UBC SEG Student Chapter International Deposit and Mine Tour Trip 2009: Turkey

Introduction The Biga Peninsula in Western Turkey is known to be one of the most prospective belts for porphyry and epithermal style copper and gold mineralization in the world. Mineralization is related to the extensional tectonics and magmatism along the Neo-Tethys metallogenic belt: a major zone of magmatic arc-related mineralization that extends across central and southeast Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, through the Himalayan region into Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. This belt contains a wealth of large ore deposits, and in Turkey these include: Cu-Au porphyry systems, low-sulfidation Au epithermal systems, Fe and Fe-Cu mineralization, and the world’s richest borate district. In addition to it's potential to be a new major metal-producing region, Turkey also has a rich and diverse culture, phenomenal architecture, and a genuinely welcoming population, which alone are worthy of travel to this part of the world. Tectonics of the Western Anatolia, Turkey Arabian plate colliding with Eurasian plate to the North (~12 Ma). Anatolian block moving West. Aegean plate subduction under Anatolian plate in SW. Anatolian plate colliding with Eurasian plate in NW. This causes an extensional stress environment to form. Horst and graben systems in SW Antatolia. Trending NW-SE , extension is N-S

Geological highlights Deposit #1 Koru Mine, mine visit, briefing by Ilkay Kuscu or mine geologists. Located in Western Anatolia, ~50 km east of Cannakale. Part of the Sakarya continental block It is located in a Oligocene pyroclastic unit on surface and a Eocene andesite unit at depth. Basement composed of gneisses, amphibolites and meta-ophiolites. Originally defined as skarn deposits. ~ 3m tonnes of reserve @ 10% Pb-Zn. Silica, alunite, kaolinite, and chlorite are widespread throughout the unit Deposit #2 Halilaga porphyry prospect, site visit and briefing by site geologists. Sheeted and cross cutting quartz veins within quartz porphyry. Crackle breccia with 0.5 cm wide hematite matrix fill including small clasts of broken wall rock. Gold is interpreted to be within a zone of early silicification as a result of an upflow zone, which later was brittley deformed allowing circulation of oxidising surface waters. Monolithic clasts in an iron rich matrix composed largely of hematite and limonite. Similar breccias were anomalous in gold at Pirentepe. Deposit #3 Kalkim - Handeresi Pb-Zn underground mine, briefing by site geologists. Contains a few million tons of reserve with 10 % Pb-Zn in approximate. Occurrences are not homogeneous. It has been originally defined as skarn or vein type of mineralisations. The role of the magmatic activity is usually not clear. The ore deposits do not all seem to be epigenetic, some could be syngenetic, because of the conformity between the mineralisation and the country rocks. The mineralisation is concordant with the amphibolites and schists and there is no magmatic rocks which could be responsible for the mineralization. Deposit #4 Kucukdere low sulfidation epithermal Au deposit, mine visit, briefing by mine geologists. mineralized vein hosted in porphyritic andesite stock. Argillic, sericitic, and propylitic alteration envelope silicified vein. One mineralized qtz vein with ore of 1.4Mt @ 6.4g/t Au. Vein textures observed are vin breccia, massive carbonate and banded qtz. Banded qtz veins most important to mineralization Deposit #5

Ayazmant Fe-skarn deposit, mine visit, briefing by Ilkay Kuscu. Analogous to the Samli Fe-Cu skarn. K-Ar dating of biotite yielded a Lower Miocene (22.1±0.6 Ma) emplacement age for the plutonic rocks (Leo and Genç, 1972). Skarn Ore; Abundant garnet with retrograte stage of epidote. Deposit #6 Ovacik Au mine (open pit). Mine visit, briefing by mine geologists. Low sulfidation epithermal deposit hosted in Early Miocene andesite porphyry. 2 economic veins, with grades of 13.1g/t & 8.1g/t Au. Resource of 2,980,000 tonnes at 9.0 g/t Au for a total of 862,000 ounces Au. Underlain by Paleozoic metamorphic rocks and limestones. Most Au is found in brecciated clasts rather than in vein fill. Deposit #7 Kisladag Au porphyry, mine visit, briefing by mine geologists. Located in one of several mid- to late-Tertiary volcanic complexes in western Turkey, related to subduction along the Hellenic Trench southwest of Turkey. In the Kisladag region, the volcanoes erupted onto a basement of schist at the northeast margin of the Menderes Massif. Hosted by a number of latitic intrusive bodies. A coarsely porphyritic latite is host to the bulk of the gold mineralization and has undergone extensive and intensive hydrothermal alteration. An early potassic phase of alteration is overprinted by later quartz-tourmaline and advanced argillic alteration. 135 Mtonnes, 1.16 g/t Au. The mine began commercial production on July 1, 2006. It is an open pit, heap leach operation with a planned 14 year mine life. Deposit #8 Kirka Borate deposit. The world's largest Tincal ore body. The most important B2O3 producer at present in the world, exhibits a symmetrical zonation in a lateral sense; it is comprised of: a central body of Na borate (borax), an intermediate zone of Na–Ca borate (ulexite), and a marginal zone of Ca borate (colemanite). This mineral zonation is also developed in a vertical sense, although it is somewhat asymmetrical because of the presence of a discontinuous Mg borate horizon overlying the central body of borax. The genesis of such a mineral zonation in the Tertiary lacustrine borate deposits of the world has been attributed to a number of diagenetic processes TRIP ITINERARY: May 16 to 31, 2009

• Day 1/2 – Travel to Turkey • Day 3 – Istanbul sightseeing • Day 4 – Bosphorous Tour, drive to Bursa • Day 5 (Canakkale)– Deposit #1 • Koru Mine, mine visit, briefing by Ilkay or mine geologists • Day 6 – Deposit #2 & 3 • Halilaga porphyry prospect, site visit and briefing by site geologists • Kalkim - Handeresi Pb-Zn underground mine • Day 7-Deposits #4 & 5 • Kucukdere low sulfidation epithermal pit, mine visit, briefing by mine geologists • Ayazmant Fe-skarn deposit, mine visit, briefing by IK • Day 8 – Deposit #6 • Ovacik gold mine (open pit). Mine visit, briefing by mine geologists • Day 9 – Deposit #7 • Kisladag Au porphyry, mine visit, briefing by mine geologists • Day 10 – Deposit #8 • Kirka Borate deposit • Day 11 – Pamakkule and Mugla • Day 12 – Mugla University: Geology Tour; and Bodrum • Day 13 – Boat tour at Bodrum • Day 14 – Ephesus • Day 15 – Kula Volcanoes/Bursa • Day 16 – Bursa/Istanbul • Day 17 – fly to Vancouver

Blue = route going down; Green = route back; Red dots = Mine sites/Uni tour; Yellow dots = geologic sites; Pink dots = Ancient Roman Ruins; Black dots = Travel/site-seeing stops

Deposit Map