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Elatsite

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Porphyry copper (Cu-Au) deposit in Sofija, Bulgaria

Names and other identifiers

GMRAP ID 374
Alternate names Elacite
Tract name Transylvania-Balkan Mountains (150pCu6001)
Site status deposit

Geographic location

Country Bulgaria
State or province Sofija
Geographic location 24.033, 42.7545
Geologic map unit 24.033, 42.7545
Nearby data
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Geologic information

Deposit type Porphyry copper
Deposit subtype Cu-Au
Age (Ma) 92Ma
Age determination method Re-Os molybdenite
Age range 91.88 ±0.5 to 92.43 ±0.3 Ma (Re-Os molybdenite); 92.10 ±0.3 Ma and 91.84 ±0.3 Ma (U-Pb zircon)
Age reference Zimmerman and others (2008); von Quadt, Peytcheva and others (2005)
Minerals actinolite, albite, biotite, bismuth, bornite, carbonate, chalcopyrite, chlorite, clausthalite, cobaltite, covellite, electrum, epidote, eucairite [AgCuSe], galena, gersdorffite, gold, hematite, hessite, ilmenite, kaolinite/illite, linnaeite/carrollite, magnetite, marcasite, merenskyite [(Pd,Pt)(Te,Bi)2], michenerite [(Pd,Pt)BiTe], molybdenite, naumannite [Ag2Se], Pd-arsenide [Pd2As], Pd-rammelsbergite [(Pd,Ni)2As], pyrite, pyrrhotite, rutile, sericite, sphalerite, tellurium, tetrahedrite/tennantite, weissite [Cu5Te3], zeolite
Associated rocks aplite, diorite porphyry, granodiorite porphyry, hornfels, monzonite porphyry, quartz diorite porphyry, syenite porphyry, diabase, granodiorite, phyllite, sandstone, schist
Tectonic setting continental margin
Stratigraphic age Late Cretaceous

Commodity and development information

Development status Past Producer
Major commodities Cu, Au
Minor commodities Ag, Pt, Pd
Tonnage (Mt) 350Mt
Cu grade (%) 0.39%
Au grade (g/t) 0.26g/t
Ag grade (g/t) 0.2g/t
Contained copper 1,400,000t
Gold-Moly ratio -9999

Reference information

Comments In ore: 0.002 g/t Pt, 0.007 g/t Pd. 30% covered. Surface disturbance about 5 square kilometers. Associated with Late Cretaceous subvolcanic bodies and porphyry dikes intruded into Cambrian metamorphic rocks and Carboniferous granodiorites. Elatsite covers an area of about 1 square kilometer in northeast corner of a strike-slip fault duplex; emplaced at a somewhat deeper level than Assarel (Strashimirov and others, 2002; Drew, 2005). The deposit occurs in an island-arc setting hosted by Late Cretaceous monzonitic-monzodioritic porphyry stocks that have been emplaced into Precambrian to Cambrian phyllites (Tarkian and others, 2003). Quartz monzonite porphyries are the first-stage, most important part ore-related rocks; younger dikes of granodiorite porphyries with characteristic porphyritic texture and needle-like amphiboles. The third and final generation of ore-related dikes composed of thin, potassium feldspar-rich aplite dikes (von Quadt and others, 2002).
Study area name Europe
References Bogdanov (1983); Bogdanov (1986); Dragov (1996); Drew (2006); Eliopoulos and others (1995); Fanger and others (2001); Georgiev (2008); Herrington and others (2003); Kamenov and others (2007); Petrunov and others (1992); Strashimirov and Popov (2000); Strashimirov and others (2002); Tarkian and others (2003); von Quadt and others (2002); von Quadt, Peytcheva and others (2005); Zimmerman and others (2008); Singer and others (2008)
Site reference Sutphin and others (2013)
Bogdanov, B.D., 1983, Porphyry copper deposits of Bulgaria: International Geology Review, v. 25, no. 2, p. 178–188. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00206818309466690.)
Bogdanov, B.D., 1986, Copper ore deposits in Bulgaria, in Petraschek, W.E., and Jankovi?, S., eds., Geotectonic evolution and metallogeny of the Mediterranean area and western Asia: Wien, Springer-Verlag, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Schriftenrehe der Erdwissenschaftlichen Kommissionen, v. 8, p. 103–112.
Dragov, P., and Petrunov, R., 1996, Elatsite porphyry copper-precious metals (Au and PGE) deposit, in Popov, P., ed., Plate tectonic aspects of the Alpine metallogeny in the Carpatho-Balkan region: UNESCO-IGCP Project No. 356 Annual Meeting, Sofia [Proceedings], v. 1, p. 171–174.
Drew, L.J., 2006, A tectonic model for the spatial occurrence of porphyry copper and polymetallic vein deposits—Applications to Central Europe: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2005–5272, 36 p. (Also available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2005/5272/.)
Eliopoulos, D.G., Economou-Eliopoulos, M., Strashimirov, S., Kovachev, V., and Zhelyskova-Panayotova, M., 1995, Gold, platinum and palladium content in Cu-deposits from Bulgaria—A study in progress in Congress of the Carpatho-Balkan Geological Association, 15th, Athens, Greece, September 17–20, 1995, Proceedings: Athens, Geological Society of Greece Special Publication 4, p. 712–716.
Fanger, L., Driesner, T., Heinrich, C.A., von Quadt, A., and Peycheva, I., 2001, Elatsite porphyry Cu deposit, Bulgaria: mineralization, alteration, and structures, in Piestrzy?ski, Adam, and others, eds., Mineral deposits at the beginning of the 21st century: Lisse, The Netherlands, A.A. Balkema Publishers, Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA) Biennial Meeting, 6th, Krakow, Poland, August 26–29, 2001 [Proceedings], p. 527–529.
Georgiev, Georgi, 2008, A genetic model of the Elatsite porphyry copper deposit, Bulgaria: Sofia, Bulgaria, Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology [????????, ??????????? ? ??????????], v. 46, p. 143–160. (Also available at http://www.geology.bas.bg/mineralogy/gmp_files/gmp46/georgiev.pdf.)
Herrington, R.J., First, D.M., and Kozelj, D., 2003, Copper porphyry deposits in Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia, Romania and Bulgaria, in Kelly, J.G., and others, eds., Europe’s major base metal deposits: Irish Association for Economic Geology (IAEG) Conference, Dublin, May 2000, p. 303–321.
Kamenov, B.K.; Yanev, Yotzo; Nedialkov, Rossen; Moritz, Robert; Peytcheva, Irena; von Quadt, Albrecht; Stoykov, Stanislav; and Zartova, Aneta, 2007, Petrology of Upper Cretaceous island-arc ore-magmatic centers from Central Srednogorie, Bulgaria—Magma evolution and paths: Sofia, Bulgaria, Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 45, p. 39–77. (Also available at http://www.geology.bas.bg/mineralogy/gmp_files/gmp45/39-77kamenov.pdf.)
Petrunov, R., Dragov, P., Ignatov, G., Neykov, H., Iliev, T., Vasileva, N., and Tsatsov, V., 1992, Hydrothermal PGE-mineralization in the Elacite porphyry copper deposit (Sredna Gora metallogenic zone, Bulgaria): Compte Rendu of Bulgarian Academy of Science, v. 45, no. 4, p. 37–40.
Singer, D.A., Berger, V.I., and Moring, B.C., 2008, Porphyry copper deposits of the world—Database and grade and tonnage models, 2008: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008-1155, [45] p. and digital data, accessed December 31, 2013, at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1155/.Strashimirov, Strashimir; Petrunov, Rumen; and Kanazirski, Milko, 2002, Porphyry-copper mineralization in the central Srednegorie zone, Bulgaria: Mineralium Deposita, v. 37, p. 587–598. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00126-002-0275-6.)
Strashimirov, S., and Popov, P., eds., 2000, Geology and metallogeny of the Panagyuriste ore region (Srednogorie zone, Bulgaria): Sofia, Publishing House St. Ivan Rilski, Geodynamics and Ore Deposit Evolution of the Alpine-Balkan-Carpathian-Dinaride region (ABCD-GEODE) Workshop, Borovets, Bulgaria, 2000, Excursion Guide (A and B), 50 p.
Tarkian, Mahmud; Hünken, Ulf; Tokmakchieva, Margarita; and Bogdanov, Kamen, 2003, Precious-metal distribution and fluid-inclusion petrography of the Elatsite porphyry copper deposit, Bulgaria: Mineralium Deposita, v. 38, p. 261–281. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00126-002-0336-x.)von Quadt, Albrecht; Peytcheva, Irena; Kamenov, Borislav; Fanger, Lorenz; Heinrich, C.A.; and Frank, M., 2002, The Elatsite porphyry copper deposit in the Panagyurishte ore district, Srednogorie zone, Bulgaria—U-Pb zircon geochronology and isotope-geochemical investigations of magmatism and ore genesis, in Blundell, D.J., Neubauer, E., and von Quadt, Albrecht, eds., 2002, The timing and location of major ore deposits in an evolving orogen: Geological Society of London Special Publication 204, p. 119–135. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.2002.204.01.08.)von Quadt, A., Peytcheva, I., Fanger, L., and Heinrich, C., 2005, The Elatsite porphyry Cu-Au deposit, Bulgaria—Ore deposit—Lat. 42° 45? N, Long. 24° 02? E: Ore Geology Reviews, v. 27, p. 128–129. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2005.07.022.)Zimmerman, Aaron; Stein, H.J.; Hannah, J.L.; Koželj, Dejan; Bogdanov, Kamen; and Berza, Tudor, 2008, Tectonic configuration of the Apuseni-Banat-Timok-Srednogorie belt, Balkans-South Carpathians constrained by high-precision Re-Os molybdenite ages: Mineralium Deposita, v. 43, p. 1–21. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00126-007-0149-z.)