Geology and mineralization of the Duobaoshan supergiant porphyry Cu-Au-Mo-Ag deposit (2.36 Mt) in Heilongjiang Province, China: A review

Abstract

The reserves of the Duobaoshan porphyry Cu-Au-Mo-Ag deposit (also referred to as the Duobaoshan porphyry Cu deposit) ranks first among the copper deposits in China and 33^rd among the porphyry copper deposits in the world. It has proven resources of copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), gold (Au), and silver (Ag) of 2.28×10⁶ t, 80×10³ t, 73 t, and 1046 t, respectively. The major characteristics of the Duobaoshan porphyry Cu deposit are as follows. It is located in a zone sandwiched by the Siberian, North China, and paleo-Pacific plates in an island arc tectonic setting and was formed by the Paleozoic mineralization and the Mesozoic mineralization induced by superposition and transformation. The metallogenic porphyries are the Middle Hercynian granodiorite porphyries. The alterations of surrounding rocks are distributed in a ring form. With silicified porphyries at the center, the alteration zones of K-feldspar, biotite, sericite, and propylite occur from inside to outside. This deposit is composed of 215 ore bodies (including 14 major ore bodies) in four mineralized zones. Ore body No. X in the No. 3 mineralized zone has the largest resource reserves, accounting for more than 78% of the total reserves of the deposit. Major ore components include Cu, Mo, Au, Ag, Se, and Ga, which have an average content of 0.46%, 0.015%, 0.16 g/t, 1.22 g/t, 0.0003%, and 0.001%–0.003%, respectively. The ore minerals of this deposit primarily include pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite, and molybdenite, followed by magnetite, hematite, rutile, gelenite, and sphalerite. The ore-forming fluids of this deposit were magmatic water in the early metallogenic stage and then the mixture of meteoric water and magmatic water at the late metallogenic stage. The ore-forming fluids experienced three stages. The ore-forming fluids of stage I had a hydrochemical type of H₂O-CO₂-NaCl, an ore-forming temperature of 375–650°C, and ore-forming pressure of 110–160 MPa. The ore-forming fluids of stage II had a hydrochemical type of H₂O-CO₂-NaCl, an ore-forming temperature of 310–350°C, and ore-forming pressure of 58–80 MPa. The ore-forming fluids of stage III had a hydrochemical type of NaCl-H₂O, an ore-forming temperature of 210–290°C, and ore-forming pressure of 5–12 MPa. The Cu-Au-Mo-Ag mineralization mainly occurred at stages I and II, with the ore-forming materials having a mixed crust-mantle source. The Duobaoshan porphyry Cu deposit was formed in the initial subduction environment of the Paleo-Asian Ocean Plate during the Early Ordovician. Then, due to the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean and the subduction and compression of the Paleo-Pacific Ocean, a composite orogenic metallogenic model of the deposit was formed. In other words, it is a porphyry - epithermal copper-gold polymetallic mineralization system of composite orogeny consisting of Paleozoic island arcs and Mesozoic orogeny and extension.

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