Predicting the copper-gold fertility of mountain belts

More than half of the worlds copper and gold comes from granitic rocks, but most granitic suites are barren. The aim of this fundamental research is to identify the timing of, and understand the causes of, sulfide saturation in granitic suites to test the hypothesis that sulfide saturation controls their fertility. At a time when new copper-gold deposits are becoming increasingly difficult to find, and exploration budgets have been slashed, it is critical that we find a reliable method to distinguish ore bearing from barren systems. Theory, supported by preliminary research, suggests that platinum group element geochemistry can make this distinction by pinpointing the timing of sulfide saturation in evolving magma systems.