Porphyry Cu±Mo±Au deposits are major sources of these metals and are associated with alkaline and calc-alkaline rocks. Porphyry-type deposits range from porphyry Cu–Au, like Grasberg (Indonesia), Mamut (Malaysia), Santo Tomas II (Philippines), Skouries (Greece), Cadia (Australia), British Columbia (Copper Mountain, Ajax/Afton, Mount Polley, Galore Creek, Mt Milligan), Cu–Au–Mo deposits, like the giant deposit at Bingham Canyon, Utah, to porphyry Mo such as the Boss Mountain (central British Columbia). A variety of porphyry Cu, Mo, Cu–Mo and Au-rich deposits define the metallogeny of the Andean belt, extending from Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia to Argentina and Chile, covering the early Cretaceous to Pleistocene age span (Sillitoe 1979, 1997, 2000, 2004, Titley 1993, Kirkham & Sinclair 1996, Corbett & Leach 1998, Bookstrom et al. 1998, Brooks et al. 2004, Seedorff & Einaudi 2004). The Alpine-Balkan-Carpathian Dinaride belt belongs to the Alpine-Himalayan system, extending from western Europe through Iran and the Himalaya to China and Malaysia, and is the result of convergence of the African, Arabian and Indian plates and their collision with Eurasia. Major calc-alkaline magmatism, extending over at least 25 million years (from about 90 to 65 Ma) in each segment of the metallogenic belt, is associated with certain segments only, due probably to the complex geometry of the collision interface (Heinrich & Neubauer 2002, Strashimirov et al. 2002). Although the Andes and Alpine-Balkan-Carpathian belts differ in terms of the subduction age span, they host some of the world’s largest porphyry-type deposits and oldest mining areas (Kirkham & Sinclair 1996, Heinrich & Neubauer 2002).

Alkaline porphyry deposits represent significant gold resources owing to their large sizes. Recently, elevated levels of platinum group elements (PGE), particularly Pd and Pt, have been reported from mineralization associated with several of the alkaline porphyry deposits (Fig. 10-1) in the Cordillera of British Columbia (Copper Mountain, Galore Creek), Allard Stock, La Plana Mountains and Copper King Mine in USA, Skouries porphyry deposit, Greece, Elatsite, Bulgaria, and from Santo Tomas II in the Philippines (Werle et al. 1984, Mutschler et al. 1985, Eliopoulos & Economou-Eliopoulos 1991, Piestrzynski et al. 1994, Eliopoulos et al. 1995, Tarkian & Koopmann 1995, Tarkian & Stribrny 1999, Economou-Eliopoulos & Eliopoulos 2000, Tarkian et al. 2003). The role of magma mixing, saturation of a sulfide melt or of a magmatic volatile phase to the base and precious metal potential of porphyry systems, and the investigation of the contribution of mantle, oceanic and continental crust to the parent magmas of porphyry Cu subvolcanic intrusions remains still uncertain (Burnham 1979, Burnham & Ohmoto 1980, McInnes & Cameron 1994, Keith et al. 1998, Titley 2001, Hattori & Keith 2001, Halter et al. 2002, Ivascanu et al. 2003, Halter et al. 2002 2005).