Solstad, a Co-Se-bearing copper ore in the Västervik quartzites, Sweden

ABSTRACT The Solstad copper deposit, located in SE Sweden, is hosted by a quartz-rich rock sliver surrounded by a granite belonging to the 1.8 Ga Transscandinavian Igneous Belt. Ore petrographic studies have revealed a number of previously unrecognized opaque phases, including several Co phases, selenides and tellurides. Based on an in situ U-Pb investigation of zircons from a mineralized sample, it is suggested that zircons have a detrital origin and that the quartz-rich host rock is a xenolith belonging to the c. 1.88–1.86 Ga Västervik quartzite formation. A low-radiogenic galena sample implies that the source for the metals in the ore has a primitive origin, probably the basaltic lavas (now amphibolites) that are intercalated in the Västervik quartzite. Fluid inclusion studies in quartz distinguish four distinct ore fluids: (1) a hypersaline halite-bearing aqueous fluid related to an early (1.85–1.86 Ga) chalcopyrite depositional stage, (2) a subsequent CO2-rich fluid, that deposited native gold, tellurides, selenides and bismuthinite, developed (at ≥1.8 Ga) as a result of a phase separation, (3), a moderate- to high-salinity aqueous fluid did also develop at this event and led to the deposition of bornite and (4) a concluding, low-salinity aqueous fluid stage (at ≤1.8 Ga) caused oxidation to covelline and digenite of previously formed phases. It is proposed that the Solstad deposit and other Cu ± Co-rich sulphide (± magnetite) occurrences in the Västervik region along the southernmost margin of the 1.9–1.8 Ga Svecofennian Domain, represent a distinct ore type associated with quartzites and amphibolites.