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Historical mine and mineral deposit datasets are routinely used to inform quantitative mineral assessment models, but they also can contain a wealth of supplementary qualitative information that is generally underutilized. We present a workflow that uses correspondence analysis, an exploratory tool commonly applied to multivariate abundance data, to better utilize qualitative data in these historical datasets. The workflow involves extraction of qualitative information on ore mineralogy from a mineral deposit database, attaches those data to a target geological feature, and analyzes the underlying data structure with correspondence analysis and hierarchical clustering. The output of correspondence analysis is inversely weighted to the relative frequency of ore minerals, and therefore rare mineral species (i.e., those with unusually low frequencies) can disproportionately contribute to the total variance of the dataset. We present a novel technique for aggregating frequencies of rare mineral species that minimizes this effect. We apply this workflow to evaluate how ore mineral assemblages in former and active mines vary in spatial relation to silicic calderas in the southwestern United States. The most common ore mineral associations observed spatially and genetically associated to calderas include those related to polymetallic, base metal-rich systems and epithermal Au–Ag systems. Three other groups of mineralized calderas were identified, including: (1) Hg–Sb mineralized calderas in the northern Great Basin and western Nevada volcanic field; (2) calderas associated with elevated abundances of Mn oxides/hydroxides, fluorite, and Be-minerals, mostly in eastern Utah and New Mexico; and (3) calderas with numerous U ± F deposits, which are located in central Colorado, the eastern Great Basin and in northern Nevada. The latter three groups are associated with economically significant critical mineral resources, including the Li resources of the McDermitt complex and Be associated with the Spor Mountain on the margin of the Thomas caldera complex. We conclude that correspondence analysis is a promising technique that can enhance data exploration of the qualitative information held within mineral deposit datasets. Consequently, it could have numerous applications for mineral potential mapping, resource assessment projects, and characterization of mineral systems.

Magmatism in northern Colorado beginning in the late Eocene is associated with the formation of Pb-Zn-Ag carbonate-replacement and polymetallic vein deposits, the onset of caldera-forming magmatism, and eventually, the formation of rift-related, F-rich Mo porphyries (“Climax-type” intrusions). We use high-precision U/Pb zircon geochronology to better evaluate the temporal framework of magmatism and mineralization in the region. Our results demonstrate that mineralization in the Leadville area occurred between 43.5 and 39.7 Ma and was followed by mesothermal mineralization in the Montezuma area at approximately 38.7 Ma. Mineralization is associated with a suite of approximately 43 to 39 Ma intermediate magmatic centers that extended from Twin Lakes through Montezuma. The oldest porphyries associated with F-rich Mo prospects and deposits (Middle Mountain; 36.45 Ma) intruded 900 kyr after the start of the ignimbrite flare-up in the region. Spatiotemporal analyses reveal that the pattern of magmatism shifted in orientation between 40 and 35 Ma. We propose a model wherein magmatism before 39 Ma was the result of fluids evolved from the subducted Farallon slab being focused through weak zones in the lithospheric mantle and into the lower crust. This was followed by a more diffuse and higher power melting event that corresponds to a distinct change in the spatial patterns of magmatism. Our data suggest that low-grade Mo porphyry deposits can form close in time to calderas. We hypothesize that the transition from subduction to extensional tectonics in the region was responsible for this more widespread melting and a distinct shift in the style of magmatic-hydrothermal mineralization.

[1] The Questa porphyry Mo deposit in New Mexico provides a unique opportunity to study the relationship between pluton assembly and mineralization in a long-lived volcanic field. Magmatism along the caldera margin initiated at ~ 25.20 Ma and continued for ~ 770 ka. During this time, the emplacement of mineralizing intrusions progressed westward and culminated in the assembly of the Questa Mo deposit between 24.76 Ma and 24.50 Ma. Molybdenite Re/Os geochronology shows that mineralization occurred in multiple pulses without thermal resetting of the chronometer. Because most of the molybdenite samples used in this study are from previous fluid inclusion studies, we treat Re/Os molybdenite as a new thermochronometer. Molybdenite Re/Os ages are integrated with zircon U/Pb ages to evaluate the cooling histories within the Mo deposit. This study suggests that individual cycles of magma emplacement and mineralization cooled rapidly. In contrast to prior genetic models for the Questa Mo deposit, these data show that the mineralizing intrusions were generated via rapid melt generation, separation, and intrusion into the shallow crust without involvement in a long-lived magma chamber. It is proposed that the anomalously high magma flux event associated with ignimbrite eruption transferred materials (Mo, volatiles) from the upper mantle necessary for immediately subsequent mineralization. Partial melting and scavenging within a deep-crustal hybridized zone generated Mo-rich magma that ascended to form the Questa deposit. Moreover, this hypothesis predicts an important connection between caldera-forming systems and porphyry-style mineralization that could be incorporated into future exploration models.