The economic potential of metalliferous sub-volcanic brines

Jon D Blundy; A.A. Afanasyev; Brian C Tattitch; R S J Sparks; O Melnik; Ivan Utkin; Alison C Rust

doi:10.1098/rsos.202192

The economic potential of metalliferous sub-volcanic brines

Jon D Blundy
, A.A. Afanasyev
, Brian C Tattitch
, R S J Sparks
, O Melnik
, Ivan Utkin
, Alison C Rust

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

56 Citations (Scopus)

291 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The transition to a low-carbon economy will increase demand for a wide range of metals, notably copper, which is used extensively in power generation and in electric vehicles. Increased demand will require new, sustainable approaches to copper exploration and extraction. Conventional copper mining entails energy-intensive extraction of relatively low-grade ore from large open pits or underground mines and subsequent ore refining. Most copper derives ultimately from hot, hydrous magmatic fluids. Ore formation involves phase separation of these fluids to form copper-rich hypersaline liquids (or ‘brines') and subsequent precipitation of copper sulfides. Geophysical surveys of many volcanoes reveal electrically conductive bodies at around 2 km depth, consistent with lenses of brine hosted in porous rock. Building upon emerging concepts in crustal magmatism, we explore the potential of sub-volcanic brines as an in situ source of copper and other metals. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we show that 10 000 years of magma degassing can generate a Cu-rich brine lens containing up to 1.4 Mt Cu in a rock volume of a few km3 at approximately 2 km depth. Direct extraction of metal-rich brines represents a novel development in metal resource extraction that obviates the need for conventional mines, and generates geothermal power as a by-product.

Original language	English
Article number	202192
Journal	Royal Society Open Science
Volume	8
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.202192
Publication status	Published - 30 Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Data accessibility. Model results are available from the following link: (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0cfxpnw0w). Further data are provided in the electronic supplementary material [185]. Authors’ contributions. J.B. devised the original brine lens mining concept in 2016. It was subsequently refined through discussions with all other authors. B.T. performed the fluid inclusion metal content calculations, microthermometry and analyses. A.A. performed the hydrodynamic simulations; O.M. and I.U. post-processed the results to include copper. All authors helped to draft the final manuscript, gave final approval for publication and agree to be held accountable for the work performed therein. Competing interests. We declare we have no competing interests. Funding. J.B. acknowledges funding through a Royal Society Research Professorship (RP\R1\201048); A.A. and O.M. acknowledge funding from Russian Science Foundation under grant no. 16-17-10199. Samples from Larderello were kindly provided by P. Fulignati (University of Pisa). Acknowledgements. We thank A. Stinton (University of West Indies) for help in obtaining drill-core samples from Montserrat MON-1 well, financial and technical support for which were provided by: Government of Montserrat; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Natural Environment Research council; British Geological Survey; Iceland Drilling and ISOR Iceland Geosurvey; and Baker Hughes. We thank B. Kunz and F. Jenner for assistance with LA-ICPMS analyses, G. Pokrovski for help with the chalcopyrite solubility calculations, J. Stimac for a primer on geothermal systems, and S. Gatehouse, S. Simmons, J. Hedenquist, J. Lowenstern, J. Mavrogenes and N. White for reviews of the manuscript. Analytical work was supported through a research grant from BHP.

Funding Information:
We thank A. Stinton (University of West Indies) for help in obtaining drill-core samples from Montserrat MON-1 well, financial and technical support for which were provided by: Government of Montserrat; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Natural Environment Research council; British Geological Survey; Iceland Drilling and ISOR Iceland Geosurvey; and Baker Hughes. We thank B. Kunz and F. Jenner for assistance with LA-ICPMS analyses, G. Pokrovski for help with the chalcopyrite solubility calculations, J. Stimac for a primer on geothermal systems, and S. Gatehouse, S. Simmons, J. Hedenquist, J. Lowenstern, J. Mavrogenes and N. White for reviews of the manuscript. Analytical work was supported through a research grant from BHP.

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© 2021 The Authors.

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title = "The economic potential of metalliferous sub-volcanic brines",

abstract = "The transition to a low-carbon economy will increase demand for a wide range of metals, notably copper, which is used extensively in power generation and in electric vehicles. Increased demand will require new, sustainable approaches to copper exploration and extraction. Conventional copper mining entails energy-intensive extraction of relatively low-grade ore from large open pits or underground mines and subsequent ore refining. Most copper derives ultimately from hot, hydrous magmatic fluids. Ore formation involves phase separation of these fluids to form copper-rich hypersaline liquids (or {\textquoteleft}brines') and subsequent precipitation of copper sulfides. Geophysical surveys of many volcanoes reveal electrically conductive bodies at around 2 km depth, consistent with lenses of brine hosted in porous rock. Building upon emerging concepts in crustal magmatism, we explore the potential of sub-volcanic brines as an in situ source of copper and other metals. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we show that 10 000 years of magma degassing can generate a Cu-rich brine lens containing up to 1.4 Mt Cu in a rock volume of a few km3 at approximately 2 km depth. Direct extraction of metal-rich brines represents a novel development in metal resource extraction that obviates the need for conventional mines, and generates geothermal power as a by-product.",

author = "Blundy, \{Jon D\} and A.A. Afanasyev and Tattitch, \{Brian C\} and Sparks, \{R S J\} and O Melnik and Ivan Utkin and Rust, \{Alison C\}",

note = "Funding Information: Data accessibility. Model results are available from the following link: (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0cfxpnw0w). Further data are provided in the electronic supplementary material [185]. Authors{\textquoteright} contributions. J.B. devised the original brine lens mining concept in 2016. It was subsequently refined through discussions with all other authors. B.T. performed the fluid inclusion metal content calculations, microthermometry and analyses. A.A. performed the hydrodynamic simulations; O.M. and I.U. post-processed the results to include copper. All authors helped to draft the final manuscript, gave final approval for publication and agree to be held accountable for the work performed therein. Competing interests. We declare we have no competing interests. Funding. J.B. acknowledges funding through a Royal Society Research Professorship (RP\textbackslash{}R1\textbackslash{}201048); A.A. and O.M. acknowledge funding from Russian Science Foundation under grant no. 16-17-10199. Samples from Larderello were kindly provided by P. Fulignati (University of Pisa). Acknowledgements. We thank A. Stinton (University of West Indies) for help in obtaining drill-core samples from Montserrat MON-1 well, financial and technical support for which were provided by: Government of Montserrat; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Natural Environment Research council; British Geological Survey; Iceland Drilling and ISOR Iceland Geosurvey; and Baker Hughes. We thank B. Kunz and F. Jenner for assistance with LA-ICPMS analyses, G. Pokrovski for help with the chalcopyrite solubility calculations, J. Stimac for a primer on geothermal systems, and S. Gatehouse, S. Simmons, J. Hedenquist, J. Lowenstern, J. Mavrogenes and N. White for reviews of the manuscript. Analytical work was supported through a research grant from BHP. Funding Information: We thank A. Stinton (University of West Indies) for help in obtaining drill-core samples from Montserrat MON-1 well, financial and technical support for which were provided by: Government of Montserrat; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Natural Environment Research council; British Geological Survey; Iceland Drilling and ISOR Iceland Geosurvey; and Baker Hughes. We thank B. Kunz and F. Jenner for assistance with LA-ICPMS analyses, G. Pokrovski for help with the chalcopyrite solubility calculations, J. Stimac for a primer on geothermal systems, and S. Gatehouse, S. Simmons, J. Hedenquist, J. Lowenstern, J. Mavrogenes and N. White for reviews of the manuscript. Analytical work was supported through a research grant from BHP. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors.",

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doi = "10.1098/rsos.202192",

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T1 - The economic potential of metalliferous sub-volcanic brines

AU - Blundy, Jon D

AU - Afanasyev, A.A.

AU - Tattitch, Brian C

AU - Sparks, R S J

AU - Melnik, O

AU - Utkin, Ivan

AU - Rust, Alison C

N1 - Funding Information: Data accessibility. Model results are available from the following link: (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0cfxpnw0w). Further data are provided in the electronic supplementary material [185]. Authors’ contributions. J.B. devised the original brine lens mining concept in 2016. It was subsequently refined through discussions with all other authors. B.T. performed the fluid inclusion metal content calculations, microthermometry and analyses. A.A. performed the hydrodynamic simulations; O.M. and I.U. post-processed the results to include copper. All authors helped to draft the final manuscript, gave final approval for publication and agree to be held accountable for the work performed therein. Competing interests. We declare we have no competing interests. Funding. J.B. acknowledges funding through a Royal Society Research Professorship (RP\R1\201048); A.A. and O.M. acknowledge funding from Russian Science Foundation under grant no. 16-17-10199. Samples from Larderello were kindly provided by P. Fulignati (University of Pisa). Acknowledgements. We thank A. Stinton (University of West Indies) for help in obtaining drill-core samples from Montserrat MON-1 well, financial and technical support for which were provided by: Government of Montserrat; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Natural Environment Research council; British Geological Survey; Iceland Drilling and ISOR Iceland Geosurvey; and Baker Hughes. We thank B. Kunz and F. Jenner for assistance with LA-ICPMS analyses, G. Pokrovski for help with the chalcopyrite solubility calculations, J. Stimac for a primer on geothermal systems, and S. Gatehouse, S. Simmons, J. Hedenquist, J. Lowenstern, J. Mavrogenes and N. White for reviews of the manuscript. Analytical work was supported through a research grant from BHP. Funding Information: We thank A. Stinton (University of West Indies) for help in obtaining drill-core samples from Montserrat MON-1 well, financial and technical support for which were provided by: Government of Montserrat; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Natural Environment Research council; British Geological Survey; Iceland Drilling and ISOR Iceland Geosurvey; and Baker Hughes. We thank B. Kunz and F. Jenner for assistance with LA-ICPMS analyses, G. Pokrovski for help with the chalcopyrite solubility calculations, J. Stimac for a primer on geothermal systems, and S. Gatehouse, S. Simmons, J. Hedenquist, J. Lowenstern, J. Mavrogenes and N. White for reviews of the manuscript. Analytical work was supported through a research grant from BHP. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors.

PY - 2021/6/30

Y1 - 2021/6/30

N2 - The transition to a low-carbon economy will increase demand for a wide range of metals, notably copper, which is used extensively in power generation and in electric vehicles. Increased demand will require new, sustainable approaches to copper exploration and extraction. Conventional copper mining entails energy-intensive extraction of relatively low-grade ore from large open pits or underground mines and subsequent ore refining. Most copper derives ultimately from hot, hydrous magmatic fluids. Ore formation involves phase separation of these fluids to form copper-rich hypersaline liquids (or ‘brines') and subsequent precipitation of copper sulfides. Geophysical surveys of many volcanoes reveal electrically conductive bodies at around 2 km depth, consistent with lenses of brine hosted in porous rock. Building upon emerging concepts in crustal magmatism, we explore the potential of sub-volcanic brines as an in situ source of copper and other metals. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we show that 10 000 years of magma degassing can generate a Cu-rich brine lens containing up to 1.4 Mt Cu in a rock volume of a few km3 at approximately 2 km depth. Direct extraction of metal-rich brines represents a novel development in metal resource extraction that obviates the need for conventional mines, and generates geothermal power as a by-product.

AB - The transition to a low-carbon economy will increase demand for a wide range of metals, notably copper, which is used extensively in power generation and in electric vehicles. Increased demand will require new, sustainable approaches to copper exploration and extraction. Conventional copper mining entails energy-intensive extraction of relatively low-grade ore from large open pits or underground mines and subsequent ore refining. Most copper derives ultimately from hot, hydrous magmatic fluids. Ore formation involves phase separation of these fluids to form copper-rich hypersaline liquids (or ‘brines') and subsequent precipitation of copper sulfides. Geophysical surveys of many volcanoes reveal electrically conductive bodies at around 2 km depth, consistent with lenses of brine hosted in porous rock. Building upon emerging concepts in crustal magmatism, we explore the potential of sub-volcanic brines as an in situ source of copper and other metals. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we show that 10 000 years of magma degassing can generate a Cu-rich brine lens containing up to 1.4 Mt Cu in a rock volume of a few km3 at approximately 2 km depth. Direct extraction of metal-rich brines represents a novel development in metal resource extraction that obviates the need for conventional mines, and generates geothermal power as a by-product.

U2 - 10.1098/rsos.202192

DO - 10.1098/rsos.202192

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

C2 - 34234951

SN - 2054-5703

VL - 8

JO - Royal Society Open Science

JF - Royal Society Open Science

IS - 6

M1 - 202192

ER -

The economic potential of metalliferous sub-volcanic brines

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