At a porphyry copper-gold deposit in Bajo de la Alumbrera, Argentina, silicate-melt inclusions coexist with hypersaline liquid- and vapor-rich inclusions in the earliest magmatic-hydrothermal quartz veins. Copper concentrations of the hypersaline liquid and vapor inclusions reached maxima of 10.0 weight % (wt %) and 4.5 wt %, respectively. These unusually copper-rich inclusions are considered to be the most primitive ore fluid found thus far. Their preservation with coexisting melt allows for the direct quantification of important ore-forming processes, including determination of bulk partition coefficients of metals from magma into ore-forming magmatic volatile phases.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Earth Sciences
Research Group:	Geology
Research Field:	Ore Deposit Petrology
Objective Division:	Mineral Resources (excl. Energy Resources)
Objective Group:	Other Mineral Resources (excl. Energy Resources)
Objective Field:	Mineral Resources (excl. Energy Resources) not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Harris, AC (Dr Anthony Harris)
UTAS Author:	Kamenetsky, VS (Professor Vadim Kamenetsky)
UTAS Author:	White, N (Professor Noel White)
ID Code:	28006
Year Published:	2003
Web of Science® Times Cited:	94
Deposited By:	Centre for Ore Deposit Research - CODES CoE
Deposited On:	2003-08-01
Last Modified:	2011-11-28
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