CANADIAN AND WORLD MINERAL DEPOSIT DATABASES
Geological Survey of Canada


Deposit number Country Location Names Commodities
570 Kazakhstan (Qostanay) 53.11.00 N -- 063.05.00 E Sarbai; Sarbay Fe; Cu; P
 
Database name: World Fe-oxide+/-Cu-Au-U (IOCG) deposits
Compilers: Sunil S. Gandhi
Release date: 2015-03-04
   
Deposit name(s): Sarbai; Sarbay
Political location(s): Kazakhstan; Province or state: Qostanay; Nearest community: Akaterinburg, Russia (600 km 150°)
Deposit clan (type): Kiruna-type?
Deposit (sub) types: stratabound tabular and lensoid bodies; three main ore lenses each 1000 to 1700 m x 800 to 1700 m x 170 to 185 m; cores averaging 50% Fe, remainder 20 to 50 % Fe; sulphides concentrated in footwall of the magnetite bodies; Reference: Sokolov, G. A.; Grigor'ev, V. M., 1977: Deposits of Iron; in Ore Deposits of the USSR, Volume 1, Edited by Smirnov, V. I., Academy of Science, the Union Soviet Socialist Republics, Pitman Publishing Ltd., Pitman House, 39 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PB, U. K., 352 p, p. 7 - 113
replacement; ore lenses replace limestones, calcareous tuffs, tuffites; bedding preserved; 'exoskarn' near west contact of dioritic Sarbai pluton; regional pervasive scapolitization; albitization around ore bodies; Reference: Herrington, R.; Smith, M.; Maslennikov, V.; Belogub, E.; Armstrong, R., 2002: A Short Review of Paleozoic Hydrothermal Magnetite Iron-Oxide Deposits of the South and Central Urals, and their Geological Setting; Section Eurasia and Africa, in Hydrothermal Iron Oxide Copper-Gold and Related Deposits: A Global Perspective, Volume 2, Edited by Porter, T. M., Australian Mineral Foundation, Adelaide, Australia, PGC Publishing, Adelaide, 377 p, p. 343 - 354
syngenetic, metamorphosed?; initial stratiform character, later modified by deformation and intrusive activity; deposition of iron with chemogenic-organogenic sediments in distal or intermediate volcanic environment ; Reference: Belevtsev, Ya. N.; Bukharev, V. P.; Naumenko, V. V.; Goncharuk, A. F.; Popov, B. A.; Stepanov, V. A.; Usenko, A. I., 1982: Volcanogenic Origin for Magnetite Ores of the Urals; International Geology Review, Volume 24, p. 1405 - 1416
Deposit status: producer; Size category: 1 billion tonnes
Geologic province: Uralian Orogen
Geologic subprovince: Valerianovsky Belt / Ural-Tobol Zone
Geologic district: Turgai
Deposit object located: mine site
Commodities: Fe; Cu; P
Mineralization styles: massive magnetite lenses; replacement of calcareous beds
Geological ages: Early Carboniferous (host rocks)
Early Carboniferous (mineralization)
Early Carboniferous (related magmatics)
Tectonic setting: continental marginal rift-graben; divergent; Formal name: Valerianov Belt / Ural-Tobol Zone (host rocks)
Coincident features: intrusive contact (ore bodies in a carbonate-tuff unit, 25 to 150 m away from the intrusive contact east of them); Coincident feature name: Sarbai dioritic intrusion
bedding in host strata (replacement of interbedded tuffs and carbonates; layered ore passes laterally into unaltered host units); Coincident feature name: Valerianov Group
folding (deposit on western limb of an anticline; pre-, syn- and post-ore structures localized intrusions and ore); Coincident feature name: Sarbai-Sokolovsk anticline
Regional tectonic structure: NNE-trending fault-bounded Early Carboniferous volcano-sedimentary assemblage (post-collisional rift-related basin, trending NNE and bounded by the Livonovsk and Anapovsk faults to the west and east, respectively) Tectonic structure name: Valerianov Trend
carbonates deposited in the host volcano-sedimentary assemblage (faourable calcareous host beds; reactive with the mineralizing fluids) Tectonic structure name: Valerianov Group sediments
NNE-trending folds in the Valerianov Group (deposit on western limb of an anticline; pre-, syn- and post-ore structures localized intrusions and ore) Tectonic structure name: Valerianov Trend
Host rocks: (1) sedimentary; carbonate-sandstone (interbedded with mafic volcanics); Depositional setting: ensialic rift; Metamorphic grade: greenschist; Component: subzone of deposits
External host rock forms:well bedded
Host rock protoliths:calcareous sediments amd mafic tuffs (the Sarbai ore bodies hosted by the upper Visean limestone-tuff-tuffite zone 350-400 m thick); Host rock protolith name: unit of Valerianov Group
Internal host rock structures:fine grained
Individual lithologies:limestone (interbedded limestone, tuffs, and silty and pelitic tuffites; limestone bituminous)
tuffaceous sediments
Host rock stratigraphy:Valerianov Group

(2) volcanic; intermediate volcanic rocks
Individual lithologies:andesite (porphyries with local early hematite alteration)
volcaniclastic rocks (hematite alteration)
Related igneous rocks: (1) intrusive; gabbro-diorite suite (related to volcanics in the host sequence); Initials: Sarbai Dioritic Intrusion; Magma series: subalkaline; Depositional setting: continental
Individual lithologies:dioritic (pyroxene-quartz diorite, accompanied by various dykes, culminating in post-ore granite porphyries)

(2) intrusive; gabbro-diorite suite (diorite-porphyrite dykes); Initials: Dioritic dykes; Magma series: subalkaline; Depositional setting: continental
Individual lithologies:porphyritic diorite (emplaced along pre-ore fractutes; related to the Sarbai dioritic intrusion)
Country rocks: (1) intermediate volcanics; (interbedded sediments; related intrusions); Country rock name: Valerianov Group; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
Country rock protoliths:intermediate volcanics (andesitic volcanics, volcaniclastics and associated sedimentary rocks); Country rock protolith name: Valerianov Group
Individual lithologies:andesites, calcareous sediments (proportion of calcareous beds small in the volcanic and volcaniclastic assemblage)

(2) granite suite; (gabbro-diorite-granodiorite ); Country rock name: Valerianov volcano-plutonic assemblage; Metamorphic grade: greenschist-amphibolite
Country rock protoliths:gabbro-diorite-granodiorite (differentiated plutons exemplified by the Sarbai and Sokolovsk intrusions of early carboniferous age); Country rock protolith name: Valerianov volcano-plutonic assemblage

(3) mafic-intermediate volcanics; (intercalated tuffs, carbonates); Country rock name: Valerianov Group; Metamorphic grade: greenschist-amphibolite
Country rock protoliths:porphyrites-tuffs-limestone-sandstone; Country rock protolith name: Valerianov Group
Metallogenic signatures: Fe-P-Cu
Alteration signatures: potassic alteration: potash feldspar and biotite; What was altered: feldspar and mafic silicates
albitization: albite; What was altered: feldspars
skarn: garnet and diopside in upper or western ore zone; What was altered: calcareous rocks
scapolitization: scapolite, pyroxene; What was altered: feldspar
epidotization: epidote with actinolite in the upper or western or; What was altered: mafic silicates
Mineralogy: (gangue): scapolite (marialite), pyroxene, garnet, wollastonite, albite, epidote, actinolite, apatite, calcite, quartz
(mineralization): magnetite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite
Deposit shape: zone of stacked tabular bodies and lenses
Deposit dimensions:length: 1.7 kilometres
width: 1.7 kilometres
thickness: 185 metres
Qualified comments: (Applies to: discovery and development) Discovery in 1949 by geophysical surveys beneath flat-lying Mesozoic-Cenozoic cover strata 40-180 m thick; reserves in 1970: 725 Mt averaging 45.6% Fe, 4.05% S and 0.13% P; open pit mining since 1960. Massive magnetite ore 34 %, disseminated magnetite ore 62 %, sulphidic ore 3 % and oxidized ore 1 %; sulphidic ore contains 0.12 % Cu, 0.061 % Zn and 0.013 % Pb; only iron recovered from the ore. Southern Sarbai deposit, located 300 m south of the main ore bodies, had reserves of 120 Mt averaging 43.75 % Fe; underground mining commenced in 1971.

(Applies to: regional geology) The region comprises a NNE trending fault-bounded linear corridor of Tournasian to Namurian volcano-sedimentary rocks developed between large sedimentary basins. The Carboniferous units in the corridor are entirely covered by Mesozoic to Cainozoisediments which are sub-horizontal ranging from 40 to 180m thick. The magnetite bodies were discovered by airborne and ground geophysics in the 1940s, a magnetic compasses being reportedly deflected when the area was overflown.
References:
Anonymous, 1977
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
in 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), Edited by Zitzmann, A., 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, p. 218 - 283

Belevtsev, Ya. N.; Bukharev, V. P.; Naumenko, V. V.; Goncharuk, A. F.; Popov, B. A.; Stepanov, V. A.; Usenko, A. I., 1982
Volcanogenic Origin for Magnetite Ores of the Urals
International Geology Review, Volume 24, p. 1405 - 1416

Brown, D.; Juhlin, C.; Alvarez-Marron, A.; Perez-Estaun, A.; Olianski, A., 1998
Crustal-scale Structure and Evolution of an Arc-Continent Collision Zone in the Southern Urals, Russia
Tectonics, Volume 17, p. 158 - 171

Fershtater, G. B.; Monetero, P.; Borodina, N. S.; Pushkarev, E. V.; Smirnov, V. N.; Bea, F., 1997
Uralian Magmatism: An Overview
Tectonophysics, Volume 276, p. 87 - 102

Herrington, R.; Smith, M.; Maslennikov, V.; Belogub, E.; Armstrong, R., 2002
A Short Review of Paleozoic Hydrothermal Magnetite Iron-Oxide Deposits of the South and Central Urals, and their Geological Setting
Section Eurasia and Africa, in Hydrothermal Iron Oxide Copper-Gold and Related Deposits: A Global Perspective, Volume 2, Edited by Porter, T. M., Australian Mineral Foundation, Adelaide, Australia, PGC Publishing, Adelaide, 377 p, p. 343 - 354

Koroteev, V. A.; de Boorder, H.; Necheukhin, V. M.; Sazonov, V. N., 1997
Geodynamic Setting of the Mineral Deposits of the Urals
Tectonophysics, Volume 276, p. 291 - 300

Sokolov, G. A.; Grigor'ev, V. M., 1977
Deposits of Iron
in Ore Deposits of the USSR, Volume 1, Edited by Smirnov, V. I., Academy of Science, the Union Soviet Socialist Republics, Pitman Publishing Ltd., Pitman House, 39 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PB, U. K., 352 p, p. 7 - 113

Zitzmann, A., 1977
The Iron Ore Deposits of the Western U. S. S. R.
Section The Iron Ore Deposits of Europe and Adjacent Areas, in 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 (Text and Figures), Edited by Walther, H. W.; Zitzmann, A., 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 I, 418 p, p. 325 - 391


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