© 2012 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.

Special Publication 16, pp. 1–18

Chapter 1

Copper Provinces
RICHARD H. SILLITOE†
27 West Hill Park, Highgate Village, London N6 6ND, England

Abstract
It has been recognized for the past century that copper deposits, in common with those of many other
metals, are heterogeneously concentrated in Earth’s upper crust, resulting in areally restricted copper
provinces that were generated during several discrete metallogenic epochs over time intervals of up to several
hundred million years. Various segments of circum-Pacific magmatic arcs, for example, have total contained
copper contents that differ by two orders of magnitude. Each metallogenic epoch introduced its own deposit
type(s), of which porphyry copper (and related skarn), followed by sediment-hosted stratiform copper and then
iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG), are globally preeminent. Nonetheless, genesis of the copper provinces remains
somewhat enigmatic and a topic of ongoing debate.
A variety of deposit-scale geometric and geologic features and factors strongly influence the size and/or
grade of porphyry copper, sediment-hosted stratiform copper, and/or IOCG deposits. For example, develop-
ment of major porphyry copper deposits/districts is favored by the presence of clustered alteration-mineraliza-
tion centers, mafic or massive carbonate host rocks, voluminous magmatic-hydrothermal breccias, low sulfida-
tion-state core zones conducive to copper deposition as bornite ± digenite, hypogene and supergene sulfide
enrichment, and mineralized skarn formation, coupled with lack of serious dilution by late, low-grade porphyry
intrusions and breccias. Furthermore, the copper endowment of all deposit types undoubtedly benefits from
optimization of the ore-forming processes involved.
Tectonic setting also plays a fundamental role in copper metallogeny. Contractional tectonomagmatic belts,
created by flat-slab subduction or, less commonly, arc-continent collision and characterized by crustal thicken-
ing and high rates of uplift and exhumation, appear to host most large, high-grade hypogene porphyry copper
deposits. Such mature arc crust also undergoes mafic magma input during porphyry copper formation. The
premier sediment-hosted stratiform copper provinces were formed in cratonic or hinterland extensional sedi-
mentary basins that subsequently underwent tectonic inversion. The IOCG deposits were generated in associ-
ation with extension/transtension and felsic intrusions, the latter apparently triggered by deep-seated mafic
magmas in either intracratonic or subduction settings. The radically different exhumation rates characteristic
of these various tectonic settings account well for the secular distribution of copper deposit types, in particu-
lar the youthfulness of most porphyry relative to sediment-hosted stratiform and IOCG deposits. Notwith-
standing the importance of these deposit-scale geologic, regional tectonic, and erosion-rate criteria for effec-
tive copper deposit formation and preservation, they seem inadequate to explain the localization of premier
copper provinces, such as the central Andes, southwestern North America, and Central African Copperbelt, in
which different deposit types were generated during several discrete epochs. By the same token, the paucity
of copper mineralization in some apparently similar geologic settings elsewhere also remains unexplained.
It is proposed here that major copper provinces occur where restricted segments of the lithosphere were pre-
disposed to upper-crustal copper concentration throughout long intervals of Earth history. This predisposition
was most likely gained during oxidation and copper introduction by subduction-derived fluids, containing met-
als and volatiles extracted from hydrated basalts and sediments in downgoing slabs. As a result, superjacent
lithospheric mantle and lowermost crust were metasomatized as well as gaining cupriferous sulfide-bearing
cumulates during magmatic differentiation—processes that rendered them fertile for tapping during subsequent
subduction- or, uncommonly, intraplate extension-related magmatic events to generate porphyry copper and
IOCG districts or belts. The fertile lithosphere beneath some accretionary orogens became incorporated during
earlier collisional events, commonly during Precambrian times. Relatively oxidized crustal profiles—as opposed
to those dominated by reduced, sedimentary material—are also required for effective formation of all major cop-
per deposits. Large sedimentary basins underlain by or adjoining oxidized and potentially copper-anomalous
crust and filled initially by immature redbed strata containing magmatic arc-derived detritus provide optimal
sites for large-scale, sediment-hosted stratiform copper mineralization. Translithospheric fault zones, acting as
giant plumbing systems, commonly played a key role in localizing all types of major copper deposits, districts,
and belts. These proposals address the long-debated concept of metal inheritance in terms of the fundamental
role played by subduction-metasomatized mantle lithosphere and lowermost crust in global copper metallogeny.

Introduction numbers of exceptionally endowed deposits, and copper is no

THE GLOBAL INVENTORY of metals is critically dependent on exception (Singer, 1995; Laznicka, 1999). Indeed, approxi-
the inordinately large contributions made by relatively limited mately one-third of the world’s defined copper resources are
contributed by just seven districts (Fig. 1), and approximately
† E-mail: aucu@compuserve.com 2.5% of producing mines currently supply 25% of total copper

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 2 RICHARD H. SILLITOE

FIG. 1. The world’s supergiant copper deposits and districts (defined as those containing ≥24 Mt [Singer, 1995] to ≥25
Mt [Laznicka, 1999] Cu in resources and past production) and preeminent provinces, keyed to deposit types. The newly dis-
covered Kamoa deposit in the Central African Copperbelt (Broughton and Rogers, 2010) contains 22 Mt Cu, but is also con-
sidered as a supergiant because of the likelihood of further growth. Data compiled from numerous published and unpub-
lished sources, including company press releases.

output (M. Harris, Rio Tinto, unpub. comp., 2012). Further-
more, large proportions of most major metals, particularly
well exemplified by copper, are concentrated in areally re-
stricted provinces (Fig. 1), which were typically assembled
during several discrete metallogenic epochs. At least in the
case of intrusion-related deposits, individual epochs com-
monly have durations of ≤10 m.y. (e.g., Sillitoe, 1988). This
spatial and temporal confinement of copper and other metal
deposits was appreciated by Lindgren (1909) and subsequent
pioneers, as reviewed by Turneaure (1955), but has become
much better defined over the ensuing century as a result of
numerous discoveries and geologic advances, particularly
direct isotopic dating of ore-related minerals.
Although the fundamental reasons for the development of
the world’s largest copper deposits and premier copper belts
and provinces are not well understood, this introductory paper
explores some of the more plausible possibilities. The principal
contributors to the global copper inventory, namely porphyry
and any associated skarn deposits (~70%), sediment-hosted
stratiform deposits (~15%), and, a distant third, iron oxide
copper-gold (IOCG) deposits, are emphasized both herein
(Fig. 1) and throughout the rest of this volume. Other relatively
minor copper sources, including magmatic nickel-copper, vol-
canogenic massive sulfide (VMS), nonporphyry-related skarn,
vein, Chilean manto-type, and carbonatite-hosted deposits
are not specifically discussed, although because of the impor-
tance of Noril’sk, Russia (Fig. 1), the first of these sources has
a paper devoted to it (Burrows and Lesher, 2012).
The copper endowment considered herein (≈2,500 million
metric tons [Mt]; Figs. 1, 2) exceeds the global inventory of
1,900 Mt determined by Kesler and Wilkinson (2008), and is
more than four times larger than some other recent estimates
(e.g., ~570 Mt; U.S. Geological Survey, 2011, p. 48–49). Al-
though only formal resources plus past production are taken
into account, the greater copper tonnage may be attributed to
major recent expansions of hypogene resources, particularly
in the central Andes (e.g., Sillitoe, 2010a), and application of
lower cutoff grades. If probabilistic methodologies employed
by Cunningham et al. (2007) and Kesler and Wilkinson (2008)
are followed, then at least twice the number of copper de-
posits exist (most at greater depths), albeit probably mainly
confined to the currently defined belts and provinces.
Deposit-Scale Contributions to Large Size
and High Grade
For the sake of brevity, only copper deposits and districts
that attain supergiant status by containing ≥24 Mt (Singer,
1995) or ≥25 Mt (Laznicka, 1999) of copper metal are dis-
cussed and individually plotted in Figure 1; most exceed the
31.1-Mt Cu threshold used to define behemothian deposits

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 COPPER PROVINCES 3

FIG. 2. Total copper endowment (resources and past production) of different segments of Phanerozoic circum-Pacific
magmatic arcs. Only Paleozoic arc terranes, potentially somewhat more deeply eroded because of their greater antiquity, are
present in eastern Australia. Note the two orders of magnitude difference among the segments. Data compiled from nu-
merous published and unpublished sources, including company press releases.

(Clark, 1993). These truly exceptional copper concentrations
(Fig. 1) include 14 porphyry ± skarn districts (Pebble, Butte,
Bingham, Resolution, Morenci, Chuquicamata, Collahuasi-
Quebrada Blanca, Escondida, Los Pelambres-El Pachón, Río
Blanco-Los Bronces, El Teniente, Reko Diq, Oyu Tolgoi, and
Grasberg), four and probably five sediment-hosted stratiform
districts (Lubin-Polkowice, Konkola, Kolwezi, Udokan, and
probably Kamoa), one IOCG deposit (Olympic Dam), and
one magmatic nickel-copper district (Noril’sk). Six of these
porphyry copper districts are the principal contributors to the
central Andean copper province (Figs. 1, 2).
Porphyry copper deposits
Intrusion, host-rock, and alteration-mineralization features
may all be discerned as controls on the large size and/or high
grade of the world’s preeminent porphyry copper deposits
and districts, as shown schematically in Figure 3.
The presence of several closely spaced, mineralized por-
phyry stocks, which define clusters (e.g., Escondida and Reko
Diq districts) or alignments (e.g., Collahuasi-Quebrada Blanca,
Chuquicamata, Los Pelambres-El Pachón, Río Blanco-Los
Bronces, and Oyu Tolgoi districts), is an important localizer of
supergiant copper concentrations. At least 13 discrete de-
posits constitute the Reko Diq cluster (Perelló et al., 2008).
Nevertheless, as currently understood, Bingham and Resolu-
tion comprise single, zoned deposits rather than clusters or
alignments (e.g., Hehnke et al., 2012; Porter et al., 2012).
Such clusters and alignments are inferred to occur above
cupolas on the roof zones of parental plutons located at
depths of several kilometers (e.g., Emmons, 1927; Dilles and
Proffett, 1995; Sillitoe, 2010b). The volume of porphyry in-
trusions within the confines of a deposit appears unrelated to
its copper content, as emphasized by comparison of the
largely porphyry-hosted Collahuasi deposits with the largely
wall rock-hosted El Teniente deposit (e.g., Camus, 2003).
Nonetheless, it is critically important that the earliest, gener-
ally best-mineralized porphyry phase and its immediate wall
rocks remain as a physically coherent entity little diluted by
subsequent pulses of intermineral and, especially, late min-
eral porphyry, which typically contain progressively lower
copper contents as they become younger. Such low-grade
porphyry phases are volumetrically restricted in most of the
supergiant copper deposits (Fig. 3).
It is well known that magmatic-hydrothermal breccias (Silli-
toe, 1985) in porphyry copper deposits can give rise to substan-
tially higher-grade hypogene (and supergene) mineralization
because of the greater permeability and resultant fluid focus-
ing that they provide (Fig. 3). The prime example of the key

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 4 RICHARD H. SILLITOE

FIG. 3. Anatomy of a non-eroded, telescoped porphyry copper system showing spatial interrelationships of a centrally
located porphyry Cu ± Au ± Mo deposit in a porphyry stock and its immediate host rocks, including overlying high- and
intermediate-sulfidation epithermal deposits in and alongside the lithocap environment. Not all depicted features are nec-
essarily present in any single district. The legend explains the temporal sequence of rock types, with the porphyry stock pre-
dating maar-diatreme emplacement, which, in turn, overlaps lithocap development and related phreatic brecciation. Shallow
alteration types generally overprint deeper ones. Circled letters highlight deposit-scale features that can enhance hypogene
grade development: A. Minimal dilution caused by restricted volume of lower grade, intermineral and late-mineral por-
phyries; B. Large volume of well-mineralized magmatic-hydrothermal breccia; C. Late-stage, barren diatreme located be-
yond rather than within the ore zone; D. Mafic wall rocks induce effective copper precipitation; E. Massive, impermeable
carbonate wall rocks inhibit dispersion of mineralizing fluids and favor internal copper precipitation and grade development;
F. Presence of bornite and digenite in the deep, central parts of the potassic zone increases hypogene copper tenor; G. Hypo-
gene enrichment by high sulfidation-state sulfide minerals in the roots of the sericitic zone; and H. Skarn development with
copper tenors exceeding those in the adjacent porphyry stock. Modified from Sillitoe (2010b).

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 COPPER PROVINCES
role played by magmatic-hydrothermal brecciation in the de-
velopment of both deposit size and grade is at Río Blanco-Los
Bronces, the world’s largest copper district (Fig. 1), where on
the order of 50% of the ore may be breccia hosted (Serrano
et al., 1996; Irarrazaval et al., 2010; Toro et al., 2012). How-
ever, magmatic-hydrothermal breccias make only relatively
minor contributions to the other premier deposits, with Peb-
ble, Bingham Canyon, and Chuquicamata being almost de-
void of them (Ossandón et al., 2001; Lang and Gregory, 2012;
Porter et al., 2012; Rivera et al., 2012). If present, late, low-
grade breccias, particularly diatremes, are best to be situated
beyond deposits so as not to destroy ore (Fig. 3), although
such destruction can be tolerated in the largest deposits (e.g.,
El Teniente; Howell and Molloy, 1960).
Wall-rock composition and permeability seem to be impor-
tant controls on large size and hypogene grades exceeding 1%
Cu at several of the premier deposits (Sillitoe, 2010b; Fig. 3).
Intensely biotitized, ferrous iron-rich wall rocks—a Mesopro-
terozoic diabase sill complex at Resolution (Hehnke et al.,
2012; Leveille and Stegen, 2012), gabbro and dolerite sills
and dikes at El Teniente (Skewes et al., 2002), and submarine
tholeiitic basalt at Oyu Tolgoi (Kirwin et al., 2005; Crane and
Kavalieris, 2012)—acted as highly effective copper precipi-
tants from oxidized magmatic fluids. By the same token,
quartzite at Bingham Canyon acted as a poor host (Porter et
al., 2012). In contrast, the massively bedded limestone wall
rocks at Grasberg may have created a relatively impermeable
sleeve that inhibited magmatic fluid escape and promoted
grade development within the porphyry stock (Sillitoe, 1997).
A comparable role has also be ascribed to hornfelsed wall
rocks, including those above both the East zone at Pebble
(Lang and Gregory, 2012) and the world’s largest (17 Mt Cu)
skarn copper deposit at Antamina, Peru (Love et al., 2004).
The evolution of alteration, including the accompanying
sulfide minerals, over the lifespans of porphyry copper de-
posits profoundly influences grade development and conser-
vation (Einaudi et al., 2003). In deposits characterized by
major copper introduction in the early, high-temperature,
potassic stages (e.g., Bingham Canyon, Los Pelambres-El
Pachón, El Teniente, Grasberg), the absence of appreciable
overprinting by sericitic or chlorite-sericite alteration, which
can cause partial or even total copper removal (e.g., Kouz-
manov and Pokrovski, 2012), favors conservation of high cop-
per tenors; these attain their maxima in the deep, central
parts of systems where low-sulfidation conditions can lead to
bornite ± digenite accompanying or even dominating chal-
copyrite (Fig. 3; e.g., Bingham Canyon; Porter et al., 2012).
Coalescence of several bornite-rich centers favors develop-
ment of large orebodies, as at Los Pelambres and El Teniente
(Vry et al., 2010; Perelló et al., 2012). Nonetheless, where
copper deposition is relatively late, sericitic and even, in some
cases, chlorite-sericite alteration appears to accompany grade
development (e.g., Oyu Tolgoi; Crane and Kavalieris, 2012).
The highest hypogene grades in some major porphyry de-
posits are present with sericite ± pyrophyllite ± dickite alter-
ation and high sulfidation-state copper minerals, in the tele-
scoped roots of advanced argillic lithocaps (Sillitoe, 2010b;
Fig. 3), with Butte (Meyer et al., 1968), Chuquicamata (Os-
sandón et al., 2001; Rivera et al., 2012), and Resolution
(Hehnke et al., 2012) and, to a lesser extent, Escondida
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5
(Hervé et al., 2012) and Pebble East zone (Lang and Gregory,
2012) being prominent examples.
Both calcic and magnesian skarns, developed proximally
with respect to porphyry copper stocks emplaced into shelf-
carbonate sequences, as in the Grasberg and Bingham dis-
tricts, can also give rise to high-grade, hypogene copper min-
eralization (Meinert et al., 1997; Leys et al., 2012; Porter et
al., 2012). Particularly large tonnages can be developed where
the receptive carbonate horizons either flank the apices of
porphyry stocks (e.g., Antamina skarn; Love et al., 2004) or
parallel the stock contacts (e.g., Ertsberg East skarn, Gras-
berg district; Gandler and Kyle, 2008; Leys et al., 2012).
Supergene sulfide enrichment since ~40 Ma is well known
to have been a key process in grade development, particularly
in parts of the central Andes and southwestern North Ameri-
can porphyry copper provinces (Sillitoe, 2005, and references
therein), with Morenci (Leveille and Stegen, 2012), Chuquica-
mata (Ossandón et al., 2001; Rivera et al., 2012), and Escon-
dida (Hervé et al., 2012) being prime examples. However,
particularly in the former region, exploration over the past
decade or so has outlined far larger hypogene resources be-
neath the previously and/or currently mined parts of the
Cenozoic supergene profiles (e.g., Escondida; Hervé et al.,
2012).
Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits
The most obvious parameters controlling the size of sedi-
ment-hosted stratiform copper deposits, as exemplified by
major examples in the Central African Copperbelt of Zambia
and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Kupfer-
schiefer province of Poland and Germany, Dzhezkazgan in
Kazakhstan, and Udokan in Russia (Fig. 1), are geometric and
depend on structurally uninterrupted stratigraphic continuity.
The largest deposits have the greatest along-strike and down-
dip extents and/or thickest or greatest number of ore hori-
zons, as exemplified by the sandstone-, carbonaceous shale-,
and dolomite-hosted Lubin, Polkowice, and contiguous de-
posits of the Fore-Sudetic Monocline in Poland, which un-
derlie an area of ~500 km2 and are mined to a depth of ~1,300
m (Oszczepalski, 1999; Borg et al., 2012). The subhorizontal,
diamictite-hosted Kamoa deposit in DRC underlies an area of
at least 80 km2 (Broughton and Rogers, 2010). The number of
individual, ore-bearing sandstone beds approaches 30 over a
600-m stratigraphic interval at Dzhezkazgan, thereby ac-
counting for its large size (Gablina, 1981; Box et al., 2012). In
contrast, structural repetition of the main mineralized
dolomitic shale horizons, in conjunction with their consider-
able strike and dip continuity, contributes to the large size of
the Kolwezi and Tenke-Fungurumé district deposits, DRC
(Hitzman et al., 2012; Schuh et al., 2012).
The controls on ore grade in sediment-hosted stratiform
copper deposits are less readily appreciated, although they
appear to be regional in extent since province-wide average
grades tend to be broadly similar, in marked contrast to the
situation in porphyry copper and IOCG provinces. Conse-
quently, availability of stratigraphic traps (e.g., pinchouts
against basement highs, anticlinal crests) and original
amounts and effectiveness of the copper-precipitating reduc-
tant in the mineralized horizons, be it in situ (as carbonaceous
matter and/or diagenetic pyrite) or mobile and introduced
5
 6 RICHARD H. SILLITOE
(e.g., Selley et al., 2005; Hitzman et al., 2012), are seemingly
important factors. Nonetheless, the hypogene bornite- and
chalcocite-bearing parts of the zoned deposits, especially
where veining is well developed, consistently have the highest
grade (e.g., Sillitoe et al., 2010; Schuh et al., 2012). Supergene
chalcocite enrichment, suggested by some (e.g., Hitzman et
al., 2005, 2012) to have enhanced copper grades in the shallow
parts of the Central African Copperbelt deposits, is considered
unimportant. Suppression of the enrichment process is caused
by the abundance of carbonate-bearing host rocks and paucity
of ore-related pyrite, and is reflected by the ubiquity of high-
grade oxide copper mineralization throughout the supergene
profiles (e.g., Tenke-Fungurumé; Fay and Barton, 2012).
IOCG deposits
Notwithstanding the disparity of deposits assigned to the
IOCG category and disaccord over their genesis (e.g., Sillitoe,
2003; Barton, 2009; Groves et al., 2010), the paucity of su-
pergiant deposits limits assessment of deposit-scale controls
on their size and grade. However, the overwhelming domi-
nance of Olympic Dam within the IOCG grouping, both in
terms of size and grade (90 Mt Cu; Fig. 1), must surely be re-
lated to the unusually large volume (~5 km3) of the host
hematitic breccias (Ehrig et al., 2012), the products of high-
energy hydrothermal fragmentation of granite (Reeve et al.,
1990). Identical breccias occur at Carrapateena (Fairclough,
2005), 120 km southeast of Olympic Dam, but their far more
restricted volume results in a commensurately smaller de-
posit (currently 4.4 Mt Cu).
The world’s second-largest IOCG deposit, Candelaria-
Punta del Cobre (~11 Mt Cu) in northern Chile, contains rel-
atively minor hydrothermal breccia, thereby showing that
large size is by no means exclusively breccia controlled. In-
deed, a combination of permeable volcaniclastic rocks, an an-
ticlinal fold, faults, and an overlying limestone seal combined
to localize Candelaria-Punta del Cobre (Marschik and Font-
boté, 2001). The third largest IOCG deposit, Salobo (offi-
cially 7.8 Mt Cu) in the Carajás province (Fig. 1), is different
again, being an elongate, steeply dipping, structurally con-
trolled orebody associated with sheared and highly altered,
granulite-facies, siliciclastic metasedimentary rocks (Réquia
and Fontboté, 2000; Xavier et al., 2012; M.W. Hitzman, writ.
commun., 2012).
Fluorine-rich ore fluids were proposed as an influential
control on size and grade at Olympic Dam (McPhie et al.,
2011), but comparable fluorine enrichment at Carrapateena,
Salobo, and elsewhere clearly did not generate the same size
effect. The enhanced permeability provided by the breccia
host seems to be a more likely explanation for the high cop-
per grades, similar to the porphyry copper environment (see
above). In common with sediment-hosted stratiform copper
deposits, average grades are also clearly influenced by the
copper contents of the hypogene sulfide species present, as
underscored by the high grades at Olympic Dam where bor-
nite and chalcocite are widespread (Reeve et al., 1990; Ehrig
et al., 2012). However, in common with the sediment-hosted
stratiform copper deposits, the overall deficiency of pyrite in
IOCG orebodies militates against significant development of
supergene chalcocite enrichment (e.g., central Andes IOCG
deposits; Sillitoe, 2005).
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Summary statement—deposit-scale contributions
Optimization of all aspects of deposit-scale mineralization
processes is a likely prerequisite for formation of large, high-
grade orebodies (e.g., Richards, 2005, 2011); however, it is
apparent in the case of porphyry copper deposits, and proba-
bly other ore types too, that no single geologic characteristic
or set of characteristics seems able to adequately predict de-
posit size or grade (cf. Clark, 1993). Nonetheless, a number of
geometric, host-rock, brecciation, and alteration-mineraliza-
tion features may offer at least partial explanations for the
preeminence of individual porphyry, sediment-hosted strati-
form, and IOCG deposits and districts.
Notwithstanding these proposals, it is difficult to see how
any of these disparate, deposit-scale parameters or mecha-
nisms can satisfactorily explain the origin of exceptionally en-
dowed copper belts and provinces. In the case of the central
Andean porphyry copper province, for example, the premier
deposits are assigned quite different key geologic controls on
grade and/or tonnage: for example, biotitized mafic wall rocks
at El Teniente, exceptional development of magmatic-hydro-
thermal breccias at Río Blanco-Los Bronces, and a combina-
tion of hypogene and supergene copper enrichment at
Chuquicamata. Furthermore, in the case of IOCG deposits,
even orebodies within individual provinces display radically
different geologic characteristics (e.g., Carajás; Xavier et al.,
2012). Clearly, therefore, these deposit-scale parameters are
secondary to more regionally relevant processes that are re-
quired to explain the localization of the world’s premier cop-
per provinces.
Tectonic Controls on Copper Belts and Provinces
Porphyry copper deposits
It has long been appreciated that porphyry copper deposits
occur in accretionary orogens formed at sites of subduction of
oceanic lithosphere (Sawkins, 1972; Sillitoe, 1972). However,
copper endowment in magmatic arcs around the Pacific
Ocean (Fig. 2), as well as elsewhere, is highly heterogeneous,
ranging from nearly 1,000 Mt in the central Andes to <10 Mt
known in several major arc segments, such as the northern
and southern Andes, central and southern Mexico and Cen-
tral America (excluding Panama), Russian Far East, Japan,
and New Zealand. In an attempt to address this distributional
inequality, Sillitoe (1998) proposed that the world’s largest
and highest grade hypogene porphyry copper deposits were
generated in contractional arc settings: a proposition sup-
ported by others (Cooke et al., 2005; Perelló, 2006; Tosdal et
al., 2009; Loucks, 2012; Leveille and Stegen, 2012; Mpodozis
and Cornejo, 2012).
Contractional conditions in accretionary orogens have been
ascribed to three main tectonic mechanisms (Fig. 4): (1) rapid
advance of overriding plates coupled with high mantle vis-
cosities, causing enhanced interplate coupling and flat-slab
subduction (e.g., van Hunen et al., 2004; Lallemand et al.,
2005); (2) subduction of young, buoyant oceanic lithosphere
surmounted by plume-generated topographic features, such
as aseismic ridges, seamount chains, and small- to moderate-
sized oceanic plateaus, also causing flat-slab subduction (e.g.,
Gutscher, 2002; Martinod et al., 2010); and (3) accretion of
exotic terranes, such as island arcs, microcontinental blocks,
6
 COPPER PROVINCES
Minimal Foreland
volcanism fold-thrust belt
+ of the overriding plate was maximized (Schellart, 2008),
a flattening, regional shortening, surface uplift, and exhuma-
Subducted
Minimal
oceanic volcanism
plateau
+ duction of an oceanic plateau embedded in the downgoing
b Melanesian intraoceanic island arc with the leading edge of
Collisional Subduction
suture reversal
+
c generation and focused expulsion of the voluminous copper-
Detached
slab
FIG. 4. Models for generation of contractional tectonism in accretionary
orogens: a. Flat-slab subduction developed episodically at advancing subduc-
tion margins. b. Flat-slab subduction caused by oceanic plateaus and other
buoyant objects on the downgoing slab (e.g., central Chile during the late
Miocene-Pliocene); and c. Accretion of exotic terranes (microcontinents, is-
land arcs, large oceanic plateaus), which may cause reversal of subduction
polarity (e.g., New Guinea in the late Miocene-Pliocene).
and large oceanic plateaus to convergent margins (e.g., Cloos
et al., 2005; Shafiei et al., 2009). The first and second mecha-
nisms may operate in concert (van Hunen et al., 2004) or, al-
ternatively, slab flattening may be a time-dependent process
at convergent margins, without the need for subduction of
topographic prominences (Haschke et al., 2002; Lee and
King, 2011). Far more highly endowed porphyry copper
provinces worldwide coincided with contraction triggered by
slab flattening than with terrane accretion.
In the case of the central Andes—characterized by con-
tractional tectonism for much of the Cenozoic during forma-
tion of the world’s premier copper province—the contraction
is generally attributed to opening of the South Atlantic Ocean
and the consequent westward advance of the South American
plate relative to the Chile-Peru trench (e.g., Oncken et al.,
2006). Sobolev and Babeyko (2005) estimated that 58% of the
westward drift since 35 Ma was accommodated by trench
rollback, 37% by tectonic shortening of the Andean margin,
and 5% by subduction erosion of the Andean forearc by the
downgoing Nazca plate (e.g., Rutland, 1971). Furthermore, the
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7
position of the central Andean copper province approximately
coincides with the middle of the longitudinally extensive An-
dean orogen where shortening, including oroclinal bending,
rather than within the less-contractional northern and south-
ern Andes (Fig. 2). However, in the case of the late Miocene
to Pliocene copper belt of central Chile, subduction of a spe-
cific topographic feature, the Juan Fernández aseismic ridge,
is widely invoked as at least a contributory cause of the slab
tion of the overriding plate (e.g., Skewes and Stern, 1995).
The contraction in southwestern North America that char-
acterized the Laramide (~80–45 Ma) porphyry copper
province is generally inferred to have been caused by sub-
Farallon plate (Livacarri et al., 1981; Liu et al., 2010). In con-
trast, the Pliocene contractional tectonism in New Guinea,
with which the Grasberg porphyry-skarn district and several
smaller deposits are related, was due to collision of the
the Australian craton (Cloos et al., 2005; Leys et al., 2012).
The empirical correlation between major porphyry copper
emplacement events and contractional tectonism in accre-
tionary orogens seems to explain the existence of many of the
world’s premier porphyry copper belts, but lacks a well-
founded cause. However, it may be speculated that the con-
traction and concomitant shortening, thickening, and uplift of
arc crust inhibit volcanism, favoring mid- to upper-crustal
magma accumulation (Takada, 1994) and the consequent
bearing magmatic fluids required for porphyry copper gene-
sis (Sillitoe, 1998). Certainly, there is clear evidence for surface
uplift and greatly reduced volcanic activity (and eruption-
related magmatic fluid dissipation) in such contractional set-
tings (e.g., mid-Eocene–early Oligocene belt of the central
Andes; Mpodozis and Ramos, 1990) as well as localized evi-
dence for assembly of large epizonal plutons (e.g., Río
Blanco-Los Bronces district; Toro et al., 2012). Orogen-scale
contraction may also favor development in the uppermost
lithospheric mantle or lowermost crust of long-lived and re-
peatedly replenished magma chambers, which undergo evac-
uation once contraction is relaxed (Loucks, 2012). Certainly,
there is emerging evidence for porphyry copper emplace-
ment in the central Andes immediately following active re-
verse faulting (e.g., Escondida and Los Pelambres; Hervé et
al., 2012; Perelló et al., 2012).
In marked contrast, predominantly extensional accretionary
orogens constructed during trench retreat (rollback), such as
Paleozoic southeastern Australia (Terra Australis; Collins, 2002),
the Paleozoic Altaids of central Asia (Yakubchuk et al., 2005,
2012), Mesozoic eastern Asia, including the Yanshanian belt of
southeastern China, Korea, Japan, and the Russian Far East
(e.g., Zhou et al., 2006), and the Cenozoic Cascades of north-
western United States (du Bray and John, 2011), are either only
modestly endowed with or entirely lack porphyry copper de-
posits (cf. Uyeda and Nishiwaki, 1980; Fig. 2); however, the po-
tentially greater erosion suffered by the pre-Cenozoic orogens
may be a contributory factor (see below). In contrast to con-
tractional arcs, extensional island arcs, particularly intraoceanic
arcs during their initial stages of construction, are characterized
7
 8 RICHARD H. SILLITOE
by large-volume volcanism (e.g., Stern and Bloomer, 1992).
Such immature arcs lack the large, felsic magma chambers nec-
essary for porphyry copper deposit formation, as exemplified by
the apparently barren Izu-Bonin-Mariana, Tonga-Kermadec,
and Kurile arcs in the western Pacific Ocean (Fig. 2).
Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits
Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits formed in cra-
tonic, foreland, and hinterland basins at low paleolatitudes
(Kirkham, 1989; Hitzman et al., 2010). The principal copper
provinces are hosted by basins in which the receptive strata are
both areally extensive and hydrologically accessible to large vol-
umes of mineralizing brines. The basins have different origins:
the Central African Copperbelt occupies part of an intracon-
tinental rift system, which, farther west in the Damara belt of
Namibia, underwent limited ocean-floor spreading to generate
a narrow, Red Sea-type ocean (Hanson, 2003); the Kupfer-
schiefer deposits lie within the intracontinental Polish basin,
which was initiated by rifting induced by postcollisional oro-
genic collapse and transcurrent faulting (van Wees et al., 2000);
and the Dzhezkazgan district is hosted by the Chu-Sarysu
transpressional hinterland basin that developed at the site of a
former retroarc basin as a consequence of collisional orogeny
(Yakubchuk et al., 2012, and references therein). Nonetheless,
all are characterized by basal immature redbed siliciclastic
(and, in many cases, volcanic) sequences, above or within
which thin, reduced horizons induced copper precipitation
from ascendant, moderate-temperature, oxidized brines (e.g.,
Hitzman et al., 2005, 2010; Fig. 5). Deeply penetrating faults
acted as principal conduits for fluid ascent, as documented in
the Kupferschiefer province (Borg et al., 2012, and references
therein). The Kupferschiefer copper deposits are overlain by
massive, halite-bearing evaporites, which may have contributed
to mineralization efficiency by acting as hanging-wall aquitards
that minimized upward fluid dispersion (Jowett, 1986; Schmidt
Mumm and Wolfgramm, 2004; Fig. 5). Breccias, including
kilometer-scale blocks, in parts of the Central African Cop-
perbelt are interpreted to imply the former presence there of
comparable, but now-dissolved evaporitic strata, which may
also have acted as a top seal during mineralization (Jackson et
FIG. 5. Schematic depiction of key lithologic elements of sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits. Rift-bounding nor-
mal faults undergo inversion during contractional tectonism. Residual brines or brines produced by evaporite dissolution
leach copper and associated metals (cobalt or silver) from oxidized basement strata and overlying redbed siliciclastic rocks.
Copper-bearing sulfides are precipitated by in situ or mobile reductants present in overlying siliciclastic rocks and carbon-
ates as well as locally in the basement rocks. Inspired by Hitzman et al. (2010).
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al., 2003; Selley et al., 2005; Koziy et al., 2009; Hitzman et al.,
2012). Evaporites may also have served as sources for the
brines responsible for scavenging, transport, and precipitation
of the copper and associated metals (e.g., Koziy et al., 2009).
The exceptional copper contents of the premier sediment-
hosted stratiform belts are attributed by some investigators to
semicontinuity or multiplicity of copper introduction events,
spanning the commonly protracted (100–300 m.y.) time in-
tervals between sedimentation and early diagenesis through
to basin inversion and, in the Central African Copperbelt, the
associated low-grade metamorphism (Michalik and Sawlow-
icz, 2001; Schmidt Mumm and Wolfgramm, 2004; Hitzman et
al., 2005, 2010, 2012; Haest and Muchez, 2011; Schuh et al.,
2012). A variant on this model implicates shorter, but highly
effective copper-bearing brine expulsion events driven by ei-
ther igneous activity related to extension or basin inversion, as
supported by several lines of evidence for postlithifaction
mineralization (e.g., McGowan et al., 2003; Sillitoe et al.,
2010; Symons et al., 2011; Borg et al., 2012; Hitzman et al.,
2012). Both models satisfy the observed presence of mineral-
ization over appreciable stratigraphic intervals in the Central
African Copperbelt (Hitzman et al., 2012) and elsewhere.
IOCG deposits
Formation of the largest IOCG deposits in the Gawler, cen-
tral Andes, and Carajás provinces is synchronous with felsic
and subordinate mafic magmatism in extensional or transten-
sional settings. In all three provinces, minor intrusions of
mafic composition appear to be the most closely related to
IOCG generation (Sillitoe, 2003; Skirrow, 2009; Groves et al.,
2010). Regional-scale fault zones or lineaments are obvious
deposit controls (e.g., O’Driscoll, 1985; Sillitoe, 2003; Xavier
et al., 2012). The Gawler and Carajás provinces were most
probably generated in Mesoproterozoic and Neoarchean
anorogenic, intracratonic settings, respectively, although Skir-
row (2009) discussed evidence for a distal retroarc position
for the former. In contrast, the Coastal Cordillera of the cen-
tral Andes was a retreating accretionary orogen characterized
by trench rollback during Late Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous
IOCG generation (Sillitoe, 2003). Mantle plume activity may
 COPPER PROVINCES 9

have triggered the Gawler and Carajás magmatism and IOCG
mineralization (Groves et al., 2010), but was certainly not a
feature of the Mesozoic central Andes.
Notwithstanding the synchronism of the largest IOCG de-
posits with magmatism in broadly extensional/transtensional
settings, the tectonic position of Olympic Dam and Salobo on
the one hand and the much younger Candelaria-Punta del
Cobre district on the other are markedly different. Hence, it
must be concluded that tectonic setting alone cannot satisfac-
torily account for the localization of IOCG deposits.
Summary statement—tectonic controls
Contractional tectonic conditions and the resultant crustal
thickening, surface uplift, and exhumation offer a viable ex-
planation for the world’s most productive porphyry copper
belts. Basin size, stratigraphic architecture, and brine expul-
sion history (during extension and/or subsequent contraction)
may, either singly or, more likely, in combination, account for
the world’s principal sediment-hosted stratiform copper
provinces. Major IOCG deposits seem to be products of
crustal extension/transtension, albeit with indications of a
close link to mafic magmatism.
However, these tectonic models, including their attendant
magmatic or sedimentologic histories, do not seem adequate
to fully explain the premier copper provinces, in which sev-
eral metallogenic epochs and several different deposit types
generated under different tectonic conditions are commonly
represented. Furthermore, in some accretionary orogens, con-
tractional tectonic events failed to give rise to known major
porphyry copper deposits, as exemplified by oceanic plateau
subduction beneath the northern Andes of Ecuador during
the Late Cretaceous (Vallejo et al., 2009) and flat-slab sub-
duction beneath southern Alaska during the mid- to late Ceno-
zoic (Finzel et al., 2011). Similarly, many major redbed- and
evaporite-bearing cratonic, foreland, and hinterland basins
contain only minor or even lack sediment-hosted stratiform
copper deposits (e.g., Khorat basin, Thailand, and neighboring
countries; Racey, 2009). And, of course, numerous anoro-
genic, intracratonic magmatic provinces and extensional ac-
cretionary orogens worldwide lack even minor examples of
IOCG mineralization.
Recurrent Mineralization in Major Copper Provinces
The world’s major copper provinces tend to be dominated
by a single deposit type, albeit in some cases generated during
two or more metallogenic epochs (Figs. 1, 6), but commonly
also contain subsidiary copper deposits of other types. For
example, the pre-eminent central Andes and southwestern

35°W Paleoproterozoic
Middle Eocene-
PERU early Oligocene Late Cretaceous-
early Eocene
USA
(Laramide)
Miocene MEXICO
Pacific Late Jurassic
Paleocene- Ocean
early Eocene
BOLIVIA
20°S 200 km
115°W 110°W
b

Jurassic Permian
Tengiz
basin
Pacific 50°N
Ocean Late Devonian-
Carboniferous Carboniferous
Late
Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous Chu-Sarysu

basin
Miocene-
early
30°S Pliocene
65°E 200 km 80°E
NTINA

c
Copper deposit types
ARGE

Porphyry
IOCG, manto type + porphyry
CHILE

70°W Sediment-hosted stratiform

200 km
a Volcanogenic massive sulfide

FIG. 6. Recurrent metallogenic epochs in representative major copper provinces: a. Central Andes (Sillitoe and Perelló,
2005); b. Southwestern North America (Titley, 1982); and c. Kazakhstan Altaids (Yakubchuk et al., 2005). Note proximity of
the different deposit types.

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 10
North America copper provinces are characterized by several
intrusion- and volcanic-related metallogenic epochs. The
highly endowed Miocene to early Pliocene, middle Eocene to
early Oligocene, and Paleocene to early Eocene belts of the
central Andes—all apparently generated during tectonic con-
traction—were preceded by subordinate Late Carboniferous
to Triassic porphyry copper, Late Jurassic and Early Creta-
ceous IOCG, manto-type copper, and porphyry copper, and
Late Cretaceous and Miocene sediment-hosted stratiform
copper epochs that all seem to have formed in
extensional/transtensional settings (Sillitoe, 1988; Sillitoe and
Perelló, 2005; Fig. 6a). Indeed, the entire post-Paleozoic cen-
tral Andean orogen is copper dominated, a fact that led Stoll
(1965) to define it as a chalcophile province. Similarly, south-
western North America is characterized not only by the syn-
contractional Laramide porphyry copper deposits but, as pre-
saged by Spurr (1923, Ch. 9, 10), also by Late Jurassic porphyry
copper emplacement at Bisbee (Titley, 1982), Paleoproterozoic
copper-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide formation at Jerome
and elsewhere (Lindberg, 1989), and minor younger copper
mineralization (e.g., McLemore, 1996), all plausibly extension-
related mineralization events (Fig. 6b). The Altaid province
of central Asia is made up of several Paleozoic intrusion- and
volcanic-related copper epochs, to which may be added the
major Dzhezkazgan sediment-hosted stratiform copper dis-
trict (e.g., Yakubchuk et al., 2005, 2012; Fig. 6b). The Carajás
province (Fig. 1), part of the Southern Amazon craton of
northeastern Brazil, is primarily defined by a series of proba-
bly Neoarchean IOCG deposits, but also includes greisen-
and vein-type copper deposits related to Paleoproterozoic fel-
sic intrusions (e.g., Breves; Grainger et al., 2008). Even the
Central African Copperbelt includes structurally localized,
carbonate-replacement zinc-copper deposits (e.g., Kipushi,
DRC; Haest and Muchez, 2011), and Mesoproterozoic IOCG
deposits share the Gawler province with sediment-hosted
stratiform copper deposits of Neoproterozoic age (e.g., Mount
Gunson; Tonkin and Creelman, 1990).
Therefore, it is tempting to think that a yet more funda-
mental factor may need to be identified in order to explain
the origin of the world’s premier copper provinces, in which
superposition of several copper-forming epochs and domi-
nance of copper over other metals (except, perhaps, for iron)
seem to be commonplace. Furthermore, given their different
formational ages and preservation potentials, the known de-
posits are unlikely to be fully representative of a province’s
total original copper endowment.
Copper Deposit Preservation
Attempts to understand the global distribution of copper
deposits are dictated by the exposed and near-surface (≤1.5
km) deposits discovered to date. Eroded deposits are neces-
sarily ignored, although it is recognized that they are likely to
have been sufficiently numerous, large, and/or high-grade to
have greatly increased the importance of known copper
provinces or even constituted former, now-unsuspected
provinces. Undiscovered copper deposits pose the same fun-
damental problems.
The preservation potential of different types of copper de-
posits is clearly not the same. Porphyry copper deposits, par-
ticularly their near-surface epithermal manifestations, are
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RICHARD H. SILLITOE
readily lost to erosion because of confinement of most of
them to shallow (<4 km) crustal levels (e.g., Sawkins, 1972;
Sillitoe, 1972; Kesler and Wilkinson, 2006; Fig. 3). This may
be particularly true for the largest deposits, which are ar-
guably generated only during rapid uplift and exhumation
consequent upon tectonic contraction (Sillitoe, 1998; see
above), as well as for gold-rich examples, which tend to form
at shallower depths than those containing by-product molyb-
denum (Murakami et al., 2010). Hence, many major porphyry
copper deposits are Cenozoic, in particular Mio-Pliocene in
age (Los Pelambres-El Pachón, Río Blanco-Los Bronces, El
Teniente, Reko Diq, Grasberg), with progressively fewer being
hosted by Mesozoic, Paleozoic, and older accretionary oro-
gens (cf. Kesler and Wilkinson, 2006). The oldest exploited
porphyry copper deposit is the highly deformed, Paleo-
proterozoic example at Aitik, Sweden, in the Svecofennian
orogen (Wanhainen et al., 2006).
Hawkesworth et al. (2009, 2010) proposed that the preser-
vation potential of rocks (and any enclosed ore deposits) in
subduction or extensional settings is substantially less than
that of collisional orogens (Fig. 7). Potentially for this reason,
the most important Paleozoic porphyry copper province is
hosted by the extensional Altaid accretionary orogen of cen-
tral Asia (Figs. 1, 6c), which eventually became caught up in
the late Paleozoic to earliest Mesozoic collision of the North
China and Tarim cratonic blocks with the southern margin of
the Siberian craton (Yakubchuk et al., 2005, 2012; Xiao et al.,
Preservation potential
Total copper endowment
Retreating
subduction zones
Advancing
subduction zones
SUBDUCTION COLLISION BREAKUP
Supercontinent cycle
FIG. 7. Hypothetical preservation potential of rocks and contained copper
deposits (blue lines) versus approximate copper endowment (red line) of sub-
duction, collisional, and extensional breakup settings. The preservation po-
tential of advancing (Andean type, contractional) subduction margins is
much lower than that of retreating (southwestern Pacific type, extensional)
margins characterized by trench rollback. The copper endowment of sub-
duction settings (mainly porphyry deposits) is much greater than that of col-
lisional (sediment-hosted stratiform deposits and a subset of porphyry deposits,
including the Grasberg district) and extensional (some sediment-hosted
stratiform and IOCG deposits) settings. The figure implies that porphyry and
sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits in collisional settings and IOCG
deposits in extensional settings tend to be older than porphyry copper and
IOCG deposits in subduction settings. The shape of the right side of the cop-
per endowment curve would change if sediment-hosted stratiform deposits
are considered to form mainly during extension rather than basin inversion.
Based on Hawkesworth et al. (2009).
10
 COPPER PROVINCES
2009). In the Kazakh-Mongol magmatic arc in the Altaids, ad-
vanced argillic lithocaps—characteristic of the shallow epi-
thermal parts of porphyry copper systems (e.g., Sillitoe,
2010b; Fig. 3)—are widely preserved, thereby further em-
phasizing the generally shallow erosion level. Typically,
preservation is a product of postmineral concealment beneath
younger volcanosedimentary cover (e.g., Oyu Tolgoi; Perelló
et al., 2001; Wainwright et al., 2011; Crane and Kavalieris,
2012), as it commonly is elsewhere (e.g., Resolution and Peb-
ble East; Hehnke et al., 2012; Lang and Gregory, 2012; Lev-
eille and Stegen, 2012).
Furthermore, accretionary orogens of classical Andean
type are less well preserved than extensional examples char-
acterized by retreating subduction zones and retroarc basin
development (Hawkesworth et al., 2009, 2010; Fig. 7). Thus,
in the central Andes, the IOCG deposits, formed in a retreat-
ing subduction regime, are ~70 m.y. older than the parallel
belt of major porphyry copper deposits, generated and ex-
humed during contraction at an advancing subduction margin
(Sillitoe, 2003; Sillitoe and Perelló, 2005; Fig. 6a).
In contrast to porphyry copper deposits, most sediment-
hosted stratiform and IOCG deposits have far greater preser-
vation potential and, as a consequence, tend to be much older
because they occur in major sedimentary basins and exten-
sional, commonly intraplate environments, respectively. The
preservation potential of the principal sediment-hosted strat-
iform copper provinces was further enhanced by incorpora-
tion in collisional orogens. Hence, ancient deposits are far
more common, as exemplified by the Neoarchean age of the
Carajás IOCG province and Paleoproterozoic age of the
supergiant (26 Mt Cu) sediment-hosted stratiform copper de-
posit at Udokan, Russia (Chechetkin et al., 2000; Fig. 1). Fur-
thermore, the relatively buoyant nature of the underlying
Archean lithospheric mantle was also a cogent factor in
crustal stability and preservation of the Gawler and Carajás
IOCG provinces (Groves et al., 2010).
Fundamental Controls of Major Copper Provinces
The limited number, spatial restriction, and multistage ori-
gin of the world’s premier copper provinces hint at more fun-
damental reasons than simply tectonic/tectonomagmatic set-
ting to explain their localization. In the case of porphyry
copper deposits, for example, the reasonably well-understood
magmatic and hydrothermal processes involved—as summa-
rized by Sillitoe (2010b), Richards (2011), Audétat and Simon
(2012), and Kouzmanov and Pokrovski (2012)—fail to satis-
factorily explain the two orders of magnitude difference in
the copper endowment of the various circum-Pacific (Fig. 2)
and other youthful arc segments worldwide, since neither
dramatically different degrees of deposit exposure (except,
perhaps, for Paleozoic eastern Australia) nor exploration ef-
fectiveness (except, perhaps, for the northern Andes and
Russian Far East) can be realistically called upon. Therefore
it is difficult to escape the conclusion that limited volumes of
Earth’s upper crust are predisposed to recurrent copper con-
centration, on time scales of tens to hundreds of millions of
years and, potentially, as long as 2,000 m.y. It is proposed here
that lithosphere chemistry, perhaps most importantly copper
availability and redox state, is the fundamental control favor-
ing repetitive copper mineralization: a proposal that builds on
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11
long-debated concepts of metal inheritance and provinciality
(e.g., Noble, 1970; Krauskopf, 1971; Routhier, 1976; Titley,
2001).
Porphyry copper deposits
As reviewed by Richards (2003, 2011) and Audétat and
Simon (2012), porphyry copper magma generation may be
initiated by hydration and partial melting of peridotite in as-
thenospheric mantle wedges above subduction zones: a
process induced by upward transfer of aqueous fluid and/or
hydrous melt from downgoing oceanic slabs (e.g., Schmidt
and Poli, 2005; Dreyer et al., 2010; Fig. 8). Subducted ser-
pentinite may contribute a significant proportion of the re-
quired water (Hattori and Guillot, 2003).
The slab-derived fluids introduce sulfur, chlorine, carbon
species, and incompatible elements and, at least during the
Phanerozoic, progressively oxidize the mantle wedges (e.g.,
Kelley and Cottrell, 2009; Evans and Tomkins, 2011). Ascent
of the hydrous basaltic melts from mantle wedges causes
progressive metasomatism and oxidation of the overlying
lithospheric mantle (e.g., Peslier et al., 2002) as well as un-
derplating and radically modifying the lower crust (Fig. 8).
Furthermore, magmatic differentiation generates cumulates
potentially enriched in copper-bearing sulfides in the vicinity
of the lithospheric mantle-crust boundary (e.g., Richards,
2009, 2011; Lee et al., 2012). Hence, long-standing accre-
tionary orogens—such as the central Andes where subduction
was initiated >500 m.y. ago (e.g., Bahlburg et al., 2009;
Mpodozis and Cornejo, 2012)—and those subjected to multi-
stage subduction histories generally should be characterized
by relatively oxidized crust-mantle systems as well as by hav-
ing been subjected to the greatest incompatible element and
volatile input and concentration. Effective magmatic trans-
port of copper and gold through the mantle and crust is fa-
vored by relatively oxidized conditions, otherwise such metals
become immobilized as a result of retention or sequestration
by magmatic sulfide minerals and/or melts (e.g., Mungall,
2002; Richards, 2011; Evans and Tomkins, 2011; Audétat and
Simon, 2012). Hence, relatively oxidized rather than reduced
crustal profiles (and contained aqueous fluids) characterize
major porphyry copper provinces, as emphasized by Keith
and Swan (1995) for southwestern North America. The abil-
ity of the lower and middle crust to influence magma chem-
istry is underscored by the ubiquitous presence of inherited
magmatic zircon grains in porphyry copper stocks (e.g.,
Richards et al., 1999; van Dongen et al., 2010). Translithos-
pheric fault systems, some localized by ancient collisional su-
tures bounding accreted terranes, have the potential to focus
the ascent of the mantle- and lower crust-derived magmas
and contained metals into the upper crust (e.g., Bingham,
Chuquicamata, Oyu Tolgoi, Grasberg).
Although still unquantified, much of the copper and associ-
ated metals incorporated in the mantle wedge-derived basaltic
magmas were supplied by the fluids ascending from downgo-
ing slabs and, hence, ultimately by hydrated oceanic lithos-
phere and overlying sediments (e.g., Sillitoe, 1972; Noll et al.,
1996; Hattori, 2007; Fig. 8). Irrespective of precisely where
the bulk of the copper is concentrated in the oceanic crust
(Cathles, 2011; Hannington, 2011), its distribution in sheeted
dike complexes and overlying basaltic lavas (few hundred
11
 12 RICHARD H. SILLITOE

Pelagic
sediment
Cumulates
Oxidized Magma
chamber Oxidized+
crust copper-rich
Oceanic
lithosphere
Lithospheric
mantle
Asthenosphere
Convective
mantle flow
Partial
melting

Oxidized
fluids from
slab

FIG. 8. Schematic section of a convergent margin, showing ascent of oxidized, copper-bearing fluids from the subducted
oceanic plate into the asthenospheric wedge, where relatively low-degree partial melting produces basaltic magma. The
basaltic magma ascends through and causes further partial melting of the mantle lithosphere and lower crust, which locally
may have been oxidized and copper enriched during previous subduction episodes/cycles. The resulting fertile basaltic
magma may underplate the crust or pass directly into the lower crust where it evolves to an andesitic composition by the
MASH (mixing, assimilation, storage, and homogenization) process (Richards, 2003, 2011, and references therein). Cuprif-
erous sulfide-bearing cumulates can also result from magmatic differentiation in the upper lithospheric mantle and lower
crust. Relatively oxidized (as opposed to reduced) crustal profiles maximize delivery of copper and other chalcophile metals
to ore-depositional sites in the upper crust. Major porphyry copper provinces are believed to develop above the oxidized and
copper-enriched zones of lithospheric mantle and lowermost crust, which, in some cases, may have been accreted during
much earlier collisional orogeny.

ppm), contained VMS deposits (up to several %), basal
pelagic sediments (~800 ppm), and ferromanganese nodules
and crusts (~4,500 ppm) is undoubtedly highly heteroge-
neous at the scale of ocean basins (e.g., Morgan, 2000; Li and
Schoonmaker, 2005). Furthermore, fluid and contained metal
release from downgoing slabs is highly complex because of its
dependence on the interplay between thermomechanical
properties and reaction paths (Schmidt and Poli, 2005) and
the strong likelihood that a substantial proportion is sub-
ducted deeper into the mantle. Therefore the metal flux from
subducted slabs to mantle wedges and their superjacent
lithospheric mantle and lowermost crust may vary consider-
ably both geographically and through time. Ascendant
basaltic magmas may obtain additional metals from metasom-
atized lithospheric mantle and mafic lower crust (Shafiei et
al., 2009), which also seem likely to be characterized by highly
heterogeneous redox and metal distribution patterns inher-
ited not only from earlier subduction, but also as a result of
rifting, mantle plume, and accretion events dating back as far
as the Precambrian (e.g., Griffin et al., 2003; Clowes et al.,
2010). Indeed, pre-Phanerozoic lithospheric mantle may
have been particularly well fertilized because the slab-derived
fluids at that time seem likely to have been less oxidized
(Evans and Tomkins, 2011). Subduction-zone flattening and
crustal thickening, which appear to have accompanied gene-
sis of many major porphyry copper belts (see above), can
cause almost complete elimination of mantle wedges, a
process which may enhance the metasomatism of lithospheric
mantle and lower crust as well as their contributions to mag-
matism just prior to eventual onset of amagmatic conditions
(Kay et al., 1999; Haschke et al., 2002; Lee et al., 2012), as
well as subsequently (Humphreys et al., 2003). Metasoma-
tized lithospheric mantle and mafic lowermost crust may also
directly contribute partial melts capable of forming porphyry
copper deposits after collision has shut down subduction
(Richards, 2009, 2011), a situation that can also cause delam-
ination (gravity-induced foundering) of potentially fertile
lithospheric material into the asthenosphere (e.g., Grasberg;
Cloos et al., 2005; Fig. 9a).
Using evidence furnished by mafic enclaves in the porphyry
copper-related stock, Core et al. (2006) proposed that the
Bingham Canyon deposit and, by extrapolation, porphyry
copper belts elsewhere may be the results of partial melting
of previously copper- and sulfur-enriched lower crust or
lithospheric mantle. Based on strontium and neodymium iso-
tope ratios of coeval volcanic rocks (Waite et al., 1997) and
lead isotope ratios of fluid inclusions in hydrothermal quartz
veinlets (Pettke et al., 2010), the subcontinental lithospheric
mantle, subduction-metasomatized and accreted during the
Paleoproterozoic (Whitmeyer and Karlstrom, 2007), is per-
haps the more likely source of the magmas and associated
copper (and gold and molybdenum) at Bingham Canyon.
Similar Paleoproterozoic lithosphere may also have been the
ultimate copper source for the Laramide porphyry copper de-
posits of southwestern North America (e.g., Bouse et al.,
1999; Humphreys et al., 2003; Pettke et al., 2010; Leveille
and Stegen, 2012).
The fundamental role played by fertile, subduction-meta-
somatized, oxidized, and copper-enriched mantle and lower-
most crust in the generation of porphyry copper belts and
provinces is underscored by two additional observations.
First, many magmatic arcs that lack appreciable porphyry

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 COPPER PROVINCES 13

Magma
Tectonically thickened
porphyry copper formation (Sato, 2012, and references
chamber
Collisional
suture
continental crust therein). Second, episodic high-flux magmatic events in An-
dean-type arcs, resulting from enhanced crustal melting, give
rise to voluminous felsic ignimbrite eruptions (de Silva et al.,
Lithospheric 2006; DeCelles et al., 2009), but few, if any, porphyry copper
mantle
Asthenosphere deposits. Hattori and Keith (2001), Audétat and Simon
Cumulates (2012), and Loucks (2012) emphasized the critical role of ju-
Magma generation
Metasomatized venile mafic melts introduced into midcrustal or even deeper
Upwelling lithospheric
in metasomatized
asthenosphere mantle felsic magma chambers for effective porphyry copper genesis.
lithospheric mantle
Delaminated lithospheric Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits
mantle sinking
a into asthenosphere It is now commonly accepted that the voluminous brines
responsible for sediment-hosted stratiform copper mineral-
ization in the Central African Copperbelt and Kupferschiefer
province may have circulated through fault arrays in underly-
Erosion of Hinterland ing basement rocks as well as the redbed sedimentary se-
arc detritus
Foreland extensional basin quences that floor the copper-mineralized sedimentary basins
basin
(e.g., Blundell et al., 2003; Schmidt Mumm and Wolfgramm,
Thickened
Pluton continental 2004; Koziy et al., 2009; Hitzman et al., 2010; Borg et al.,
crust 2012). Indeed, the basement itself also locally underwent
Lithospheric mantle
mineralization in the Central African Copperbelt (e.g.,
Asthenosphere
Collisional Lumwana deposit, Zambia; Bernau et al., 2007; Hitzman et
suture al., 2012).
The immediate basement to the Dzhezkazgan province
Detached slab (Fig. 6c) seems likely to be relatively oxidized and potentially
sinking into copper mineralized, given that it comprises accreted early Pa-
asthenosphere
leozoic magmatic arc terranes and the western portion of a
b Devonian arc. Furthermore, both the Devonian and Car-
boniferous porphyry copper-bearing arcs probably shed detri-
Magma chamber
tus into the Chu-Sarysu basin, the host to the Dzhezkazgan
district (Figs. 6c, 9b). Oxidized crust is also a strong possibil-
Crustal
extension ity in the Central African Copperbelt and Kupferschiefer
province because both are partly underlain by arc terranes
Metasomatized and derivative (meta)sedimentary rocks of Paleoproterozoic
lithospheric
mantle
and Paleozoic age, respectively (Oszczepalski, 1999; Rainaud
Asthenosphere et al., 2005; Borg et al., 2012; Schuh et al., 2012). Several
low-grade porphyry copper deposits and associated skarns
Mantle
Magma generation plume occur in the Paleozoic basement of southwestern Poland
in metasomatized
lithospheric mantle (Harańczyk, 1980) but, although minor copper occurrences
are widespread in the pre-Katangan basement of the Central
c African Copperbelt in Zambia (Pienaar, 1961), it remains to
FIG. 9. Cartoons of additional geotectonic scenarios that could be influen-
be determined if they are broadly contemporaneous with
tial in major copper deposit/province formation: a. Formation of porphyry their host rocks or were introduced during passage of brines
copper magma by small-degree partial melting of metasomatized (and possi- through the basement at the time of the stratigraphically
bly cumulate-bearing) lithospheric mantle and lower crust during asthenos- higher, sediment-hosted stratiform copper mineralization, as
phere upwelling after subduction ceases, with delaminated lithospheric man- appears to be the case at Lumwana (see above).
tle sinking into the asthenosphere (e.g., Richards, 2011); b. Contribution of
erosional products of copper-bearing magmatic arc to sediment-hosted strat- IOCG deposits
iform copper deposit formation in extensional hinterland basin, following
continental collision (and slab detachment), as applicable to Dzhezkazgan; By analogy with porphyry copper deposits, it may be spec-
and c. Intraplate formation of IOCG-related magma from copper-enriched ulated that the mafic magmas related temporally to major
lithospheric mantle and lowermost crust during mantle-plume activity (e.g.,
Groves et al., 2010).
IOCG deposits may also have tapped preexisting segments of
oxidized and copper-enriched subcontinental lithospheric
mantle located on the margins of Archean cratons (Grainger
copper mineralization have been shown by isotopic studies to et al., 2008; Groves et al., 2010), prior to ascent through dom-
possess only limited mantle contributions and to have formed inantly oxidized crustal rocks via deeply penetrating fault
mainly from recycled crustal material. The Mesozoic arcs of zones (e.g., Olympic Dam; O’Driscoll, 1985; Ehrig et al.,
the Russian Far East, southeastern China, Korea, and Japan 2012). The mafic magmas may have been introduced by man-
are prime examples (e.g., Jahn, 2010). The crust in these re- tle plumes (Groves et al., 2010; Fig. 9c). Certainly, in the case
gions is dominated by thick, reduced sedimentary packages, of the Olympic Dam deposit, some of the neodymium in the
which therefore favor ilmenite-series magmatism inimical to hematite-rich ore was derived from the same source as that in

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 14
synmineral, alkaline mafic/ultramafic dikes within the ore-
body, implying a mantle source for both and, arguably, much
of the associated copper (Johnson and McCulloch, 1995;
Ehrig et al., 2012). Indeed, availability of such fertile lithos-
pheric mantle may be a fundamental requirement for IOCG
generation in intraplate settings (Fig. 9c), in which most
anorogenic magmatic provinces are devoid of copper (and
gold) mineralization. If the existence of subjacent fertile
lithospheric mantle and lowermost crust was a prerequisite
for formation of the central Andean copper province, as hy-
pothesized above, then the transition from IOCG dominance
in the Mesozoic to porphyry copper dominance in the Ceno-
zoic may be somehow related to the temporally coincident
change from extensional to contractional tectonic conditions
instigated by opening of the South Atlantic Ocean (see
above).
Conclusions
Several recent studies of major copper deposits and
provinces have identified the potentially important metallo-
genic role played by the lithospheric mantle in both accre-
tionary orogens and anorogenic, intraplate settings (Grainger
et al., 2008; Sillitoe, 2008; Bierlein et al., 2009; Shafiei et al.,
2009; Groves et al., 2010; Pettke et al., 2010). Although por-
phyry copper genesis is commonly triggered by subduction-
induced partial melting of asthenospheric mantle wedges,
previously oxidized and metasomatized lithospheric mantle
and overlying lowermost crust appear to have contributed im-
portantly to the development of most major porphyry copper
deposits, belts, and provinces. This fertile lithospheric mantle
and lowermost crust, commonly parts of accreted Precam-
brian terranes, may contribute supplementary copper to as-
cending asthenospheric magmas, both during subduction
and, less commonly, intraplate extension, as well as undergo-
ing partial melting in their own right. Shallower crust, al-
though necessarily oxidized, seems to play a subordinate role
in the provision of copper, except in the case of extensional
sedimentary basins where subjacent magmatic arc terranes as
well as the redbed detritus derived from them are the likely
sources of the copper in sediment-hosted stratiform deposits.
Recurrent tapping of oxidized and potentially copper-en-
riched domains of the lithospheric mantle and derivative
copper-enriched crust during several discrete metallogenic
epochs has the potential to account for the origin of the
world’s major copper provinces. However, in marked contrast
to intraplate IOCG provinces, mantle plume-related, mag-
matic nickel-copper deposits, including major, copper-rich
examples like Noril’sk (Fig. 1), probably derive their metals
directly from the lower asthenospheric mantle (Maier and
Groves, 2011; Burrows and Lesher, 2012), although this could
be copper enriched locally as a result of deep cycling of either
subducted slabs or delaminated lithospheric mantle (e.g.,
Walter et al., 2011; Fig. 9a, b). Notwithstanding the funda-
mental role proposed here for lithospheric processes, opti-
mization of ore formation at both the deposit and district
scales as well as tectonic setting—for example, regional con-
traction and consequent crustal thickening during porphyry
copper formation—can contribute to size and grade en-
hancement of individual deposits and belts and, as a result, to
overall copper endowment.
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RICHARD H. SILLITOE
In summary, the world’s premier copper provinces may be
considered as the cumulative products of a well-orchestrated
series of copper concentration processes: copper precipita-
tion on and beneath the ocean floor, at and beyond mid-ocean
ridges, and its eventual subduction at accretionary margins;
extraction of copper from the subducted slabs and its intro-
duction into superjacent asthenospheric mantle wedges; het-
erogeneous copper accumulation and short- or long-term
storage in the lithospheric mantle and lowermost crust; re-
current incorporation of copper into ascendant magmas; and
copper ore formation in association with upper-crustal intru-
sions and sedimentary basins. In the final analysis, however,
the key role proposed here for localized copper enrichment
of the lithospheric mantle and lowermost crust is simply a lat-
ter-day elaboration of what Spurr (1923, p. 431) termed “a
heterogeneous stable under-earth......a rich storehouse of
metals.”
Acknowledgments
I thank Rio Tinto Exploration for honoring me with this
dedicated volume, the Society of Economic Geologists for ac-
cepting it as a Special Publication, and the editors—Jeff
Hedenquist, Mike Harris, and Francisco Camus—for their
hard work during volume planning and manuscript review
and revision as well as for inviting me to contribute this in-
troductory paper. George Steele provided me with sage ad-
vice during volume conception, and Alice Bouley, Brian Hoal,
Christine Horrigan, Mabel Peterson, Stuart Simmons, and
Vivian Smallwood assisted the editors with the planning and
publication processes.
I am also deeply grateful to the numerous geologists who
over the years have shared their knowledge of the copper de-
posits and provinces briefly referred to in this introductory
paper, during consulting assignments and the occasional mine
tour. The authors of the other 21 papers—all of them cited in
this introduction—are also thanked for helping to make this a
landmark volume on the major copper deposits and districts
of the world. Manuscript reviews by Mike Harris, Keiko Hat-
tori, Jeff Hedenquist, Pepe Perelló, Stuart Simmons and, on
behalf of the Society of Economic Geologists, Murray Hitz-
man, John Thompson, and Dick Tosdal greatly improved this
paper.
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