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Assarel

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

Names and other identifiers

GMRAP ID 376
Tract name Transylvania-Balkan Mountains (150pCu6001)
Group name Assarel Group
Included sites Group includes Assarel and Orlovo Gnezdo deposits.
Site status deposit

Geographic location

Country Bulgaria
State or province Pazardzhik
Geographic location 24.136712, 42.544378
Geologic map unit 24.136712, 42.544378
Nearby data
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Geologic information

Deposit type Porphyry copper
Deposit subtype Cu-Au
Age (Ma) 89.9Ma
Age determination method U-Pb zircon
Age range 89.9 ±0.26 to 89.13 ±0.28 Ma
Age reference Peytcheva and others (2007)
Minerals adularia, aikinite, albite, alunite, anhydrite/gypsum, antlerite, arsenopyrite, arsenosulvanite, azurite, barite, biotite, bornite, bravoite, brochantite, calaverite [AuTe2], carbonate, chalcanthite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, chlorite, colusite, copper, cuprite, diaspore, enargite, epidote, fluorite, galena, goethite, gold, goldfieldite [Cu12(Te,Sb,As)4S13], hematite, hessite, kaolinite/dickite, mackinawite, magnetite, marcasite, melanterite, molybdenite, muscovite/sericite, prehnite, pyrite
Associated rocks granodiorite porphyry, quartz diorite porphyry, syenodiorite porphyry, conglomerate, dacite, limestone, sandstone, andesite, andesite pyroclastics, gneiss, granite, hornfels
Tectonic setting continental margin
Stratigraphic age Late Cretaceous

Commodity and development information

Development status Producer
Major commodities Cu, Au
Tonnage (Mt) 354Mt
Cu grade (%) 0.44%
Au grade (g/t) 0.2g/t
Contained copper 1,600,000t
Gold-Moly ratio -9999

Reference information

Comments In ore: 0.003 g/t Pt, 0.002 g/t Pd; in concentrate: to 19.5 g/t Au, 0.033 g/t Pt, and 0.054 g/t Pd. Exposed. Location: based on GoogleEarth center of pit. Disturbed area surface footprint ~ 23 sq. km. Srednegorie zone, Panagyurishte district.
Study area name Europe
References Angelkov and Parvanov (1980); Bogdanov (1982); Bogdanov (1983); Eliopoulos and others (1995); Herrington and others (2003); Petrunov and others (1990); Peytcheva and others (2007); Tarkian and Stribrny (1999); von Quadt, Peytcheva and others (2005); Kamenov and others (2007); Singer and others (2008); Assarel-Medet JSC (2011); Popov and others (1996); Zartova and others (2004)
Site reference Sutphin and others (2013)
Angelkov, K., and Parvanov, B., 1980, The Assarel porphyry copper deposit, Bulgaria, in Jankovi?, S., and Sillitoe, R.H., eds., European copper deposits: Belgrade, Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA), UNESCO-IGCP International Symposium, Bor, Yugoslavia, September 18–22, 1979 [Proceedings], p. 59–62.
Assarel-Medet JSC, 2011, Assarel-Medet JSC home page: accessed September 1, 2011, at http://www.asarel.com/en/About/Profile.aspx.
Bogdanov, B.D., 1982, Bulgaria, in Dunning, F.W., Mykura, W., and Slater, D., eds., Mineral deposits of Europe, Volume 2—Southeast Europe: London, The Institution of Mining and Metallurgy and the Mineralogical Society, p. 215–232.
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.)
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.
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., and Neykov, H., 1990, Polyelemental (with As, Sn, V, Bi, Ag, Te, Ge, Se, etc.) mineralizations in the Asarel porphyry copper deposit (Bulgaria): Geologica Balcanica, v. 20, no. 4, p.48.
Peytcheva, I., von Quadt, Heinrich, C.A., Nedialkov, R., Neubauer, F., A., and Moritz, R., 2007, Medet and Assarel Cu-porphyry deposits in Central Srednogorie SE Europe—Were they a common magmatic and hydrothermal system?, in Andrew, C.J., and Borg, G., eds., Mineral exploration and research—Digging deeper: Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA) Biennial Meeting, 9th, Dublin, Ireland, August 20–23, 2007 [Proceedings], v. 2, p. 881–884. (Abstract also available at https://www.e-sga.org/index.php?id=228&tx_commerce_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=1134&tx_commerce_pi1%5BcatUid%5D=39&cHash=0f5bf3d02d.)
Popov, P., Strashimirov, S., Arnaudova, R., Kanasirski, M., and Popov, K., 1996, Geology and genetical model of the porphyry copper deposits from the Assarel-Medet ore field, 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. 175–196.
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/.Tarkian, M., and Stribrny, B., 1999, Platinum-group elements in porphyry copper deposits—A reconnaissance study: Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 65, p. 161–183. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01161959.)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.)Zartova, Aneta; Nedialkov, Rossen; and Moritz, Robert, 2004, Petrology of the magmatism of the Assarel copper-porphyry deposit: Bulgarian Geological Society Annual Scientific Conference “Geology 2004”, Sofia, Bulgaria, December 16–17, 2004 [Proceedings], p. 113–115. (Also available at http://www.bgd.bg/CONFERENCES/Conferencia_2004/pdf_files/Zartova%20et%20al..pdf.)