Discrimination Between Hypogene and Enriched Supergene Zones Using Fractal and Sequential Factor Analysis in Milloieh Porphyry Copper Deposit, SE Iran

Abstract

The aim of this study was to separate the different mineralized zones consisting of supergene enrichment and hypogene zones in Milloieh porphyry Cu deposit (SE Iran) based on subsurface data and using the Staged Factor Analysis (SFA) and Concentration-Number (C-N) fractal modelling. Results obtained by SFA indicate that Cu and Mo were situated in a factor as F2-2 which was modelled by the C-N fractal method for separation of the mineralized zones. The supergene enrichment zone derived via the SFA and C-N fractal analysis contains 0.86% for Cu and 5.3 ppm for Mo. Moreover, the hypogene zone obtained by this modelling has Cu and Mo average values of 0.59% and 1.88 ppm, respectively. These mineralized zones were correlated with mineralographical data obtained by the polished section microscopic studies which indicate that the obtained zones based on the SFA and C-N fractal model are consistent with the geological and mineralization data.