Peer-Reviewed Journal Details
Mandatory Fields
Silva, AA;Cordeiro, P;Johnson, SC;Lagoeiro, LE;Corcoran, L;Simonetti, A;Meere, PA;Unitt, R;Colaco, LS;Santos, AM
2021
June
Minerals
The Carbonate-Hosted Tullacondra Cu-Ag Deposit, Mallow, Ireland
Validated
()
Optional Fields
ZN-PB MINERALIZATION ORE-FORMING PROCESSES FLUID-FLOW SILVERMINES DEPOSITS STRUCTURAL CONTROLS COUNTY TIPPERARY BASE STRATIGRAPHY LISHEEN GENESIS
11
The Tullacondra Cu-Ag deposit is located on the southern margin of the Lower Carboniferous Irish Midlands orefield and contains historical reserves of approximately 4.2 Mt at 0.7% Cu and 27.5 ppm Ag. The deposit is hosted within the hanging wall of a feeder fault, the EW-trending Tullacondra Fault, where sulfides and sulfosalts containing elevated Cu, Ag, As, and Sb deposited, whereas Zn and Pb are nearly absent. The deposition of Cu sulfides in Tullacondra took place along bedding and bedding-parallel dissolution seams, suggesting an epigenetic mineralization that formed: (a) the Transition Series-hosted mineralized zone containing elevated Cu associated with Ag, As, and Sb; (b) the Lower Limestone Shale-hosted mineralized zone, Cu-dominated and depleted in other metals, and (c) a near-vertical mineralized zone associated with fractures related to the Tullacondra Fault. Some similarities are shared with Irish-type Zn-Pb deposits, such as structural and stratigraphic controls, and elevated Cu, Ag, As, and Sb within feeder-fault proximal zones (such as in Lisheen and Silvermines). Whether Tullacondra mineralization was part of the Irish-type system or not, our deposit geometry evaluation, whole-rock geochemistry, paragenetic sequence, and texture relationships indicate that Cu-Ag deposition involved the reaction of metal-bearing fluids with carbonate rocks.
BASEL
2075-163X
10.3390/min11060560
Grant Details