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Location: 32 km SW from Challis, Idaho, United States
1 University Ave, #1800TorontoOntario, CanadaM5J2P1
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The Thompson Creek deposit is a porphyry molybdenum deposit.The Thompson Creek porphyry molybdenum deposit occurs near the suture of the late Cretaceous Idaho Batholith in the west and complexly folded Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks interpreted to have accumulated in a back-arc environment in the east.The primary host for the molybdenite mineralization at Thompson Creek is the Thompson Creek intrusive complex, which is composed of a granodiorite-quartz monzonite stock of Cretaceous age.Alteration of the intrusive rocks is characterized by pyrite, quartz, and sericite, primarily in veins at shallow depths. This alteration style has been mostly mined out. The dominant alteration at depth comprises coarse biotite, in some places intergrown with molybdenite in quartz veins.There are two major structural features associated with the Thompson Creek deposit: • The Raise Fault strikes northwest, parallel to the trend of the mineralization • The Unnamed Fault strikes 34° and dips steeply to the southeast.The Unnamed Fault separates the deposit into northwest and southeast portions.MineralizationMineralization is restricted almost exclusively to the granodiorite/quartz monzonite intrusion discussed above. The long axis of the largely eliptical deposit is oriented in a northwesterly direction with a plunge of about 30 degrees. The approximate dimensions of the deposit are 6,000 ft long by 2,500 ft wide by 2,500 ft deep.The molybdenum mineralization occurs as a series of crosscutting quartz-molybdenite-pyrite veinlets, stringer zones, and rare coarse disseminations. The dominant vein set strikes at 120° to 140° and dips at 30° to 85° northeast, parallel to the long dimension of the intrusive body, implying that the same or a similar stress field played a role in controlling both the intrusion of the igneous rocks and opening the space occupied by the veining (Schmidt et al., 1983). Molybdenite occurs primarily as coarse, ~1/8-inch rosettes within vein selvages abutting the potassic minerals or in the center of quartz veins. Vein thicknesses average between approximately 3/8-inch and 5/4-inch with a vein density that is highly variable, depending upon the location within the deposit (Schmidt et al., 1982). The mineralizing event has been dated at 86 Ma (versus 88 Ma of the intrusion itself) (Marvin et al., 1973).The deposit averages less than 100 ppm Cu and produces no saleable copper.Limited assay data from blast holes were analyzed in 1999 that suggest a vertical volume of rock within the southern part of the pit that can be interpreted as a high-grade zone with molybdenum values consistently above 0.2% Mo (Worthington, 2007).Over the life of the mine to date, the molybdenum grade has averaged approximately 0.083% Mo.
