a naturally occurring solid material from which a metal or valuable mineral can be profitably extracted

ORE

a rock that contains a significant quantity of ore minerals; rock with a relatively high concentration of a particular metal.

Copper ore (Chalcopyrite)

The ores are extracted from the earth through mining; they are then refined (often via smelting) to extract the valuable element, or elements.

ORE

A mineral deposit that is sufficiently rich to be worked at a profit is called an ore deposit.

BINGHAM MINE. (Utah, USA)Deepest copper mine in the world.

Hydrothermal Ore Deposits

any concentration of metallic minerals formed by the precipitation of solids from hot mineral-laden water (hydrothermal solution) flowing through fractures and pore spaces of rocks

hot, residual watery fluids derived during the later stages of magma crystallization and may contain large amount of dissolved metals.

HYDROTHERMAL SOLUTION

these can also originate from the ground water circulating at depth that is being heated up by a cooling and solidifying igneous body or along depths with known geothermal gradient.

Such hot water can dissolve valuable substances (at low concentrations) from rocks. As the metal enriched hot waters move into cooler areas in the crust, the dissolved substances may start to precipitate

 is the creation of a solid from a solution.

PRECIPITATION When the reaction occurs in a liquid solution, the solid formed is called the 'precipitate'. 

OF SOLIDS(CHEMISRTY)

any concentration of metallic minerals formed by the precipitation of solids from hot mineral-laden water (hydrothermal solution) flowing through fractures and pore spaces of rocks

Different types.

A fairly well defined zone of mineralization, usually inclined and discordant and typically narrow

VEIN TYPE DEPOSITS

Most vein deposits occur in fault or fissure openings or in shear zones within the country rock

Sometimes referred to as (metalliferous) lode deposits, many of the most productive deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc and mercury occur as hydrothermal vein deposits

Fractures inside the rock are called VEINS, where mineral precipitates crystallize from hydrothermal solution

Deposits in which the ore minerals are distributed as minute masses (very low concentration) through large volumes of rocks.

DISSEMINATED DEPOSITS

This occurrence is common for porphyry copper deposits

Copper Ore (Malachite)

ORE BINGHAM MINE. (Utah, USA)Deepest copper mine in the world.

Precipitation of metals as sulphide minerals such as sphalerite and chalcopyrite occurs when hot fluids above magma chambers at oceanic ridges that may contain copper, sulfur and zinc come in contact with cold groundwater or seawater as it migrates toward the seafloor.

MASSIVE SULFIDE DEPOSITS (at oceanic spreading

centers)

this deposit is formed when the dissolved minerals in a hydrothermal fluid precipitate in the pore spaces of unconsolidated sediments on the bottom of the lake or ocean.

STRATABOUND DEPOSITS

Such minerals may contain economic concentrations of lead, zinc and copper, usually in sulfide form like galena, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite

(in lake or ocean sediment)