The presence or absence of porphyritic textures in host rocks has no meaning for the genesis of ‘porphyry’ deposits. ‘Magmatic’ quartz, intergrown with K-feldspar and associated with some porphyry mineralisation, is unequivocally hydrothermal. Experiments show that magmas cannot carry concentrations of Cl required to yield fluids that can deposit the metals in porphyry Cu–Au deposits, and this is substantiated by the Cl concentrations in fluid inclusions in both mafic and silicic igneous rocks. Other experiments show that magmas generally have lower Cu concentrations than average crustal rocks. Igneous fractionation cannot produce melts with the required Cl or metal contents. Experiments also show that, if highly saline brines (or halite deposits) were to have been present during crustal melting, the magmas produced would have mineralogical and chemical characteristics most unlike the rocks that commonly host porphyry mineralisation. The metals in porphyry deposits must come from the medium- to far-field wall rocks and were most likely precipitated in veins when the host rocks underwent brittle fracture and fluid decompression. While still cooling, completely solid intrusive bodies can act as thermal eyes in a terrane, setting up hydrothermal circulations with flow toward the intrusions and upward toward shallower levels. The idea that precursor batholiths might be responsible for the supply and concentration of metals and Cl is untenable for numerous reasons. What applies to shallow igneous systems also applies to deeper ones. Thus, if magmas cannot carry the required concentrations of Cu and Cl, this applies to the seen as well as the unseen and potentially non-existent. Economic mineral deposits everywhere represent exceptional phenomena, so it seems likely that there is also something systematically exceptional about the sources of the necessary Cl in fluids that form porphyry deposits. At present, that source remains unidentified, but the possible role of evaporitic rocks needs to be explored.
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