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High Cu grades in porphyry Cu deposits and their relationship to

emplacement depth of magmatic sources
John M. Proffett
P.O. Box 772066, Eagle River, Alaska 99577, USA

ABSTRACT porphyry intrusions (Fig. 1B). Mineralization

Observations at several porphyry Cu deposits indicate that in those formed above source associated with each porphyry is truncated
magma chambers emplaced to relatively shallow levels (roofs ~3–4 km deep), zones of higher at contacts with younger porphyries. Other
Cu grade are associated with the oldest intrusions of a central porphyry cluster, abundant deposits (GSA Data Repository Table DR11) in
early (A-type) quartz veins, secondary feldspar alteration, and usually high Fe/Fe + Cu, low which higher Cu grade occurrences are similar
S/Fe + Cu sulfide-oxide mineral assemblages. In deposits for which source magma chambers to those of the Yerington Mine (A-vein type)
were deeper (roofs >5 km), porphyries closest in age to ore are spatially less directly related to include Alumbrera, Argentina (Proffett, 2003),
mineralization. In these, higher Cu grades in early mineralization comprise swarms of veinlets and Batu Hijau, Indonesia (Clode et al., 1999).
with alteration halos that include sericite as well as secondary feldspar and biotite. Sulfide ± Higher primary Cu grades at El Salvador, Chile
oxide assemblages are usually of lower Fe/Fe + Cu and higher S/Fe + Cu. These differences in (Gustafson and Hunt, 1975), are similar in most
deposit characteristics appear to correspond with a change from two-phase, chloride-bearing, respects, but lack magnetite.
aqueous fluids that would exsolve from magma at shallow depths, to one-phase fluids deeper. In the Ann-Mason Pass (Fig. 1A) and Bear
deposits (4 km north of Fig. 1A), Yerington
INTRODUCTION at different paleodepths beneath the different district, abundant Cu sulfides are disseminated
Porphyry Cu deposits, the source of most of deposits, and differing characteristics between in alteration halos of thin, early quartz-sulfide
the world’s copper, form where felsic and/or deposits correlate well with this paleodepth. veinlets (Fig. 2C). Zones of higher Cu grade
intermediate magmas are emplaced in the upper These characteristics include wall-rock altera- occur where these early halos are closely
crust, and separation of magmatic volatiles takes tion, veinlet type, and Cu-Fe-S-O assemblages spaced, commonly in one or more subparallel
place (e.g., Sales, 1954; Gustafson and Hunt, associated with higher Cu grades, and space- sets. These zones may occur in porphyries or in
1975), features shared with explosive volcanic time relationships of these assemblages to por- older host rocks, but unlike high-grade zones
eruptions in volcanic arcs (e.g., Williams, 1941; phyry intrusions. in the Yerington Mine, they do not show close
Newhall and Punongbayan, 1996). Many mod- spatial relationships to individual porphyry
els for porphyry Cu deposits emphasize unifying DEPOSIT CHARACTERISTICS intrusions, and truncation of mineralization at
geometric characteristics (e.g., Lowell and Guil- In deposits discussed here, most Cu was porphyry contacts is much less common. Rock
bert, 1970), but detailed mapping also reveals originally introduced early, with potassic altera- texture is mostly destroyed in the halos, and the
notable temporal and spatial variability among tion. In all deposits this early alteration consists principal alteration minerals are sericite and sec-
deposits (Sales, 1954; Meyer et al., 1968; Gus- partly of large volumes of rock with low Cu ondary K-feldspar, the latter commonly occur-
tafson and Hunt, 1975; Hunt, 1991; Dilles and grades (~0.2–0.5 wt% Cu) in which rock texture ring between sericite and quartz (Fig. 2D). Sec-
Einaudi, 1992; Clode et al., 1999; Proffett, 1979, and primary feldspars are preserved, and the ondary biotite is also common, and may occur
2003). Aspects of this variability reviewed here, main alteration is replacement of primary mafic in plagioclase sites as well as mafic sites, and
based mainly on deposits I have studied, include minerals by secondary biotite. Within these vol- andalusite may be present. Sulfides are mainly
the mode of occurrence of higher primary Cu umes are more restricted zones of higher Cu chalcopyrite, with less bornite or pyrite (pyrite
grades, which are the parts of deposits that most grades (>0.8 wt% Cu) associated with potassic and bornite are never in contact). Secondary
closely reflect the nature of fluids that introduced alteration assemblages that can differ signifi- magnetite does not occur in the halos, and is
Cu. These variations correlate with depth of cantly between deposits. uncommon in the deposits. Primary magnetite
emplacement of underlying magmatic sources In the Yerington Mine (Figs. 1A, 1B) these is destroyed in halos and mostly destroyed in
of fluids and related porphyries, and seem to higher Cu grades are associated with zones of the surrounding zone of lower Cu grade (Fig.
define two main groups of deposits. As porphyry abundant A-veins, which are early veins consist- 1A). Thus Cu-Fe-S-O assemblages are of lower
Cu deposits are records of intrusive and volatile ing mainly of equant, anhedral quartz, and minor Fe/Fe + Cu (~0.25–0.50) and higher S/Fe + Cu
activity at shallow crustal levels, these observa- other minerals (Figs. 2A, 2B; Gustafson and (~0.75–1) than those of the Yerington Mine.
tions may be of interest in the study of explosive Hunt, 1975) and constitute 5–50 vol% of min- Quartz veins similar to A-veins are present at
volcanic eruptions, related seismic activity, and eralized rock. Secondary K-feldspar and biotite Ann-Mason Pass and Bear, but are less abun-
release of gases into the atmosphere, as well as occur as alteration minerals (Fig. 2B). Primary dant than at Yerington Mine, and show less rela-
for exploration and mining. Cu-Fe-S-O assemblages, which generally lack tionship to high Cu grade.
The Jurassic porphyry Cu deposits of the pyrite, are mostly of low S/Fe + Cu (~0.15–0.35, In several other deposits (early halo type;
Yerington district, Nevada, United States, are molar) and high Fe/Fe + Cu (~0.8–0.9), such as Table DR1) zones of higher Cu grade occur as
especially instructive because Cenozoic tilting magnetite-bornite with magnetite/bornite ~2–4 swarms of early halos similar to those at Ann-
reveals the underlying batholithic source of Cu- (by volume). These zones are complex in detail,
bearing fluids and porphyries (Fig. 1A). Depos- with multiple generations of A-veins (Fig. 2A), 1
GSA Data Repository item 2009163, Table DR1,
its there share the same source batholith, which which may contain Cu sulfides, magnetite, both, characteristics of selected porphyry copper deposits
minimizes magma composition as a factor in or neither. These higher-grade zones occur and depth estimates for their magmatic source, is
available online at www.geosociety.org/pubs/ft2009.
causing differences between deposits. Cupolas within and immediately surrounding the upper htm, or on request from editing@geosociety.org or
in the batholith roof (Fig. 1A), interpreted as parts of the earliest two porphyries of a close Documents Secretary, GSA, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder,
the source regions of fluids and porphyries, are space-time sequence of at least six ore-related CO 80301, USA.

© 2009 Geological Society of America. For permission to copy, contact Copyright Permissions, GSA, or editing@geosociety.org.
GEOLOGY,
Geology, August
August 2009
2009; v. 37; no. 8; p. 675–678; doi: 10.1130/G30072A.1; 3 figures; Data Repository item 2009163. 675
 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on June 2, 2015

ondary magnetite in Butte EDM veins and halos

is much less abundant than in Yerington Mine
high-grade zones, and Fe/Fe + Cu is lower while
S/Fe + Cu is higher. At Butte and certain other
early halo type deposits, porphyries closest in
age to mineralization are relatively thin dikes
and the large background potassic zones occur
mainly in pre-ore granitic rocks.

DEPTH OF EMPLACEMENT
Emplacement depths considered here are
those of underlying magmatic sources of miner-
alizing fluids and associated porphyries, rather
than those of the orebodies. In the Yerington
district, volcanic rocks similar in age to the
porphyry Cu deposits are exposed to the west
(Proffett and Dilles, 1984, 1991), and a contact
there between hydrothermally altered volcanic
rocks and overlying less-altered felsic volca-
nic porphyries (Fig. 1A) was the paleosurface
at the approximate time of porphyry Cu min-
eralization. Reconstruction of section and plan
views by removal of Cenozoic faulting and tilt-
ing reveals original Jurassic relationships (Fig.
1A), and projection of this contact indicates that
magmatic source regions of fluids and porphy-
ries in the upper part of the batholith beneath
Figure 1. A: Paleogeologic cross section through Yerington district, Nevada, showing Meso- Yerington Mine, Ann-Mason Pass, and Bear
zoic geology. Constructed by removal of Cenozoic tilting and faulting (Proffett, 1977), based were ~4, ~5, and ~5.2 km, respectively, below
on detailed geologic mapping (Proffett and Dilles, 1984, and unpublished data). Datum, top the paleosurface.
Tgm, is top of Guild Mine Member of Oligocene Mickey Pass Tuff, as reconstructed. B: Pre-
tilt section through Yerington Mine, based on 1:600 scale mapping of mine benches (Proffett, Geologic projections for other deposits with
1979; Carten, 1986; and unpublished compilations by the author and M. T. Einaudi). Legend A-vein type high-grade Cu zones suggest that
lists porphyries (e.g., qmp1) by age, oldest at bottom, based on crosscutting relationships. magmatic sources of porphyries and fluids were
Granite (Jpqm in A), similar to porphyries except for coarser grain size, is underlying mag- at paleodepths similar to or less than Yerington
matic source of porphyries and fluids.
Mine. Ore-age volcanic rocks projected above
Alumbrera, Argentina, along with drill holes
Mason Pass and lack close relationships to indi- Brimhall, 1973), differ somewhat in having into coarse-matrix porphyry below, similar to
vidual porphyries. Examples include Chuquica- less bornite and more chalcopyrite and pyrite (at rocks found in cupolas beneath Yerington depos-
mata, Lomas Bayas, and Pelambres, Chile, and least part of the pyrite is due to later overprint- its, suggest a magmatic source at a paleodepth
Butte, Montana. Those at Butte, called early ing), and in having some magnetite in the veins, of ~3.5 km (Proffett, 2003; see Table DR1).
dark micaceous (EDM) halos (Meyer, 1965; and to a lesser extent in the halos. However, sec- Similar evidence, though with volcanic units

Figure 2. High-grade Cu mineralization. A and B: A-vein–related mineralization, earliest porphyry of Yerington Mine porphyry sequence (qmp1,
Fig. 1B). A: Sawn slab (wet). Most Cu sulfides are disseminated in many of the A-veins (darker gray), which occur in multiple generations. B:
Thin section (cross polarizers) shows quartz grains (shades of gray and white) in A-vein (double arrow). Black grains are Cu sulfides with lesser
magnetite in vein and secondary magnetite with lesser Cu sulfides in wall rock. Secondary K-feldspar (K) replaces plagioclase (p) adjacent to
and away from vein; b is secondary biotite. C and D: Early alteration halo (double arrow in C) along thin vein in porphyry of Ann-Mason Pass
deposit (Fig. 1A). C: Sawn drill core (wet). Most Cu sulfides (darkest gray in C; black in D) are in the halo. No magnetite is present. D: Thin sec-
tion of halo (cross polarizers). Sericite clusters (s) are separated from quartz by secondary K-feldspar (sericite island texture); r is rutile.

676 GEOLOGY, August 2009

 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on June 2, 2015
less close to mineralization age (Garwin, 2000),
suggests that the top of a magmatic source
batholith (Setyandhaka et al., 2008) is at similar
emplacement depths below the Batu Hijau por-
phyry Cu-Au deposit, Indonesia (Table DR1).
The latest Cretaceous Butte deposit is hosted
by the Late Cretaceous Boulder Batholith, and
volcanic rocks a little older than the deposit are
more than 20 km away (Smedes et al., 1973).
This precludes a geologic depth estimate, but
is consistent with relatively deep emplacement.
Roberts (1975) used mineralogical temperature
estimates to calculate a pressure correction of
~1.7 kbar or more for fluid inclusion homogeni-
zation temperatures in EDM veins deep in the
Butte system (see also Rusk et al., 2008). This
corresponds to a depth of ~7 km for lithostatic
pressure, or deeper if pressure was less than
lithostatic. A magmatic source of fluids would
have been even deeper. For other deposits with
early halo type zones (Table DR1), available
evidence is insufficient for depth estimates, but
is consistent with relatively deep emplacement
of magmatic sources of fluids and porphyries.
DISCUSSION
Among factors that may contribute to the
differences observed in high Cu grade min-
eralization sourced from different depths are
(1) increase in H2S/SO2 of fluids at higher
pressure (Carroll and Webster, 1994); and
(2) changes in phase behavior of aqueous chlo-
ride fluids with pressure (Sourirajan and Ken-
nedy, 1962). The former may promote higher
S/Fe + Cu in Cu-Fe-S-O assemblages of early
halos compared to those of most A-vein zones.
The later is discussed in the following.
Magmatic, chloride-bearing, aqueous fluids
have long been considered important in por-
phyry Cu genesis (e.g., Lindgren, 1905; Sales,
1954). The most abundant chloride is com-
monly NaCl, and the NaCl-H2O system (Fig. 3)
is considered a reasonable proxy for aqueous
fluids in real systems (e.g., Holland, 1967). In
this system, pressure-temperature-composition
(P-T-X) conditions for a single fluid phase at
higher P and two fluid phases at lower P coin-
cide closely with deeper and shallower source
depths, respectively, for the two types of high-
Cu zones discussed above (Fig. 3).
Aqueous fluids exsolving from magma at
P-T-X conditions in the two-phase field of the
NaCl-H2O system, as they would likely have
been in cupolas under the Yerington Mine and
other A-vein type zones (Fig. 3), may consist
of a high-salinity brine, a low-salinity vapor,
or both (Holland, 1967; Fournier, 1987; Shi-
nohara, 1994). Theoretical and experimen-
tal work (Shinohara, 1994; Webster, 2004)
shows that at these conditions, brine and vapor
exsolve simultaneously from a silicate melt
when Cl/H2O of the melt, at a given T and P,
GEOLOGY, August 2009
Figure 3. H2O-NaCl system (Sourirajan and
Kennedy, 1962), showing pressure-temper-
ature (P-T ) projection, with XNaCl-XH O as the
2
third axis, perpendicular to page. Shaded
area is volume in P-T-X space within which
two NaCl-H2O fluid phases, high-salinity
brine and low-salinity vapor, are stable. Vol-
ume is bound by percent NaCl contours,
shown by long-dash lines (0.01–10) on the
front, low-salinity side, and by short-dash
lines (30–90) on the back, high-salinity side.
Outside the volume one NaCl-H2O fluid phase
is stable. Adapted from Fournier (1987) and
sources cited therein. Solidus is for wet
quartz monzonite, adapted from Whitney
(1975). Cross-hachures show P-T conditions
for magmatic sources of fluids beneath de-
posits, as discussed in text. Cross-hachures
for Ann-Mason Pass and Bear are in front of
two phase volume, in one phase field, and
for Yerington Mine, Alumbrera, and Batu
Hijau, are inside two phase volume. Depth
scale based on lithostatic pressure, as evi-
dence is lacking for structures connecting
cupolas with surface during early mineral-
ization. EDM—early dark micaceous halos.
is at a particular value that depends upon the
total composition of the melt. If Cl/H2O in the
melt is higher than this value when fluid exso-
lution begins, brine alone exsolves first, lower-
ing Cl/H2O in remaining melt, until melt Cl/
H2O reaches the value at which brine and vapor
exsolve simultaneously. If Cl/H2O in the melt
is lower than this value, vapor exsolves first,
until melt Cl/H2O increases sufficiently for
both phases to exsolve. Few data are available
for initial Cl/H2O of porphyry Cu magmas, but
data are available for explosive volcanic sys-
tems of similar composition and tectonic set-
ting, based on melt inclusion and volcanic gas
studies (e.g., Newhall and Punongbayan, 1996;
Webster, 2004). These indicate Cl/H2O values
near those required for simultaneous brine-
vapor exsolution, such that in some magmas
significant brine-only exsolution would occur
first, and in others vapor-only exsolution would
occur first.
Exsolution as brine and/or vapor may serve
to differentiate important volatile components.
Gaseous components such as HCl, H2S, and SO2,
which include most acid-forming components
and sulfur, partition preferentially into the vapor
(Hemley et al., 1992; Williams et al., 1997).
Alkalies and other components that complex
with Cl, such as Fe, and much of the Cu, parti-
tion preferentially into the brine, although some
Cu can also partition into vapor, possibly com-
plexed with S (Frank et al., 2006). Relatively
high alkali/acid in brine would be consistent
with secondary feldspar alteration (Meyer and
Hemley, 1967) in A-vein-type high-Cu zones,
such as at Yerington Mine. Relatively high Fe
and low S in brines would be consistent with
high-Fe/Fe + Cu, low-S/Fe + Cu in Cu-Fe-S-
O assemblages, including abundant magnetite,
observed in most such zones. Assemblages that
lack magnetite also occur as minor (Proffett,
2003) or major (Gustafson and Hunt, 1975)
components of some A-vein zones, which may
be more consistent with vapor. The possibility
that either brine-first or vapor-first can precede
simultaneous brine-vapor exsolution in the field
of two aqueous phases may contribute to the
complexity typical of A-vein-type high-grade
zones, and to variations between such zones.
Magmatic sources beneath Ann-Mason Pass
and other early halo type deposits were at suf-
ficient depths that fluids exsolving from crys-
tallizing magma were in the one phase field
(Fig. 3). Acid-forming components, S, Cu,
and Fe, would initially all have been together
in such fluids. Alkali/acid would have been
lower, which could explain coexisting sericite
and K-feldspar (Meyer and Hemley, 1967) in
high-Cu early halos. Lower salinity compared to
brines and transportation of Fe, Cu, and S in the
same fluid could help explain the lower Fe/Fe +
Cu and higher S/Fe + Cu of early assemblages
at Ann-Mason Pass, Bear, and Butte compared
to Yerington Mine.
Relatively low density contrast between
brines and melt (factor of ~2; e.g., Anderko and
Pitzer, 1993; Lange and Carmichael, 1990) may
have led to accumulation and release of these
more or less together from the cupola, to explain
the striking space-time association between
individual porphyries and high-grade Cu zones
at deposits such as Yerington Mine. On the other
hand, greater density contrast between super-
critical fluids and melt (factor of ~3–5) may
have led to more continuous separation during
fluid exsolution, to explain the less direct rela-
tionships between individual porphyry intru-
sions and higher-grade zones at deposits such
as Ann-Mason Pass and Butte. Thus, depths
of upper parts of magma chambers may be an
important control on composition and behav-
ior of volatiles exsolved during crystallization,
which in turn may be a factor in determining
677
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the type of orebody formed, or alternatively, in
some systems, may perhaps lead to release of
volatiles through volcanic activity instead.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Observations discussed here were made at several
porphyry deposits over a number of years, and I am
grateful to former employer Anaconda and to many
other mine owners for opportunities to work on
these deposits. The work has benefitted from discus-
sions with many geologists, including J.P. Hunt, L.B.
Gustafson, J.J. Hemley, M.T. Einaudi, and J.H. Dilles,
whom I also thank for reviews of early versions of the
manuscript. I thank D. John and an anonymous re-
viewer for reviews of a recent version.
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Manuscript received 26 January 2009
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Printed in USA
GEOLOGY, August 2009
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Geology

High Cu grades in porphyry Cu deposits and their relationship to

emplacement depth of magmatic sources
John M. Proffett

Geology 2009;37;675-678
doi: 10.1130/G30072A.1

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