Porphyry Copper Deposits of the Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic Arc, Iran

 Three of the major copper provinces of the Tethyan metallogenic belt lie within Iran. Two of these, the southeastern and north western provinces, contain the major Sar-Cheshmeh (1.2 Gt @ 0.7% Cu, 0.03% Mo) and Sungun (500 Mt @ 0.75% Cu, 0.01% Mo) porphyry copper deposits respectively. The copper mineralisation of these provinces bears a direct relationship to the evolution and closure of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and the collision of the Iranian and Afro-Arabian plates. All of the significant porphyry type copper deposits in Iran are associated with granitoids of the subduction-related, Eocene to Miocene age, volcanism and plutonism in the northwest-southeast oriented Central Iranian Volcano-Plutonic Belt (better known as the Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic Arc). The peak of mineralisation was during the Miocene. The Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic Arc developed in parallel with the collisional Zagros Fold and Thrust Belt to the southwest, and the intervening Sanandaj-Sirjan Metamorphic Zone. Although many examples of porphyry copper mineralisation are known within these provinces, potential still remains for large discoveries in several prospective districts through further studies and systematic exploration.