Application of sulphur isotopes to discriminate Cu-Zn VHMS mineralization from barren Fe sulphide mineralization in the greenschist to granulite facies Flin Flon-Snow Lake-Hargrave River region, Manitoba, Canada

摘要

The Flin Flon Belt in northern Canada is one of the largest Palaeoproterozoic volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) districts in the world, but up to 20 000 km2 of prospective Palaeoproterozoic basement south of this belt is buried beneath 10 to 100 m of Phanerozoic calcareous cover. The recent acquisition of airborne SPECTREM geophysics data south of the Flin Flon Belt has resulted in the discovery of Cu-Zn sulphide prospects comprising pyrrhotite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena, but numerous barren Fe sulphide occurrences comprising only pyrite and pyrrhotite have also been intersected. The problem for explorers is trying to determine whether a barren Fe sulphide intersection that has just been cored is part of a larger Cu-Zn mineralized system, or nothing more than a pyrite–pyrrhotite occurrence.