Mineralizing fluids of the supergene-enriched Mashitu South Cu-Co deposit, Katanga Copperbelt, DRC

摘要

The sediment-hosted Mashitu South (Sud) Cu-Co deposit situated in the Katangan Copperbelt (DR Congo) hosts hypogene and supergene mineralization in Neoproterozoic age rocks of the Mines and Red R.A.T. Subgroups of the Neoproterozoic Katangan Supergroup. Detailed and systematic petrographic, fluid inclusion and stable isotope studies of minerals from various generations of stratabound metalliferous veins, crackle breccia, and alteration zones placed significant constraints on the intricate fluid dynamics, compositions as well as origins of ore-forming and ore-upgrading fluid systems at the Mashitu South deposit. Our data document large-scale migration of metalliferous (Cu, +/- Co, Zn) high-salinity brines, sulfate-rich fluids and meteoric fluids, which can be regionally followed across the Katangan Copperbelt through deposits tens of kilometers apart from each other.