GENESIS OF THE JINBAOSHAN PGE-(Cu)-(Ni) DEPOSIT: DISTRIBUTION OF CHALCOPHILE ELEMENTS AND PLATINUM-GROUP MINERALS

The Jinbaoshan platinum group element-(Cu)-(Ni) deposit in southwest China is a sulfide-poor magmatic platinum-group element deposit that experienced multiple phases of post-magmatic modification. The sulfide assemblages of most magmatic Ni-Cu-platinum-group element deposits in China and elsewhere in the world are dominated by pentlandite-pyrrhotitechalcopyrite with lesser magnetite and minor platinum-group minerals. However, Jinbaoshan is characterized by (1) hypogene violarite-pyrite 1-millerite-chalcopyrite and (2) supergene violarite-(polydymite)-pyrite 2-chalcopyrite assemblages. The platinum-group minerals are small (0.5-10 mu m diameter) and include moncheite Pt(Te,Bi)(2), mertieite-I Pd-11(Sb,As)(4), the atokite Pd3Sn - rustenburgite Pt3Sn solid solution, irarsite IrAsS, and sperrylite PtAs2 hosted mainly by violarite, silicates (primarily serpentine), and millerite. The platinum-group minerals occur in two sulfide assemblages: (1) mertieite-I-dominant (with irarsite, palladium, and Pd-alloy) in the hypogene assemblage and (2) moncheite-dominant (with irarsite, sperrylite, and atokite) in the supergene assemblage. Palladium and intermediate platinum-group elements (Os, Ir, Ru) are concentrated mainly in violarite, polydymite, and pyrite 2. Platinum is seldom hosted by base metal sulfides and occurs mainly as discrete platinum group minerals, such as moncheite, sperrylite, and merenskyite. Violarite and polydymite in the Jinbaoshan deposit contain more Pb-Ag than pentlandite and pyrrhotite in the Great Dyke and Lac des Iles deposit. The formation of the sulfide assemblages in Jinbaoshan can be interpreted to have occurred in three stages: (1) a magmatic Fe-Ni-Cu sulfide melt crystallized Fe-Ni monosulfide and Cu-rich intermediate solid solutions, which inverted to a primary pyrrhotite-pentlanditechalcopyrite-magnetite assemblage; (2) an early-secondary hypogene voilarite-millterite-pyrite 1-chalcopyrite assemblage formed by interaction with a lower-temperature magmatic-hydrothermal deuteric fluid; and (3) a late-secondary supergene violarite-polydymite-pyrite 2-chalcopyrite assemblage formed during weathering. Late-magmatic-hydrothermal fluids enriched the mineralization in Pb-Ag-Cd-Zn, which are incompatible in monosulfide solid solution, added Co-Pt into violarite, and expelled Pd to the margins of hypogene violarite and millerite, which caused Pd depletion in the hypogene violarite and the formation of mertieite-I. Supergene violarite inherited Pd and intermediate platinum-group elements from primary pentlandite. Thus, the unusual sulfide assemblages in the Jinbaoshan platinum-group element-(Cu)-(Ni) deposit results from multiple overprinted post-magmatic processes, but they did not significantly change the chalcophile element contents of the mineralization, which is interpreted to have formed at high magma:sulfide ratios (R factors) through interaction of crustally derived sulfide and a hybrid picritic-ferropicritic magma derived from subduction-metasomatized pyroxenitic mantle during impingement of the Emeishan plume on the Paleo-Tethyan oceanic subduction system.