Multiple sulfur isotope and mineralogical constraints on the genesis of Ni-Cu-PGE magmatic sulfide mineralization of the Monchegorsk Igneous Complex, Kola Peninsula, Russia

We present the results of a pilot investigation of multiple sulfur isotopes for the Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide mineralization of the ∼2.5 Ga Monchegorsk Igneous Complex (MIC). Base Metal Sulfide (BMS) compositions, Platinum Group Element (PGE) distributions, and Platinum Group Mineral (PGM) assemblages were also studied for different types of Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization. The uniformly low S content of the country rocks for the MIC as well as variable Sm-Nd isotope systematics and low-sulfide, PGE-rich mineralization of the MIC suggest that S saturation was reached via assimilation of silicates rather than assimilation of sulfur-rich lithologies. R-factor modeling suggests that the mixing ratio for silicate-to-sulfide melt was very high, well above 15,000 for the majority of our mineralized samples, as might be expected for the low-sulfide, PGE-rich mineralization of the MIC. Small, negative Δ³³S values (from −0.23 to −0.04 ‰) for sulfides in strongly metamorphosed MIC-host rocks indicate that their sulfur underwent mass-independent sulfur isotope fractionation (MIF) in the oxygen-poor Archean atmosphere before it was incorporated into the protoliths of the host paragneisses and homogenized during metamorphism. Ore minerals from the MIC have similar Δ³³S values (from −0.21 to −0.06 ‰) consistent with country rock assimilation contributing to sulfide saturation, but, also importantly, our dataset suggests that Δ³³S values decrease from the center to the margin of the MIC as well as from early to late magmatic phases, potentially indicating that both local assimilation of host rocks and S homogenization in the central part of the large intrusion took place.