Ni-Cu-(PGE) magmatic sulfide deposits in the Yangliuping area, Permian Emeishan igneous province, SW China

Abstract

The Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposits in the Yangliuping area, SW China, are hosted in mafic-ultramafic sills. The four mineralized sills are located in the Yangliuping tectonic dome and intrude Devonian carbonaceous marble, graphitic schist. The sills are 200-300 m thick and 1,000-2,000 m in strike length and now consist chiefly of serpentinite, talc schist, tremolite schist, and meta-gabbro. Disseminated Ni-Cu sulfide mineralisation occurs in the serpentinite in the lower parts of the sills. Massive sulfide mineralisation is located in the base of the sills and in the footwall along fractures beneath the mineralized serpentinite. Although the sulfide ores have been modified by hydrothermal activity, there are relict cumulate textures in the disseminated sulfides indicating a magmatic origin for the ores. The Yangliuping Intrusions and the Dashibao Formation have similar primitive-mantle normalized trace element and platinum group element (PGE) patterns, indicating that they are derived from a common parental magma type. The positive correlation between Cu concentrations and Cu/Zr ratios of the Dashibao Formation basalts indicates that the chalcophile elements were removed before eruption. We propose that fractional crystallization of the Yangliuping magma accompanied by the introduction of S and CO2 from the wall rocks caused the magma to become S-saturated leading to the segregation of magmatic sulfides that became enriched in Ni-Cu-(PGE). The sills acted as conduits for the overlying Dashibao Formation basalts with the sulfide liquid, along with early crystallizing olivine and pyroxene, segregating from the magma as it passed through the conduits prior to eruption.