Abstract The generation of the Earth’s continental crust modified the composition of the mantle and provided a stable, buoyant reservoir capable of capturing mantle material and ultimately preserving ore deposits. Within the continental crust, lithospheric architecture and associated cratonic margins are a first-order control on camp-scale mineralization. Here we show that the evolving crustal architecture of the Archaean Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, played a key role in controlling the localization of camp-scale gold, iron and nickel mineralized systems. The age and source characteristics of Archaean lithosphere are heterogeneous in both space and time and are recorded by the varying Nd isotopic signature of crustal rocks. Spatial and temporal variations in isotopic character document the evolution of an intra-cratonic architecture through time, and in doing so map transient lithospheric discontinuities where gold, nickel and iron mineral systems were concentrated. Komatiite-hosted nickel deposits cluster into camps localized within young, juvenile crust at the isotopic margin with older lithosphere; orogenic gold systems are typically localized along major structures within juvenile crust; and banded iron formation (BIF)-hosted iron deposits are localized at the edge of, and within, older lithospheric blocks. Furthermore, this work shows that crustal evolution plays an important role in the development and localization of favourable sources of nickel, gold and iron by controlling the occurrence of thick BIFs, ultramafic lavas and fertile (juvenile) crust, respectively. Fundamentally, this study demonstrates that the lithospheric architecture of a craton can be effectively imaged by isotopic techniques and used to identify regions prospective for camp-scale mineralization.

Abstract The Kabanga Ni sulfide deposit represents one of the most significant Ni sulfide discoveries of the last two decades, with current measured and indicated mineral resources of 37.2 million metric tons (Mt) at 2.63 percent Ni and inferred mineral resources of 21 Mt at 2.6 percent Ni (Dec. 2010, Xstrata.com). The sulfides occur in sill-like and chonolithic ultramafic-mafic intrusions that form part of the approximately 500-km long, 1.4-Ga Kabanga-Musongati-Kapalagulu mafic-ultramafic igneous belt, within the Karagwe-Ankole belt in northwestern Tanzania and adjacent Burundi. The intrusions are up to ∼1 km thick and 4 km long and crystallized from several pulses of compositionally distinct magma emplaced into sulfide-bearing pelitic schists. The first magma pulse consisted of siliceous high magnesium basalt with approximately 13 percent MgO. It formed a network of fine-grained acicular-textured gabbronoritic and orthopyroxenitic sills (Mg no. opx 78–88, An plag 45–88). The magma was highly enriched in incompatible trace elements (LILE, LREE) and had pronounced negative Nb and Ta anomalies and heavy O isotope signatures (δ 18 O 6–8), consistent with ∼20 percent contamination of primitive picrite with the sulfidic schists. Subsequent magma pulses were more magnesian, containing approximately 14 to 15 percent MgO, and less contaminated (e.g., δ 18 O 5.1–6.6). They injected into the earlier sills, forming medium-grained harzburgites and orthopyroxenites (Fo 83–89 , Mg no. Opx 86–89 ), and magmatic breccias consisting of gabbronorite-orthopyroxenite fragments within an olivine-rich matrix. The Kabanga intrusions contain abundant disseminated sulfides (pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and minor chalcopyrite and pyrite). In the lower portions and the immediate footwall of the Kabanga North and Kabanga Main intrusions, there occur numerous layers, lenses, and veins of massive Ni sulfides reaching a thickness of several meters. Postemplacement tilting of the intrusions caused solid-state mobilization of ductile sulfides into shear zones, notably along the base of the intrusions where sulfide-hornfels breccias and lenses and layers of massive sulfides may reach a thickness of >10 m and can extend for several 10s to >100 m away from the intrusions. These horizons represent an important exploration target for additional nickel sulfide deposits. Compared to other sulfide ores that segregated from magnesian basalts (e.g., Jinchuan, Pechenga, Raglan), most Kabanga sulfides have low Ni (<1–3%), Cu (∼0.1–0.4%), and PGE contents (<<1 ppm), and high Ni/Cu (5–15) ratios. Higher metal contents (∼5% Ni, 0.8% Cu, 10 ppm PGE) are found in only one unit from Kabanga North. The observed metal contents are consistent with segregation of magmatic sulfides from fertile to strongly metal-depleted magmas, at intermediate to very low mass ratios of silicate to sulfide liquid (R factors) of approximately 10 to 400. The sulfides have heavy S isotope signatures (δ 34 S wr = 10–24) that broadly overlap with those of the country-rock sulfides, consistent with significant assimilation of external sulfur from the Karagwe-Ankolean sedimentary sequence. Based on the relatively homogeneous distribution of disseminated sulfides in many of the intrusive rocks we propose that the magmas reached sulfide saturation prior to final emplacement, in staging chambers or feeder conduits, followed by entrainment of the sulfides during continued magma ascent. Oxygen isotope data indicate that the mode of sulfide assimilation changed with time. The early magmas assimilated smaller quantities of country rocks but, in addition, sulfur was selectively assimilated, either by means of a volatile phase or through cannibalization of magmatic sulfides deposited in the conduits by preceding magma surges. The unusually large degree of crustal contamination and the low R factors render Kabanga an end member in the spectrum of magmatic Ni sulfide ores.

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