| Feature | Low-sulfidation Disseminated Copper Deposits | High-sulfidation Lode Copper Deposits |
| morphology of plutonic rocks | multiple stocks and dikes associated with small batholiths; post-ore dikes common. | small, isolated plugs and dikes; post-ore dikes absent |
| post-ore porphyry dikes | common | absent |
| igneous and hydrothermal breccias | not common and post-date ore | common and temporally associated with ore |
| ore textures | sulfides finely disseminated & in veinlets; conducive to bulk mining | sulfides are massive in open-space fillings in breccia matrices, veins; less conducive to bulk mining |
| metals | Mo common; average 0.35 to 1.0% Cu, 0.1 oz/t Ag, <0.03 oz/t Au; rarely contain significant Pb-Zn-Ag but, if present, only in limestone | Mo rare; average 2 to 6% Cu, 2-4 oz/t Ag, Au data incomplete but high Au present in some examples; contain major Pb-Zn-Ag in both igneous and sedimentary rocks |
| major ore-mineral assemblages in copper ore | bornite-chalcopyrite with or without magnetite, chalcopyrite with or without magnetite, chalcopyrite-pyrite; late hematite may be present | pyrite-enargite, pyrite-covellite, pyrite-digenite, pyrite-bornite, locally hematite is abundant |
| timing of pyrite introduction in copper ore | pyrite is late | pyrite is early |
| timing of sphalerite introduction in copper ore | sphalerite is uncommon in copper zone and is late relative to copper sulfides | sphalerite is common in copper zone, is early, and is replaced by copper sulfides (like Kuroko!) |
| lateral zoning of sulfidation state | zoned outward from low to high sulfidation states | zoned outward from very high to intermed and low sulfidation states |
| wall-rock alteration in copper zone of quartz-feldspathic wall rocks | potassic (biotite-orthoclase-anhydrite) with late sericitic (quartz-sericite-pyrite) | Advanced argillic (including acid sulfate) with peripheral sericitic and intermediate argillic |
| wall-rock alteration in copper zone of carbonate wall rocks | andradite-salite skarn locally retrograded to chlorite-clay-carbonate | silica-pyrite replacement bodies and breccias |
| "endmember" examples (note that tops of low-sulfidation districts may have been eroded, and bottoms of high-sulfidation districts may be at depth below present drilling | Twin Buttes, Christmas, Silver Bell, and Mission, Arizona; Santa Rita, New Mexico; Yerington and Copper Canyon, Nevada; El Salvador, Chile | Magma (Superior) and Bisbee, Arizona; Cerro de Pasco, Peru; Yauricocha, Peru; Tintic, Utah; Nena, Papua New Guinea |
| Examples dominated by low-intermediate sulfidation (diss'd) but with some high-sulfidation lodes | Ely, Nevada; Red Mountain, Arizona; Bingham, Utah; Cananea, Mexico | |
| Examples dominated by high-sulfidation lodes but with some low-intermediate disseminated ores | Butte, Montana; Chuquicamata and Collahuasi, Chile; Morococha, Peru; Lepanto, Philippines; Recsk, Hungary; Bor, Serbia |