Journal of Economic Geology

1-20

Authors: Behzad Mehrabi; Ghasemi Siani

The Cheshmeh Hafez polymetal deposit is located in Troud – Chahshirin mountain range in Southeastern Damghan. In this province, the volcanism and associated mineralization are closely related to major faults Anjilo and Troud with NW-SE trend. The exposed rocks in the study area consist of volcano clastic sequence of sandstone, tuff, volcano breccias and mostly andesitic and andesitic- basalt flows at Cheshmeh Hafez district. Alteration in Cheshmeh Hafez area is consisting of Proplilitization, Sericitization, Argillic alteration and Silicification. Mineralization occurred in three district stages; 1) quartz, carbonate with early pyrite and chalcopyrite assemblages; 2) the main stage of sulfide deposition, comprises early euhedral galena followed by galena and sphalerite, then galena, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, pyrite, bornite and digenite, and 3) quartz and calcite barren veins with minor pyrite and chalcopyrite. The average assays from 12 samples of Cheshmeh Hafez veins are; 0.15 g/t Au, 3.23 g/t Ag, 4.47 wt % Pb, 2.64 wt % Cu, and 1.73 wt % Zn. Fluid- inclusion homogenization temperatures (Th) in quartz fall within range of 140º-300º with salinities ranging from 4.7 to 18 wt. % NaCl equivalent. Comparison of Th versus final ice melting (Tmice) values indicates the occurrence of fluid mixing process. In order to evaluate extent of mineralization in depth, IP and RS techniques were used, which indicate the presence of mineralization in depth.

39-49

Authors: Majid Hashemi Tangestani; Mooslem Azizi

Esteghlal fireclay mine, northern Abadeh, with dominant composition of kaolinite and pyrophyllite, and annual production of over a million tons, is one of the largest sedimentary deposits in Iran. Linear Spectral Unmixing (LSU) and Mixture Tuned Matched Filtering (MTMF) processes were applied on the VNIR + SWIR dataset of ASTER for identifying the frequency fraction and distribution of clay minerals in this mine. Sub-pixel frequency assessment of ASTER data showed that distribution of pixels with higher fractions belong to the kaolinite and pyrophyllite, outcropped in two different parts of the mine. Comparison of LSU and MTMF output results showed that MTMF is more reliable to determining the relative fraction of clay minerals at the study area.

61-75

Authors: Robabeh Jafari; Moosa Noghreeian; Mohammad Makizadeh

Nezam-Abad area is located in southwest of Shazand (Arak) which is a part of Sanandaj-Sirjan zone. Major intrusive rocks of Nezam-Abad are quartz diorite and minor amount of granodiorite. Leucogranitic, pegmatite dykes and quartz-tourmaline veins were intruded the quartz diorite. Quartz diorites are mainly composed of plagioclase, hornblende, biotite, quartz and pyroxene as major minerals. Major minerals of leucogranite are microcline, orthoclase, albite, quartz, biotite and muscovite. Accessory minerals consist of apatite, zircon, sphene, epidote, allanite, tourmaline and opaque. The presence of hydrous minerals like hornblende and biotite in these rocks indicate that the corresponding magma initially contained >3 wt% H2O (wet magma). The occurrences of garnet and andalusite minerals suggest assimilation process. Primary textures in these rocks are granular, granophyre, and poikilitic. Secondary textures are perthite, myrmekite, sericitization, chloritization and kaolinitization. Later hydrothermal activities and tectonic strains are factors for presence of perthite texture in leucogranite. K amount for sericitization of feldspars come from the K-feldspars and chloritization of biotite. Transformation of biotite to muscovite indicates the act of K rich fluid in later stages. On the basis of chemical analysis on the intrusive rocks, it is shown that the magma was calc-alkaline, metaluminous-peraluminous and medium-K to high-K. Study of major elements in Harker diagrams indicates Al2O3, FeO, Fe2O3 and CaO decrease with increasing of SiO2 and K2O and Na2O increase indicating that fractional crystallization may have played an important role in the formation of granitoid rocks from Nezam-Abad.

97-121

Authors: Hossein Ali Tajeddin; Ebrahim Rastad; Abdol Majid Yaghubpour; Mohammad Mohajjel

Barika gold (and silver) rich massive sulfide deposit is located 18 km east of Sardasht, north western part of Sanandaj-Sirjan metamorphic zone. Rock units outcropped in this area are Cretaceous metamorphosed volcano-sedimentary rocks in green schist facies, and include association of meta-andesite, meta-tuffite, phyllite and slate rocks, where the meta-andesitic unit (Kmv1) is host rock to the deposit. Barika deposit is composed of stratiform ore and stringer zone. Stratiform part contains massive and banded sulfide and barite associated with subordinary silica bands underlain by stringer silicic zone. The massive and banded ore is surrounded by an extensive zone of silicic stringer veins and disseminated mineralization within strongly altered and deformed andesitic volcanic rocks. Ore mineral assemblages in stratiform part of the deposit are quite variable and consist of pyrite, sphalerite, galena, stibnite, a variety of sulfosalt minerals and gold (electrum). Ore mineral assemblages in silicic veins in the stringer zone are simpler and consist of pyrite, galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrrite and trace chalcopyrite. Average gold and silver grades in stratiform ore are 8.3 and 420 g/t respectively and in silicic stringer veins are 0.7 and 30 g/t. Base metal content in both parts of the deposit are less than 1%. Based on our research, Barika is an immature Kuroko type massive sulfide deposit, which contains only black ore. The Barika deposit underwent low-grade metamorphism and high grade deformation after the ore deposition event. Geologic processes appear to control the mode of occurrence of gold in the deposit. In synvolcanism stage, deposition of a gold–bearing low temperature (140-200°C) and low salinity (1-9.6 wt% NaCl) hydrothermal fluid formed a Kuroko black ore type deposit. In the stage of mineralization, invisible gold was concentrated in framboidal pyrite and other sulfide minerals. The main effect of progressive metamorphism (D1) on gold mineralization is recrystallization of the framboidal pyrite and migration of submicroscopic gold to the crystal boundary to form electrum under low to moderate strain. Highly strain and deformation (D2) on the deposit caused the remobilization of gold and accompanied َAs, Sb, Ag, and Pb minerals and continued to form coarse-grained electrum (up to 3 mm) in open space fractures. The formation of barren silica veins (D3) and high angle normal faults (D4) are the results of retrograde metamorphism.