Cu–S Isotopes of the Main Sulfides and Indicative Significance in the Qibaoshan Cu–Au Polymetallic Ore District, Wulian County, Shandong Province, North China Craton

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear editor

I have reviewed the MS submitted to Minerals with a number of 2281411, the following is my review comments. This contribution mainly discussed the Cu and S isotope compositions of Qibaoshan deposit, China.  Some problems are listed below.

1) The English style and grammar suffer from some imperfection and I tried to do some polishing but I'm myself not a native English speaker, thus a final check is required.

2) in the introduction section: The purpose or scientific question needs to be promoted here, e.g., some scientific question for Qibaoshan deposit.

3) Line 194, chloritization and potassitization?

4) Field photographs and photomicrographs of six metallogenic stages should be provided in this section.

5) scale bars should be added in Fig. 3 c, as well as 3e. In addition, chalcopyrite, pyrite, specularite are not obvious.

6) In samples collection part, authors should illustrate the stages of Py and Ccp samples for Cu and S isotope analysis. Before the Cu and S isotope analysis, and generations of Py and Ccp need to be identified.

7) In line 357, Yu et al. [53]?

8) 6.3 Preliminary discussion on the genesis of the deposit change to ore genesis.

9) Line 438, what's meaning of "cha"?

10) In conclusion, authors should simplify this section.

Best regards!

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript in the presented form cannot be published in Minerals. English requires careful editing. Many phrases are repeated, some sentences are difficult to understand. The results section should be expanded. The authors need to better characterize the objects of study, since in its current form it is not clear what is a deposit and what is a metallogenic region. It is necessary to give a detailed geological description of the studied objects and show the location of the studied samples more clearly. It is desirable to show the deposits in a section. The mineralogy of ores is not properly characterized in the Results, some of the data is in the Discussion. Before describing the isotopic compositions of copper and sulfur, it is necessary to show in detail the minerals under study and the points of analysis. In my opinion, the analyzes are not too representative for big conclusions. The conclusions are generally good, but they look too far-fetched due to the poor presentation of the results. Detailed comments are shown in the pdf file of the manuscript.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

 

To the Minerals Editor

Patras, April 07, 2023

Dear, Ray Liu,

I am sending the following letter to the authors of the revised ms entitled: “Cu-S Isotopes of Main Sulfides and their Indicative 2 Significance in the Qibaoshan Copper Polymetallic Deposit, 3 Shandong Province, North China Craton”. I have read the ms, and I believe that the authors have make a nice job. Major condensing, rephrasing, rewording and rewriting is needed. Please see my specific comments within the ms. I believe that the ms can to be published in Minerals after revision.

 

Best regards,

 

 

 

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors managed to significantly improve the manuscript due to the English edition. However, the quality of the presentation of the results also leaves much to be desired.

The dissonance between the volume of results and the volume of discussion is clearly expressed. Poor coverage of the results against the background of excessively detailed discussion worsens the status of the manuscript.

- Authors confuse readers in the titles of deposits;

- there is not a word about laser ablation in the description of the procedure for measuring copper isotopy;

- the form of gold and its concentration are not indicated, although a Cu-Au deposit is being studied;

- a non-existent (?) term "potassitization" is used;

- there are a number of controversial statements in the text;

- detailed comments are given in the pdf file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper is ready to be published. ST

Author Response

Thank you very much for the reviewer's reply.