Contrasting komatiite belts, associated Ni-Cu-(PGE) deposit styles and assimilation histories

The Agnew–Wiluna greenstone belt in the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia is the most nickel-sulfide-endowed komatiite belt in the world. The Agnew–Wiluna greenstone belt contains two mineralised units/horizons that display very different volcanological and geochemical features. The Mt Keith unit comprises >500 m-thick spinifex-free adcumulate-textured lenses, which are flanked by laterally extensive orthocumulate-textured units. Spinifex texture is absent from this unit. Disseminated nickel sulfides, interstitial to former olivine crystals, are concentrated in the lensoidal areas. Massive sulfides are locally present along the base or margins of the lenses or channels. The Cliffs unit is locally >150 m thick and comprises a sequence of differentiated spinifex-textured flow units. The basal unit is the thickest, and contains basal massive nickel-sulfide mineralisation. The Mt Keith and Cliffs units display important common features: (i) MgO contents of 25–30% in inferred parental magmas; and (ii) Al/Ti ...