Could PCP Complexes Generate PGE Ore Deposits?
PCP complexes are assumed to be associated with the continental-type U-ATCs series, similar to the Aldanian massifs, and have been examined as a potential source for research on minerals of the PGEs. The question is, could some highly siderophile mantelic magma, by recurrent and multiphase magmatic-metasomatic-hydrothermal evolution, result in PGE ore deposits? Indications of such a process are isolated, for instance: • Platinum group metals have been recovered from electrolytic refinery sludge at Phalaborwa for many years (24). • PGE mineral phases have been reported in some ore concentrates from Phalaborwa and Kovdor (25). Despite the suggestion that the PGE and gold-silver mineralisation of the Kovdor and Phalaborwa complexes has a close spatial and probably genetic relationship with the multistage magmatic and post-magmatic processes, there is no consistent empirical evidence to support this. The strategy of the current research was to use geological knowledge accumulated at PCP co
