PETROLOGY OF THE BOY SCOUT-JONES MOLYBDENUM PROSPECT, HALIFAX COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

The Boy Scout-Jones prospect is one of several molybdenum (Mo) prospects exposed in the Carolina superterrane of the Southern Appalachians. Molybdenum mineralization at the Boy Scout-Jones is hosted by quartz veins which occur in association with the late Paleozoic Medoc Mountain granitic stock. Petrographic, molybdenite, and pyrite chemistry studies were undertaken in an effort to better understand the origin of the Boy Scout-Jones Mo mineralization. Molybdenite, the sulfide which hosts the molybdenum, displays wavy lath-like textures and occurs in association with feldspars and sericite crystals within quartz veins. Pyrite, a fairly common sulfide encountered in this study which also occurs in association of feldspar, has a fairly restricted composition plotting adjacent to pure pyrite on a ternary sulfur-iron-nickel diagram. There is no correlation between Mo and elements such as Re, W, and Fe which are common substituents for Mo, probably suggesting remobilization of the Mo during hydrothermal alteration of the prospect. The mineralogy at Boy Scout-Jones of molybdenite, feldspar, sericite, and pyrite, as well as the concentrations of Mo and rhenium are all consistent with phyllic alteration that originated as porphyry Mo and/or porphyry copper-Mo deposits. The mineralization and alteration at this, and possibly other Halifax County, molybdenum (Mo) prospects in North Carolina are related to the intrusion of the Medoc Mountain granite, and therefore, syngenetic. The Boy Scout-Jones, thus, is interpreted to be consistent with a porphyry molybdenum deposit origin due to its relatively higher Mo but lacking copper concentrations.