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Mass, volume and chemical changes in the alteration zone at the Norbec mine, Noranda, Quebec

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Abstract

A funnel-shaped alteration pipe in Archean rhyolite and andesite below massive sulphide Zn-Cu ores at the Norbec mine in northwestern Quebec was outlined from drill core samples, geochemical parameters, and normative alteration mineralogy. The pipe has a mass of 37.9 million tonnes giving a volume of 13 × 106 m3, which represents volume increase of 10% relative to the unaltered host volcanic rocks. A bulk chemical composition was calculated using “weighting” procedures for “volumes of influence” for the samples. Net mobile mass change, or chemical flux, for the alteration pipe was + 5.8 × 106 tonnes; inclusion of the massive ore lens yields a flux of + 9.6 × 106 tonnes for the whole hydrothermal system. The largest additions to the system in millions of tonnes were: FeO(+4.2), SiO2(+3.8), S(+1.8), K2O(+0.55), and MgO(+0.5); the only depletions were Na2O (−1.4), and CaO(−0.44). Base and precious metals accounted for 3.4% of the total element flux.

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Author notes

  1. N. A. Shriver

    Present address: c/o American Copper and Nickel Company, 4860 Robb St., Suite 201, 80033, Wheat Ridge, CO, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, H3A 2A7, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    N. A. Shriver & W. H. MacLean

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  1. N. A. Shriver
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  2. W. H. MacLean
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Shriver, N.A., MacLean, W.H. Mass, volume and chemical changes in the alteration zone at the Norbec mine, Noranda, Quebec. Mineral. Deposita 28, 157–166 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00204039

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00204039

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