SHANUCH Cu-Ni ORE FIELD (Kamchatka)
Shanuch Ore Field with its area about 50 km2 is placed over the northern part of Ni-bearing province in Kamchatka. It is known for its Shanuch Cu-Ni Deposit, which is under mining at present, and also for some other mineral occurrences. The ore field consists of a block of metamorphic and metaterrigenous rocks of the Kamchatskaya Series and Kheivan Suite, respectively, which are penetrated with a set of small diorite-gabbro-pyroxenite-hornblendite-cortlandite intrusions of Dukuk nickeliferous complex. The ore field area is delineated with gravity gradient zones. Local gravity anomalies are corresponded by large intrusions having a higher density at 2-2.5 km depth. Small nickeliferous intrusions branch off them and manifest themselves as Shanuch Deposit and some Cu- Ni occurrences. Ore minerals from Shanuch Deposit and Vostochno-Geofizicheskoe occurrence mainly consist of pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite. The average mineral percentages for Shanuch Deposit are as follows: nickel - 5.59, copper - 0.70 and cobalt - 0.16. The absolute age data are obtained for nickeliferous intrusions of the ore field in discussion. The Shanuch and Vostochno- Geofizicheskoe isochrones are 49.2±2.7 Ma and 53.3±1.8 Ma, respectively, which dating indicates their early Eocene ages.