CANADIAN AND WORLD MINERAL DEPOSIT DATABASES
Geological Survey of Canada


Deposit number Country Location Names Commodities
26 Sweden (Nörrbotten County) 67.42.26 N -- 020.47.02 E Mertainen Fe; P
 
Database name: World Fe-oxide+/-Cu-Au-U (IOCG) deposits
Compilers: Sunil S. Gandhi
Release date: 2015-03-04
   
Deposit name(s): Mertainen
Political location(s): Sweden; Province or state: Nörrbotten County; Nearest community: Svappavaara (14 km NW)
Deposit clan (type): Kiruna-type
Deposit (sub) types: stratiform massive ore lenses in trachytes or alkali-rich rhyolites; with associated veins, and surrounded by ore breccias that decrease in Fe-content outward; Reference: Lundberg, B.; Smellie, J., 1979: Painirova and Mertainnen Iron Ores - Two Deposits of Kiruna Ore Type in Northern Sweden; Economic Geology, Volume 74, p. 1131 - 1152
Deposit status: suspended; Size category: 166 Mt
Geologic province: Svecofennian Orogen
Geologic subprovince: Northern Svecofennian
Geologic district: Svappavaara (Ore District)
Commodities: Fe; P
Mineralization styles: massive; breccia; veins
Geological ages: Late Paleoproterozoic (mineralization)
Late Paleoproterozoic (host rocks)
Coincident features: stratification in host sequence (mineralization in trachytic flows, rich in alkalies); Coincident feature name: Kiruna Porphyries
breccia (extensive breccia with magnetite matrix around massive magnetite lenses in trachytic host rocks); Coincident feature name: Ore breccia
amygdules (quartz amygdules in trachytes partly or wholly replaced by magnetite and tourmaline)
Host rocks: (1) volcanic; felsic volcanic rocks (trachyitic flows, associated with andesites); Magma series/sedimentary package/metamorphic group: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: continental arc; Metamorphic grade: greenschist-amphibolite
External host rock forms:porphyritic and amygdaloidal
Host rock protoliths:trachytes (plagiclase porphyritic; contains quartz amygdules with or withour iron-rich rim; referred to as syenitic porphyry in older literature); Host rock protolith name: Kiruna Porphyries
Internal host rock structures:indistinct layering
Individual lithologies:alkali-rich rhyolites (host rock of iron oxide mineralization; quartz amygdules replaced partially or wholly by magnetite and tourmaline )
Host rock stratigraphy:Kiruna Porphyries
Metallogenic signatures: Fe
Mineralogy: (alteration): biotite, scapolite, martite
(mineralization): magnetite, apatite, actinolite
Deposit shape: crescent-shaped
Deposit dimensions:length: 1,300 metres
width: 250 metres
depth: 500 metres
Qualified comments: (Applies to: discovery and development) Discovered in 1897, with Painirova deposit using dip needle; resources comprise 11 % massive ore, 28 % magnetite-rich breccia and 61 % magnetite-poor breccia, averaging 61, 40 and 28 % Fe respectively. Test mined during 1956-1959; ore production of 432 tonnes; regarded as a significant prospect; ore low in P averaging about 0.05 %, but in parts of the deposit 0.2-0.9 % P; Ti less than 1 %, in sphene.
References:
Anonymous, 2000
Swedish Database of Mineral Deposits
Email

Eriksson, B.; Hallgren, U., 1975
Description of the Geological Maps Vittangi N.W., N.E., S.W. and S.E. with an Appendix on Geophysical Aspects by Herbert Henkel
Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, Serie Af., No. 13-16, Geological Survey of Sweden, 203 p., 8 maps.

Geijer, P., 1931
The Iron Ores of the Kiruna Type: Geographical Distribution, Geological Character and Origin
Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning, Serie C, Geological Survey of Sweden, Publication code 367, 39 p.

Geijer, P.; Ödman, O. H., 1974
The Emplacement of the Kiruna Ores and Related Deposits
Serie C, Sveriges Geologiska Undersokning, Geological Survey of Sweden, Publication code 700, 48 p.

Lundberg, B.; Smellie, J., 1979
Painirova and Mertainnen Iron Ores - Two Deposits of Kiruna Ore Type in Northern Sweden
Economic Geology, Volume 74, p. 1131 - 1152

Zitzmann, A. Editor(s)), 1978
The Iron Ore Deposits of Europe and Adjacent Areas: Explanatory Notes to the International Map of the Iron Ore Deposits of Europe, 1:2,500,000 (Lists and Tables)
International Geological Congress, Commission for the Geological Map of the World, Subcommission for the Metallogenic Map of the World, Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Postfach 51 01 53, D-3000 Hannover 51, Volume II, 386 p.

Resource data:
Disclaimer - Reserves/Resource Data

Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Natural Resources (NRCan) does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, completeness or fitness for any purpose of Reserve and Resource information (Data) contained in this database, including whether the Data is compliant with any securities regulations or standards, and NRCan does not assume any liability with respect to any damage or loss incurred as a result of the use made of the Data.

Resource and reserve figures are historical in nature. The Data source provided with each set of figures should be cited if the Data are re-reported.

Estimate date: 1959; 166.432 million metric tons ore; Combined with production?: yes; Provisional entry?: yes
Grade-commodity information:Fe: 40 percent
S: 0.017 percent
Reference: Anonymous, 2000: Swedish Database of Mineral Deposits; Email
Percent weights allocated to deposit: 100.0%

Generated 2015-03-04 14:16:47 with GQuery -- 3.7 ADO (3.19..3.22 -- 2008-12-16)
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