The Mt. Milligan deposit is a tilted (~45°) Cu-Au alkalic porphyry located 155 km northwest of Prince George, B.C., Canada. It is the youngest of the BC alkalic porphyry deposits, all of which formed between 210 to 180 Ma in an extensive belt of K-enriched rocks related to the accretion of the Quesnellia-Stikinia superterrane to ancestral North America. Mt. Milligan has a measured and indicated resource of 205.9 million tonnes at 0.60 g/t Au and 0.25% Cu containing 3.7 million oz. gold, and 1.12 billion lb. copper. Shoshonitic volcanic and volcaniclastic andesites host mineralization. These have been intruded by a composite monzonitic stock (MBX stock), and associated sill (Rainbow Dike). Early disseminated chalcopyrite-magnetite and accessory quartz veins are associated with K-feldspar alteration in the MBX stock. A halo of biotite alteration with less extensive magnetite replaces host rocks within a ~150 m zone surrounding the stock, while K-feldpsar alteration extends along the Rainbow Dike and permeable epiclastic horizons. Peripheral albite-actinolite-epidote assemblages surround the K-silicate zone. Albite-actinolite occurs at depth, and epidote dominates laterally. Copper and Au grade are maximal where the albite-actinolite assemblage overprints biotite alteration. Gold grade is moderate in association with epidote, whereas Cu is depleted. The post-mineral Rainbow Fault separates the core Cu-rich zone from a downthrown Au-rich zone. A similar zonation of metals occurs in the hanging-wall (66 zone), where a Cu-bearing, potassically-altered trachytic horizon transitions to a funnel-shaped zone of pyrite-dolomite-sericite-chlorite alteration with elevated gold. Sulfide S-isotope compositions range from -4.79 δ34S in the central Cu-Au orebody to near-zero values at the system periphery, typical of alkalic porphyries. Sulfur isotope contours reflect the magmatic-hydrothermal fluid evolution, and indicate late-stage ingress of peripheral fluids into the Cu-Au zone. Carbonate C- and O-isotope compositions corroborate the magmatic fluid path from the Cu-Au rich zone to Au-rich zone with decreasing depth. Strontium isotopic compositions of peripheral alteration minerals indicate a laterally increasing meteoric fluid component. Changes in major- and trace element composition of epidote and pyrite across the deposit are also systematic. These provide additional vectors to ore, and confirm the kinematics of the Rainbow Fault.

The Mt. Milligan deposit is a tilted (~45°) Cu-Au alkalic porphyry located 155 km northwest of Prince George, B.C., Canada. It is the youngest of the BC alkalic porphyry deposits, all of which formed between 210 to 180 Ma in an extensive belt of K-enriched rocks related to the accretion of the Quesnellia-Stikinia superterrane to ancestral North America. Mt. Milligan has a measured and indicated resource of 205.9 million tonnes at 0.60 g/t Au and 0.25% Cu containing 3.7 million oz. gold, and 1.12 billion lb. copper. Shoshonitic volcanic and volcaniclastic andesites host mineralization. These have been intruded by a composite monzonitic stock (MBX stock), and associated sill (Rainbow Dike). Early disseminated chalcopyrite-magnetite and accessory quartz veins are associated with K-feldspar alteration in the MBX stock. A halo of biotite alteration with less extensive magnetite replaces host rocks within a ~150 m zone surrounding the stock, while K-feldpsar alteration extends along the Rainbow Dike and permeable epiclastic horizons. Peripheral albite-actinolite-epidote assemblages surround the K-silicate zone. Albite-actinolite occurs at depth, and epidote dominates laterally. Copper and Au grade are maximal where the albite-actinolite assemblage overprints biotite alteration. Gold grade is moderate in association with epidote, whereas Cu is depleted. The post-mineral Rainbow Fault separates the core Cu-rich zone from a downthrown Au-rich zone. A similar zonation of metals occurs in the hanging-wall (66 zone), where a Cu-bearing, potassically-altered trachytic horizon transitions to a funnel-shaped zone of pyrite-dolomite-sericite-chlorite alteration with elevated gold. Sulfide S-isotope compositions range from -4.79 δ34S in the central Cu-Au orebody to near-zero values at the system periphery, typical of alkalic porphyries. Sulfur isotope contours reflect the magmatic-hydrothermal fluid evolution, and indicate late-stage ingress of peripheral fluids into the Cu-Au zone. Carbonate C- and O-isotope compositions corroborate the magmatic fluid path from the Cu-Au rich zone to Au-rich zone with decreasing depth. Strontium isotopic compositions of peripheral alteration minerals indicate a laterally increasing meteoric fluid component. Changes in major- and trace element composition of epidote and pyrite across the deposit are also systematic. These provide additional vectors to ore, and confirm the kinematics of the Rainbow Fault.

The Mt. Milligan deposit is a tilted (~45°) Cu-Au alkalic porphyry located 155 km northwest of Prince George, B.C., Canada. It is the youngest of the BC alkalic porphyry deposits, all of which formed between 210 to 180 Ma in an extensive belt of K-enriched rocks related to the accretion of the Quesnellia-Stikinia superterrane to ancestral North America. Mt. Milligan has a measured and indicated resource of 205.9 million tonnes at 0.60 g/t Au and 0.25% Cu containing 3.7 million oz. gold, and 1.12 billion lb. copper. Shoshonitic volcanic and volcaniclastic andesites host mineralization. These have been intruded by a composite monzonitic stock (MBX stock), and associated sill (Rainbow Dike). Early disseminated chalcopyrite-magnetite and accessory quartz veins are associated with K-feldspar alteration in the MBX stock. A halo of biotite alteration with less extensive magnetite replaces host rocks within a ~150 m zone surrounding the stock, while K-feldpsar alteration extends along the Rainbow Dike and permeable epiclastic horizons. Peripheral albite-actinolite-epidote assemblages surround the K-silicate zone. Albite-actinolite occurs at depth, and epidote dominates laterally. Copper and Au grade are maximal where the albite-actinolite assemblage overprints biotite alteration. Gold grade is moderate in association with epidote, whereas Cu is depleted. The post-mineral Rainbow Fault separates the core Cu-rich zone from a downthrown Au-rich zone. A similar zonation of metals occurs in the hanging-wall (66 zone), where a Cu-bearing, potassically-altered trachytic horizon transitions to a funnel-shaped zone of pyrite-dolomite-sericite-chlorite alteration with elevated gold. Sulfide S-isotope compositions range from -4.79 δ34S in the central Cu-Au orebody to near-zero values at the system periphery, typical of alkalic porphyries. Sulfur isotope contours reflect the magmatic-hydrothermal fluid evolution, and indicate late-stage ingress of peripheral fluids into the Cu-Au zone. Carbonate C- and O-isotope compositions corroborate the magmatic fluid path from the Cu-Au rich zone to Au-rich zone with decreasing depth. Strontium isotopic compositions of peripheral alteration minerals indicate a laterally increasing meteoric fluid component. Changes in major- and trace element composition of epidote and pyrite across the deposit are also systematic. These provide additional vectors to ore, and confirm the kinematics of the Rainbow Fault. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

The Bingham porphyry Cu-Au-Mo deposit, Utah, may only be world-class because of substantial contributions of sulfur and metals from mafic alkaline magma to an otherwise unremarkable calc-alkaline system. Volcanic mafic alkaline rocks in the district are enriched in Cr, Ni, and Ba as well as ore-related constituents of Cu, Au, platinum group elements (PGE) and S. The bulk of the volcanic section that is comagmatic with ore-related porphyries is dacitic to trachytic in composition, but has inherited the geochemical signature of high Cr, Ni, and Ba from magma mixing with the mafic alkaline rocks. The volcanic section that most closely correlates in time with ore-related porphyries is very heterogeneous containing clasts of scoriaceous latite, latitic minette and flows of melanephelinite, shoshonite and olivine latite in addition to the volumetrically dominant dacite/trachyte. Bingham ore-related porphyries show ample evidence of prior mixing with mafic alkaline magmas. Intrusive porphyries that have not been previously studied well have several chemical and mineralogical indications of magma mixing. These "mixed" lithologies include the hybrid quartz monzonite porphyry, biotite porphyry, and minette dikes. Even some of the more silicic latite and monzonite porphyries retain high Cr and Ba contents indicative of mixing and contain trace amounts of sapphire ( Magma mixing calculations suggest about 10% of the monzonitic/latitic ore-related magma may have been derived from mafic alkaline magma similar to the melanephelinite. If the original S content of the mafic magma was about 2000-4000 ppm, comparable to similar magmas, then the mafic magma may have been responsible for contributing more than half of the S and a significant portion of the Cu, Au, and PGE in the Bingham deposit.

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