Iron Oxide +/- Cu +/- Au Deposits in the Iron Range, Purcell Basin, Southeastern British Columbia
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| Authors: | Galicki, M; Marshall, D; Staples, R; Thorkelson, D; Downie, C; Gallagher, C; Enkin, R; Davis, W |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Journal: | Econ. Geol. 107: 1293-1301 Article Link (DOI) |
| Title: | Iron Oxide +/- Cu +/- Au Deposits in the Iron Range, Purcell Basin, Southeastern British Columbia |
| Abstract: | The Iron Range iron oxide +/- Cu +/- Au deposits in southeastern British Columbia comprise massive lenses and veins of hematite and martite with lesser magnetite in the Iron Range fault zone, which crosscuts the Proterozoic Aldridge Formation and Moyie sills. The mineralized zones are flanked by albite-quartz-iron oxide breccia within sedimentary rocks and by chlorite-altered iron oxide breccia where they are in contact with Moyie sills. Oxygen isotope analyses indicate 340 degrees to 400 degrees C precipitation temperatures for the albite-quartz-magnetite assemblages in the mineralized zones. Magnetite trace element compositions closely compare with those in iron oxide-(copper-gold) (IOCG) to porphyry-type mineralization worldwide. Paleomagnetic studies show consistent paleopole orientations concordant with Cretaceous poles and support links to a porphyry-type genesis associated with phases of the nearby SO to 105 Ma magnetite-bearing Bayonne Suite plutonic rocks. The Iron Range iron oxide mineralized zones share many characteristics of major IOCG deposits, with the exception of economic Cu (+/- Au) concentrations in the exposed rocks; however, recent drilling intersected minor chalcopyrite, pyrite, and gold. |
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