0.5–3 1–50 1–102 Ni 20 <bkgd bkgd–30 <bkgd Co 10 <bkgd bkgd–20 <bkgd Se 0.05 5–20 1 1 Te 0.001 0.1 1–5 0.1–1 Bi 0.06 0.05 1–10 0.05–1 As 1 <bkgd 10–50 50–1,000 Sb 0.2 <bkgd 1–3 3–100 Li 13 <bkgd <bkgd 15–50 Tl 0.36 0.2 0.2 1–50 Hg 0.08 0.05 0.05 0.2–10 Cs 1 <bkgd 1–10 1–20
1Background concentration (bkgd) varies by rock unit; this is the average crustal abundance (Ni
and Co = average upper crust; Taylor and McLennan, 1985); alteration zones are potassic from ore zone, deep sericitic above ore zone, and shallow sericitic and associated advanced argillic near surface
2Alunite is commonly enriched in Pb, Ag, Ba, and Sr in advanced argillic alteration
Footprints: Hydrothermal Alteration and Geochemical Dispersion Around Porphyry Copper Deposits (continued)