PROCEEDINGS OF PAPUA AND MALUKU RESOURCES 2013 MGEI ANNUAL CONVENTION

2-3 December 2013, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

Molybdenite and Bornite Distributions

in the Ertsberg Stockwork Zone (Esz), Papua, Indonesia
Pormando Silalahi, Muntadhim Ahmad, Fence G. Aiwoy, Lasito Soebari, Geoffrey de Jong,
Emanuel C. Aloysius, Adi F. Budirumantyo
Underground Geology Operation, PT Freeport Indonesia, Tembagapura, Papua
ABSTRACT
The Ertsberg Stockwork Zone (ESZ) is located near the crest of the Papua Central Mountain Range (Indonesia),
within the Ertsberg Mining District (PT Freeport Indonesias Contract of Work A). The ESZ deposit is hosted
entirely within the Ertsberg Diorite approximately 200m southwest of the East Ertsberg Skarn System (EESS). The
ESZ resource is 300m wide, 800m long and over 600m high, with copper and gold mineralization controlled by
biotite-bornite and quartz-chalcopyrite stockwork veins. The bulk of the stockwork occurs between 3100 to 3700
meter elevations, coinciding with the southwestern part of the Deep Ore Zone (DOZ) Mine reserve. The stockwork
decreases in intensity to a structural controlled vein system below the DOZ Mine level, from 3000 until 2500 meter
elevations, located southwest of the Deep Mill Level Zone (DMLZ) Mine reserve. The decrease in stockwork
intensity coincides with a decrease in copper and gold mineralization and increase of quartz-molybdenite veins.
The distribution pattern of bornite and molybdenite dominant veins is vertically and partly laterally zoned. The
vertical zoning with a decrease in bornite dominant veins is reflected by a decrease in copper and gold
mineralization towards the base of the ESZ. The vertical zoning of bornite and molybdenite minerals in the ESZ
indicate a temperature control for the precipitation of these minerals, if these minerals precipitated from a single
fluid. The lack of copper and gold mineralization and increase of molybdenite towards the base indicates higher
fluid temperatures within the ESZ root zone.

INTRODUCTION
The Ertsberg Stockwork Zone (ESZ) is located at
the upper eastern part of the Ertsberg Diorite,
located near the crest of the Papua Central
Mountain Range in Indonesia. The ESZ is a
deposit within the Ertsberg Mining District (PT
Freeport Indonesias Contract of Work A). The
ESZ deposit is hosted entirely within the
Ertsberg Diorite approximately 200m southwest
of the East Ertsberg Skarn System (EESS) which
lies along the contact between the Ertsberg
Diorite and host carbonate sediments (Fig. 1).
The sedimentary stratigraphy of the Ertsberg
District is divided into two groups: (1) the
Jurassic Cretaceous Kembelangan Group and
(2) the Tertiary New Guinea Limestone Group.
The Kembelangan Group comprises of largely
siliciclastic rocks and is sub-divided into four

formations; (from old to young) Kopai,

Woniwogi, Piniya, and Ekmai. The Ekmai
Formation has three members (from old to
young) Ekmai Sandstone, Ekmai Limestone, and
Ekmai Shale. The Ekmai Shale is only 3 to 5
meters thick and an important marker horizon
between the Ekmai Limestone and Tertiary New
Guinea Limestone Group (the Waripi
Formation). The Ekmai Limestone is 100m thick,
commonly partially hornfelsed and skarnified in
patches, and host to significant Cu-Au
mineralization where it is adjacent to high grade
Cu-Au mineralization in the overlaying Waripi.
The Tertiary New Guinea Limestone Group
comprises largely carbonate rocks and is also
sub-divided into four formations (from old to
young) Waripi, Faumai, Sirga, and Kais. The Kais
Formation is >1200m thick, generally clean and
commonly highly fossiliferous limestone. The
Kais Limestone is underline by the 30m thick

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2-3 December 2013, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

Figure 1. Location of the Ertsberg Stockwork Zone (ESZ) and other deposits in COW-A.

Figure 2. Based on total alkali vs silica plot, the Porphyry Dike compositions is similar to the equigranular
Main Ertsberg Diorite composition; plotting in the trachyandesite field (Porter et al., 2004).

Figure 3: (A) Drill core show unaltered Porphyry Dike.

(B) Thin section showing the Porphyry Dike composition

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2-3 December 2013, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

quartz carbonate sandstone of the Sirga

Formation, a district stratigraphic marker.
Below the Sirga Formation is the 150m thick,
massive-bedded, clean limestone of the Faumai
Formation. The lowermost is the Waripi
Formation, a 300m thick dolomitic limestone,
containing thin but laterally continuous quartz
sandstone beds. All New Guinea Limestone
Group can host high grade Cu-Au
mineralization, but the most susceptible is the
lower part of the Waripi Formation.
The Ertsberg Diorite was first dated by
McDowell et al. in 1996 at 2.65 to 3.09 Ma using
K-Ar technique. Using the 40Ar-39Ar technique,
Pollard and Taylor (2001) dated the rock at 2.66
0.03 Ma. This age range may suggest that
Ertsberg is a multiphase intrusive complex with
at least two main intrusive events of similar
monzodioritic composition that comprise the
Ertsberg Diorite intrusion: (1) an early
volumetrically dominant equigranular medium
grained phase called the Main Ertsberg Diorite
and (2) a later porphyritic fine to medium
grained phase called the Porphyry Dike (Fig. 2).
The EESS is a huge contact skarn system that
hosts the copper and gold mineralization of the
GBT, IOZ, DOZ, and DMLZ. The abbreviations
are the names of the various underground
sub-block-cave mines that exploit the EESS.

adjacent to the EESS. These dikes contain a

mafic phenocryst assemblage dominated by
hornblende and biotite and are intimately
related to zones of stockwork veining in the
Main Ertsberg Diorite, also known as the
Ertsberg Stockwork Zone (ESZ). The Porphyry
Dikes caused alteration and a first phase of CuAu mineralization in the Ertsberg Diorite (Fig. 3).
It is difficult to recognize the intrusive contacts
between the Main Ertsberg Diorite and
Porphyry Dikes. The changes in intrusion
texture and composition are gradational over
many meters (Leys et al., 2012). However, a
proxy to determining the two phases is the
occurrence of intense stockwork veins
associated with the Main Ertsberg Diorite and
no veining associated with the Porphyry Dike.
Post the Porphyry Dike intrusions, a
hydrothermal system caused endoskarn
alteration of both the Main Ertsberg Diorite and
Porphyry Dikes. Cooling of the hydrothermal
system caused precipitation of bornite- biotitequartzanhydritepyritechalcopyritemolybdenite veins that cut across the entire
Main Ertsberg Diorite and Porphyry Dikes and
which subsequently introduced the second
phase of Cu-Au mineralization (Soebari et al.,
2002) (Fig. 4).
THE ESZ DISTRIBUTION IN DOZ MINE

THE ESZ DISTRIBUTION IN THE ERTSBERG

DIORITE
The first phase of the Ertsberg intrusion
emplacement was strongly controlled by WNW
ESE faults, which are knew as Ertsberg 1, 2,
and 3 faults. Magma intruded the faults and
formed medium grained of the Main Ertsberg
Diorite. However, this area was still influenced
by stresses and formed a fault or weakness
zone which resulted in the second phase of the
Porphyry Dike.
Second phase of the Porphyry Dikes occurs
within the margins of the Ertsberg intrusion,

The ESZ Cu-Au resource begins at level 3100

until 3700 meters elevation with dimensions of
300m wide and 800m long based on delineation
drilling from the DOZ Mine level. Specifically,
the ESZ Cu-Au resource is located southwest of
the original DOZ Mine reserve. The Cu-Au
mineralization of the ESZ resource is controlled
by biotite -bornite- quartz- chalcopyrite
stockwork veins (Fig. 5).
By the end of 2000, PT Freeport Indonesia
announced the ESZ reserve was 143 million tons
at 0.50% Cu and 0.83g/t Au. Due to the similar
level of the ESZ and DOZ reserves, and also

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2-3 December 2013, Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

Figure 4. Cross-section view illustrating the general

setting of the ESZ deposit

Figure 5. Drill core TE01-22 showing Ertsberg Diorite

cut by bornite-quartzchalcopyrite stockwork vein

Figure 7. Quartz - molybdenite chalcopyrite

stockwork vein parallel to the DMLZ Mine level drift
face
Figure 6. Cross-section showing the ESZ reserve as
part of the present DOZ Mine reserve

Figure 8. Molybdenite and bornite composite grades and distribution at various elevations

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practice mining reason, PT Freeport Indonesia

decided to combine the ESZ reserve and pre2006 DOZ reserve into the DOZ Mine reserve.
The ESZ is presently mined as part of the DOZ
Block Cave Mine (Fig. 6).
THE ESZ DISTRIBUTION IN DMLZ MINE
The ESZ also occurs, as at the DOZ Mine level,
southwest of the DMLZ Mine reserve, but is not
incorporated in the DMLZ Mine reserve. The
randomly orientated biotite-bornite-quartzchalcopyrite stockwork veins at the DOZ Mine
level decrease in intensity below the DOZ Mine
level. The stockwork veins become more
parallel and structurally controlled from 3100 to
2500 meter elevations. The infill of the
stockwork veins at the DMLZ Mine level
comprises quartz-molybdenite with lesser
chalcopyrite and/or bornite (Fig. 7).

DISCUSSION ON THE BORNITE AND

MOLYBDENITE DISTRIBUTION IN THE ESZ

Mo-Cu ore minerals in the ESZ hydrothermal

system.
Gibbins (2006) combined vein stages into
practical work vein stages in the Ertsberg
Stockwork Zone (ESZ) (Table 1). Based on the
vein stages, the first vein stage in the Ertsberg
Stockwork Zone (ESZ) is early and early
intermediate stage veins contains quartzbiotite- magnetite- bornite- chalcopyrite
anhydrite with precipitation temperatures 550680C. And the second vein stage is late
intermediate and late stage veins contain
quartz- sericite- chalcopyrite anhydritemolybdenite- hematite with precipitation
temperatures 650-900C. The lateral and
vertical spatial distribution and only partial
overlapping of bornite veins and molybdenite
veins suggest a single mineralizing fluid pulse,
by
which
telescoped
cooling
caused
precipitation of early bornite, followed by
concentrating of Mo in the remaining fluid;
followed by late precipitation of Mo (Fig. 11).
CONCLUSION

The distribution pattern of bornite dominant

veins and molybdenite dominant veins is
vertically and partly laterally zoned (Fig. 8). The
vertical decrease in bornite-dominant veins is
reflected in lower Cu-Au mineralization towards
the base of the ESZ. This is the reason why the
ESZ at the DMLZ Mine level is not incorporated
into the DMLZ Mine reserve.
The DMLZ Mine reserve box is intersected by
1433 drillholes. Only 340 drillholes contain
molybdenite based on assay analysis, and only
331 drillholes contain bornite based on visual
mineral recognition. The distribution and grades
of the molybdenite show an increase in grade
and abundance towards the base of the ESZ,
while visual observed bornite increases in
abundance towards the DOZ Mine level (Figs. 9
and 10). This mineralization of molybdenum at
the base of the ESZ and copper dominant at the
middle and upper parts of the ESZ indicate a
temperature control for the precipitation of the

The ESZ is located inside the Ertsberg Diorite,

southwest of the DOZ and DMLZ EESS contact
skarn zone. The mineralization and mineral infill
in the ESZ stockwork is laterally and vertically
zoned, with higher Mo grades and veins in the
deeper parts in the NW of the ESZ. Bornite
occurs at shallower levels, controlled by NW-SE
trending faults.
The spatial, lateral and vertical, distribution of
the partially overlapping Bornite and Mo, can
be explained by a single mineralizing fluid pulse,
by
which
telescoped
cooling
caused
precipitation of early bornite, followed by
concentrating of Mo in the remaining fluid;
followed by late precipitation of Mo.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We dedicate this paper for () Mr. Muntadhim
Ahmad, one of the victims in May 14th 2013

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Figure 9: Plan view at deeper level 2700m showing

the (A) molybdenite distribution and (B) bornite
distribution. Mo occurs as a broad zone in both
skarn and diorite in hanging and footwall of the
South fault, and Mo grades are higher at this level
compared to higher elevation levels. Bn occurs in the
east, on the South fault and/or skarn/diorite contact,
and Bn occurrence decreases at this level compared
to higher elevation levels

Figure 10: Plan view at shallow level 3200m showing

the (A) molybdenite distribution and (B) bornite
distribution. Mo is concentrated as a cluster at this
level; (i) at the intersection of the Ertsberg 1 fault
and Concentrator fault & (ii) the hangingwall of the
South fault. Bn is mainly trending NW-SE and is
concentrated at: in (i) skarn, hangingwall of South
fault and (ii) intersection Ertsberg 2 fault with NE1
fault

Figure 11. Vertical zoning section view

looking northeast showing cooling
precipitation of early bornite,
followed by late precipitation of Mo.

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Table 1. Practical work vein stages in the Ertsberg

Stockwork Zone (ESZ) showing bornite dominant
veins in early and early intermediate stage veins,
and molybdenite dominant veins in late
intermediate and late stage veins (Gibbins, 2006)

QMS Big Gossan failure of PT Freeport

Indonesia. Geologists never dies, we become
immortalized in stone!
In addition, we wish to thank the management
of PT Freeport Indonesia for permission to
publish this paper, the DMLZ and DOZ
Underground Geology groups.

REFERENCES
DMLZ Geology, 2012, Review Mo and Bn
Distributions Inside the DMLZ Box PTFI
Intern Report, 12, 17, 19.
DOZ Geology, 2007, Mo Distribution in the DOZ
Mine PTFI Intern Report.
Friehauf, K., and Gibbins, S., 2002, Ertsberg
Intrusion Porphyry Search PTFI Intern
Report, 14, 27, 30.
Gibbins, S., 2006, The Magmatic &
Hydrothermal Evolution of the Ertsberg

Intrusion in the Gunung Bijih (Ertsberg)

District, Papua, Indonesia.
Leys, Clyde A., Cloos, M., New, Brian T. E., and
MacDonald, George D., 2012, Copper-Gold
Molybdenum Deposits of the ErtsbergGrasberg District, Papua, Indonesia, 221-225.
Mine Serve International, 2007, COW-A Geology
and Ore Deposits PTFI Intern Report, 4, 22.
Soebari, L., Irawan, B., and Warren, P. Q., 2002,
The Ertsberg Stockwork Zone: A New
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District, Papua, Indonesia, 3-5, 14.
McDowell., F.W., McMahon, T.P., Warren, P.Q.,
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Igneous Intrusions of the Gunung Bijih
(Ertsberg) District, Irian Jaya, Indonesia, 327340.
Pollard, P. J., and Taylor, R. G, 2001, 40Ar-39Ar
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