Osmium isotope evidence for a crustal origin of platinum group elements in the Sudbury nickel ore, Ontario, Canada

Sulphide ores from the International Nickel Company's (INCO) Creighton Mine, Sudbury, were analysed for osmium isotope ratios by ICP-MS. Rhenium and osmium abundances were determined by isotope dilution using a mixed spike in solid solution in a nickel sulphide matrix. Calculated initial 187Os188Os ratios at 1.85 Ga (the emplacement age of the Sudbury complex) cluster around 0.60. The occurrence of less radiogenic compositions is attributed to post-emplacement, open-system behaviour of the ReOs system.The Creighton results strongly overlap the initial ratios of published osmium data from two other Sudbury mines, suggesting a narrow range of isotope ratio in the original ore, within the range of estimated osmium isotope compositions in the country rock at 1.85 Ga, using published and new data. Therefore, the sulphide ores of the Sudbury complex can have an entirely crustal source without a mantle-derived contribution. This conclusion is consistent with published neodymium isotope data for the complex and supports the meteorite impact hypothesis, since this is the most effective means of fusing the large quantity of crustal rocks necessary to generate the complex. The extraction of platinum group elements (PGE) from this silicate melt by a nickel sulphide liquid was probably analogous to the laboratory fire assay procedure.