Copper Solubility in Supercritical Hydrothermal Brines Measured in Syhthetic Fluid Inclusions

The high temperature fluids responsible for the formation of porphyry/epithermal gold-copper deposits are not well understood. Over the past four years, I (with others) have developed a novel technique that allows high temperature - pressure fluids to be studied. This technique - analysis of synthetic fluid inclusions by laser ablation ICPMS, has already produced fascinating results on gold solubility. The next logical step is to attack copper. An understanding of the high temperature speciation and solubility of copper will greatly improve our understanding of how porphyry and epithermal deposits form, thereby greatly improving mineral exploration models.