Estimation of undiscovered deposits in quantitative mineral resource assessments—examples from Venezuela and Puerto Rico

Quantitative mineral resource assessments used by the United States Geological Survey are based on deposit models. These assessments consist of three parts: (1) selecting appropriate deposit models and delineating on maps areas permissive for each type of deposit; (2) constructing a grade-tonnage model for each deposit model; and (3) estimating the number of undiscovered deposits of each type. In this article, I focus on the estimation of undiscovered deposits using two methods: the deposit density method and the target counting method.In the deposit density method, estimates are made by analogy with well-explored areas that are geologically similar to the study area and that contain a known density of deposits per unit area. The deposit density method is useful for regions where there is little or no data. This method was used to estimate undiscovered low-sulfide gold-quartz vein deposits in Venezuela.Estimates can also be made by counting targets such as mineral occurrences, geophysical or geochemical anomalies, or exploration plays and by assigning to each target a probability that it represents an undiscovered deposit that is a member of the grade-tonnage distribution. This method is useful in areas where detailed geological, geophysical, geochemical, and mineral occurrence data exist. Using this method, porphyry copper-gold deposits were estimated in Puerto Rico.     

Geochemistry of the Yutangba Se Deposit in Western Hubei, China

1IntroductionThecontentsofSeinthecrustareextremelylow ,onlyabout0 .0 5mg/kg .Innatureitishardtoformindependentminerals,insteaditisdispersedinothermineralsandmedia.Althoughitscon tentsarefarhigherthanthoseofTeinthecrust,seleniumisusuallydispersedinsulfidesinitsas cendingandformingprocesses (D’yachkovaandKhodakovskiy ,1 968) .Thisisthereasonwhyse leniummineralsarefarlessthantelluriummineralsandsulfidesinnature (Simonetal.,1 997) .Forthisreason ,thegeochemicalstudyofseleniumdidnotattractanyat…     

Carbonate alteration of the Upper Mount McRae Shale beneath the martite-microplaty hematite ore deposit at Mount Whaleback, Western Australia

The formation of large martite-microplaty hematite ore deposits in northwest Australia remains a contentious topic in part because important evidence supporting a unifying genetic model has not been observed at all deposits. Carbonate replacement of silica has been found along normal faults below ore at the Mount Tom Price and Giles Mini deposits, which suggests an early hypogene process during ore formation. However, such rocks have not been identified at the largest martite-microplaty hematite deposit, Mount Whaleback. In this study, samples of the Mount McRae Shale are examined for their chemistry, mineralogy and petrography. These samples were collected from several key locations, including an area that immediately underlies ore along the Mount Whaleback fault at Mount Whaleback. Compared to unaltered black Mount McRae Shale from Wittenoom Gorge in the north and altered black and red Mount McRae Shale at Mount Whaleback, reddish-green Mount McRae Shale along the Mount Whaleback fault is greatly enriched in MgO and CaO and depleted in SiO₂. This chemistry arises from significant amounts of fine- to medium-grained ferroan-dolomite and ankerite and cross-cutting chlorite and carbonate veins. The composition is distinct from that produced during regional metamorphism, and most likely represents hydrothermal alteration after metamorphism. The lack of carbonate-rich, silica-poor rocks in the overlying Dales Gorge Member at Mount Whaleback is consistent with pervasive oxidation of most rocks in the region during or after ore genesis, a process that removed carbonates. Although several questions remain unanswered, these results support models that invoke an early hypogene stage during the formation of the martite-microplaty hematite deposits in the Hamersley Province.Editorial Handling: B. Lehmann     

Comparison of particle size characteristics of the Tertiary 'red clay' and Pleistocene loess in the Chinese Loess Plateau: implications for origin and sources of the 'red clay'

The origin of the Tertiary ‘red clay’ underlying the Pleistocene loess in the Chinese Loess Plateau remains controversial, although several lines of evidence have suggested a wind‐blown origin. This study examines the particle‐size parameters of the late Miocene and Pliocene ‘red clay’ by comparing it with those of the late Pleistocene loess. The particle‐size distribution of a total of 15 339 loess and 6394 ‘red clay’ samples taken from 12 loess sections along a north–south transect and two ‘red clay’ sequences at Lingtai and Jingchuan was systematically analysed. The median grain size, skewness and kurtosis of the late Pleistocene loess all show a systematic southward change and are principally influenced by distance from source region. The spatial and temporal differentiation of dust deposits is expressed in a skewness–kurtosis–median grain size ternary diagram, from which the distance to the source region can be inferred. The particle‐size characteristics of the Tertiary ‘red clay’ sediments are very similar to those of the palaeosols within the late Pleistocene loess deposits, suggesting an aeolian origin for the ‘red clay’. Based on the comparison of ‘red clay’ and loess in the ternary diagrams, it is inferred that the source–sink distance was greater in the Neogene than in the last and penultimate interglacials, and that the dust source region in north‐western China underwent a progressive expansion during the period from at least 7·0 Ma to the present.     

Discovery of the copper deposits with features of the Keweenawan type in the border area of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces

There existed intense Cu anomaly on the northeastern side of the geochemical boundary with NW strike in the border area between the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. Through field observation, ore bodies of high-grade native coppers have been found. The copper mineralization was constrained by the ancient volcanic vents of Permian basalt eruption and the overlain strata of carbonaceous argillites. Native coppers with flaky, net veined and impregnated occurrences, fine-grained tenorites and massive chalcocites widely occur in volcanic breccias, tuffs, carbonaceous-siliceous argillites and siliceous bitumen rocks with bed thickness of about 15-80 m. Cu contents vary from 0.5% to 20%. The copper mineralization was tightly related to actinolite-tremolitization, zeolitization and bituminization and involved in extensive reduction environments. Continental flood basalts erupted in mantle plume environments usually have high Cu concentrations (～170 ×10-6 in the Emeishan basalts), which provided a copper source of mineralization. Thus, metallogenesis of the native copper deposits in the Yunnan-Guizhou border area is tightly associated with intensive crust-mantle and organic-inorganic interactions. The tremolitization and chalcocitization indicate that the metallogenic temperatures are in a range of 400-100℃. The geologic background and characteristics of ore and alteration for the native copper deposits in this area are somewhat similar to those of the Keweenawan native copper deposit in Michigan, USA.     

西藏纳木错第四纪湖泊沉积与湖成地貌--兼论藏北高原古大湖问题

对西藏面积最大的湖泊——纳木错湖相沉积野外现察结果，发现了由水平层理十分发育的砂与粘土所组成的、高出湖面分别为3—12m、15—22m、25—30m与35—45m的4级湖岸阶地，覆于基岩之上、高出湖面60—150m的湖相沉积和多达50条左右、由扁圆湖滨相砾石所组成的湖岸堤，环湖广泛分布的湖成地貌。在连结纳木错与其西北的仁错约玛、仁错贡玛、久如错的分水岭宽谷底部(分别高出上述3湖20m、90m与60m)与北侧山坡，即纳木错的第二与第三级湖岸阶地，发现了组成阶地与异堤的湖相与湖滨相沉积。从而确证了纳木错与仁错-久如锴曾多次连通，即数度成为一个统一的大湖，而不是以河道相连的不同湖泊。古大湖分离时代为末次冰期间冰段。     

Epiclastic deposits and ‘horseshoe-shaped’ calderas in Tahiti (Society Islands) and Ua Huka (Marquesas Archipelago), French Polynesia

Occurrences of debris avalanche deposits newly identified in Tahiti (Society Islands) and Ua Huka (Marquesas Archipelago) are described and interpreted here. In both islands, the breccias are located within horseshoe-shaped residual calderas. In Tahiti, the epiclastic formations, up to 500 m thick, lie on the floor of the central depression and in the valley of the northwards running Papenoo River. In Ua Huka, the breccias crop out within a depression limited by a semicircular crest in four bays along the southern coast. Their thickness is ca. 100 m. A few clasts collected in the Tahitian breccias and some rocks forming their substratum have been dated (K–Ar datings) and analysed (major and trace elements, Sr–Nd isotopes) for this study. Using these data, we show that the debris avalanche(s) occurred in Tahiti Nui at the end of the growth of the shield volcano (between 570 000 and 390 000 years ago), maybe in consequence of the emplacement of the plutonic body which occupies the central part of the caldera. In Ua Huka, the collapse took place nearly 3 Ma ago, between the construction of the shield volcano and that of the inner one. The southwards orientation of the caldera, like that of the neighbouring island Nuku Hiva, might reflect a preferential direction of weakness in the substratum of the central Marquesas.     

新疆若羌县红十井金矿地质特征及深部成矿预测

红十井金矿，产于中，上石炭统基性火山岩和火山碎屑岩中，为受断裂带控制的韧性剪切带型金矿床，原认为主矿体南倾，未查明侧伏方向，在体南侧和中，东段布钻，深部未打到矿体，仅求得0．947t金储量。笔者等经地质构造，矿体空间展布形式，矿物热电性和电磁场测深等研究，预测主体北倾，西挺，南西西侧伏，北东东仰起，在主矿体北侧和中、西段布钻，结果在深部和中、西段均打到了矿体，金储量由0．47t增加至10．1t以上，取得了突破性进展。     

西天山中北段铜、金矿床成矿规律初探

西天山中北段地区铜、金矿产时空分布特征明显．时间上，具明显的区域性成矿特征，成矿作用集中在海西期；空间上，铜矿集中分布于赛里木微地块和伊犁晚古生代裂谷带内，金矿集中分布在裂谷带边部晚古生代中期陆相火山岩带和与板块俯冲作用相关的韧性剪切带上．铜、金成矿受含矿建造、岩浆活动和构造控制，据其成矿和分布特点划分出了5个铜矿集区和2个金矿集区，确定了3个主要成矿阶段的6种矿床共生组合，建立了区域成矿作用模式．     

铜陵-安庆地区若干热液矿床成矿流体研究

文章在研究铜陵狮子山燕山期岩浆热液叠加矿床成矿流体的基础上，对比铜陵-安庆地区燕山期其他类型矿床的成矿流体，系统探讨了该区燕山期热液矿床成矿流体体系，从夕卡岩型、斑岩型、高温热液型至低温脉型矿床成矿流体的演化规律。认为成矿流体温度、盐度逐渐降低，流体来源从单纯的岩浆来源变为岩浆与雨水的混合来源，成矿流体沸腾作用随之减弱。这些典型矿床基本代表了铜陵-安庆地区燕山期热液成矿体系。