The chromium and copper-nickel mineralized Várzea do Macaco body, Jacurici Mafic-ultramafic Complex, São Francisco Craton, Bahia, Brazil

The Jacurici Mafic-ultramafic Complex, located in the northeastern portion of the São Francisco craton, consists of several N-S oriented layered bodies that host the largest chromite deposit in Brazil. The Várzea do Macaco body is at the northern part and also host a Ni-Cu sulfide mineralization. This study describes this body and its mineralization and compare with the southern intrusions (Ipueira-Medrado) where a petrological evolution was previous established. The Várzea do Macaco is stratigraphically inverted and disrupted in five blocks, laterally dislocated by late faults. It is constituted by dunite, lherzolite, ol-webesterite, chromitite and gabbronorite with variable serpentinization. The sulfide ore (Po ± Pn ± Cpy) is concentrated close to the main thick chromitite layer and occurs as: primary magmatic with interstitial sulfides associated with olivine and pyroxene; and as a remobilized ore, with sulfides associated to metasomatic veinlets or lenses that crosscut the primary layering. The interval where magmatic ores occur is characterized by the presence of magmatic amphibole that possible favoured late metamorphism and metasomatism transformation, stronger in this interval. The remobilized sulfide is enriched in chalcopyrite showing an increase in the Cu/Ni ratio. Comparing to Ipueira-Medrado, the Várzea do Macaco is enriched in clinopyroxene, but it can be subdivided in the same Ultramafic and Mafic zones. Possibly, both bodies are part of a single intrusive system characterized by a primitive magma with high Mg and Ni contents. The chromite mineralization is considered to be triggered by crustal contamination. At Várzea do Macaco, sulfur saturation was reached.

metallogeny; petrography; sulfide