Discussion - Mineralizing Solutions That Carry And Deposit Iron And Sulfur - Mining Engineering, Page 1012, October 1956, AIME Trans., Vol. 205 – Butler, B. S.

This contribution is prompted by the fact that the writer has recently published an article" which has in part the same general conclusions as B. S. Butler's, namely, the form of the standard mineral paragenesis in hypogene deposits and the parallel transition from early high temperature acid to late low temperature alkaline or neutral solutions. Since the writer also recognizes that he is not fully qualified to discuss the formation of ore deposits as a chemical problem, this discussion will be limited to summarizing other observations and will suggest how Butler's Table II might be made more effective. The form of Butler's table is not unlike that widely used by European geologists30 in which the various minerals are related to the types of ore fluids-pegmatitic, pneumatolic and hydrothermal. Thus the decrease in temperature and change in pH of the ore- bearing fluids as recognized by Butler may also be paralleled by perhaps even greater changes in composition, density, and character.