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dc.contributor.authorMcDonald, I
dc.contributor.authorHarmer, RJ
dc.contributor.authorHolwell, DA
dc.contributor.authorHughes, HS
dc.contributor.authorBoyce, AJ
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-28T11:08:40Z
dc.date.issued2016-09-13
dc.description.abstracthe Aurora Project is a Cu-Ni-PGE magmatic sulphide deposit in the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex of South Africa. Since 1992 mining in the northern limb has focussed on the Platreef deposit, located along the margin of the complex. Aurora has previously been suggested to represent a far-northern facies of the Platreef located along the basal margin of the complex and this study provides new data with which to test this assertion. In contrast to the Platreef, the base metal sulphide mineralisation at Aurora is both Cu-rich (Ni/Cu < 1) and Au-rich. The sulphides are hosted predominantly in leucocratic rocks (gabbronorites and leucogabbronorites) with low Cr/MgO (< 30) where pigeonite and orthopyroxene co-exist as low-Ca pyroxenes without cumulus magnetite. This mineral association is found in the Upper Main Zone and the Aurora mineral chemistry is consistent with this stratigraphic interval. Pigeonite gabbronorites above the Aurora mineralisation have high Cu/Pd ratios (> 50,000) reflecting the preferential removal of Pd over Cu in the sulphides below. Similarly high Cu/Pd ratios characterise the Upper Main Zone in the northern limb above the pigeonite + orthopyroxene interval and suggest that Aurora-style sulphide mineralisation may be developed here as well. The same mineralogy and geochemical features also appear to be present in the T Zone of the Waterberg PGE deposit, located under younger cover rocks to the north of Aurora. If these links are proved they indicate the potential for a previously unsuspected zone of Cu-Ni-PGE mineralisation extending for over 40 km along strike through the Upper Main Zone of the northern Bushveld.en_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipSulphur isotope analyses were carried out by Alison MacDonald at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre as part of NERC Isotope Geoscience Facilities Committee award IP/909/0506. HSRH is sponsored by the Claude Leon Foundation.en_GB
dc.identifier.citationVol. 80, pp. 1135 - 1159en_GB
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.oregeorev.2016.09.016
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/31744
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherElsevieren_GB
dc.rights© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Open Access funded by Natural Environment Research Council. Under a Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_GB
dc.subjectBushveld Complexen_GB
dc.subjectNorthern limben_GB
dc.subjectBase metal sulphidesen_GB
dc.subjectMain Zoneen_GB
dc.subjectPigeoniteen_GB
dc.subjectFractional crystallisationen_GB
dc.titleCu-Ni-PGE mineralisation at the Aurora Project and potential for a new PGE province in the Northern Bushveld Main Zoneen_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.date.available2018-02-28T11:08:40Z
dc.identifier.issn0169-1368
exeter.article-numberCen_GB
dc.descriptionThis is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.en_GB
dc.identifier.journalOre Geology Reviewsen_GB


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