Gabriel Ariza Benavides, PhD
G. Ariza Benavides1, S. Piercey1, L. Pilgrim2
1Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
2Maritime Resources Corp., Springdale, NL, Canada
Critical metals are the building blocks for modern technology and the energy transition. Ni, Cu, V, and Ti are essential for building the infrastructure needed for renewable energy generation, energy storage, and electric mobility. Globally, these metals are often sourced in magmatic deposits that occur in ultramafic-mafic systems and formed from mantle-derived melts in rift and/or plume settings. However, in the past few decades new magmatic deposits have been found in convergent margin and post-collisional settings, which is uncommon for most magmatic Ni-Cu-V-Ti deposits. Understanding the processes involved in the formation of these deposits is essential for further exploration and development of new resources. Here, we present a study on the Gull Ridge Ni-Cu-V-Ti mineralization located in the southern portion of the Baie Verte Peninsula of Newfoundland in the Northern Appalachians.
The Gull Ridge pluton is a poorly exposed large highly magnetic polyphase intrusion composed of layered alkaline gabbros, A-type quartz-monzonites and rhyolitic dikes. Mineralization is present within the layered gabbro and it occurs in two styles: (1) disseminated pentlandite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pyrite in a sulfide-rich medium to coarse grained gabbro and (2) sulphide-poor highly magnetic medium grained gabbro with disseminated vanadiferous ilmenite and magnetite. This study combines detailed core logging, evaluation of the host rock petrogenesis with whole rock geochemistry, sulfide and oxide characterization using transmitted, reflected light petrography and SEM, semi-quantitative to quantitative maps of the ore minerals by SEM and EPMA, in-situ sulfur isotope analyses by SIMS and U-Pb geochronology of baddeleyite and zircon with LA-ICP-MS.
This study aims to reconstruct the evolution of the host rocks and mineralization within the alkaline Gull Ridge pluton but also to evaluate its relationship with other Silurian mafic intrusions in the region and to assess a potential trans-lithospheric continuum with upper crustal porphyry and epithermal systems within the Notre Dame subzone in the Newfoundland Appalachians which may have significant implications for future exploration in the region.