Carbonate-hosted lead-zinc ore deposits

Carbonate-hosted lead-zinc ore deposits are important and highly valuable concentrations of <a href="/facts/Lead_sulfide/PY3cHgtb">lead</a> and <a href="/facts/Zinc_sulfide/K8l5AF3K">zinc sulfide</a> <a href="/facts/Ore/kgc9DssX">ores</a> hosted within <a href="/facts/Carbonate_rock/pKYTxRkM">carbonate</a> (<a href="/facts/Limestone/8ntvtFnR">limestone</a>, <a href="/facts/Marl/xm7XVXde">marl</a>, <a href="/facts/Dolomite_(rock)/EGXDL0zm">dolomite</a>) formations and which share a common <a href="/facts/Ore_genesis/a3s4mNJT">genetic</a> origin.
These ore bodies range from 0.5 million tonnes of contained ore, to 20 million tonnes or more, and have a grade of between 4% combined <a href="/facts/Lead/EYljasJN">lead</a> and <a href="/facts/Zinc/80b1qgk3">zinc</a> to over 14% combined lead and zinc. These ore bodies tend to be compact, fairly uniform plug-like or pipe-like replacements of their host carbonate sequences and as such can be extremely profitable <a href="/facts/Mining/g6uDIFab">mines</a>.
This classification of ore deposits is also known as Mississippi Valley Type or MVT ore deposits, after a number of such deposits along the <a href="/facts/Mississippi_River/RduarPzj">Mississippi River</a> in the United States, where such ores were first recognised; these include the famed <a href="/facts/Southeast_Missouri_Lead_District/wAk4qy0c">Southeast Missouri Lead District</a> of southeastern <a href="/facts/Missouri/wQ3VAb99">Missouri</a>, and deposits in northeast <a href="/facts/Iowa/taAwUvKE">Iowa</a>, southwest <a href="/facts/Wisconsin/XvyqH6vN">Wisconsin</a>, and northwest <a href="/facts/Illinois/MuPb1Ctn">Illinois</a>.
Similarly Irish-type carbonate lead-zinc ores, exemplified by <a href="/facts/Lisheen_Mine/8yDoNHTR">Lisheen Mine</a> in <a href="/facts/County_Tipperary/nImnBYau">County Tipperary</a>, are formed in similar ways.

Carbonate-hosted lead-zinc ore deposits open-in-new

Carbonate-hosted lead-zinc ore deposits