Tibet’s Duolong Is Expected to Become a World-class Copper-Gold Mining Base

According to copper.ccmn.cn, the geotectonic of the integrated prospection area of Duolong in Tibet is located at the western segment of the Bangonghu-Nujiang metallogenic belt in Tethys metallogenic domain, and the Duolong ore concentration area inside is a key working area, where five large and extra large porphyry copper deposits including those in western Dobzha, Bolong, southern Tiegelong and Naruo, and multiple copper deposits have been discovered. In addition, multiple copper-gold polymetallic ores including Qingcaoshan and Lema Chadha have been found in other working areas.

“Among those, the Naruo copper deposit is estimated to contain 2.3683 million tons of 322+333 copper, 851,800 tons of associated gold and 7.9167 million tons of associated silver; the southern, northern and eastern boundaries of the ore body are under control, and it has been determined as a large porphyry copper deposit; the southern Tiegelong goldcopper deposit is estimated to contain 4.797 million tons of copper, 659,600 tons of associated gold and 9.8842 tons of associated silver; many drill holes intersect the ore body, and preliminarily the deposit is determined to be a super large epithermal-porphyrycryptoexplosion breccia type copper-gold deposit containing over 5 million tons of copper,” the head of the project unit No. 5 Division of Tibet Geology Bureau said.

He also told us that currently the Dobzha copper deposit is estimated to contain 2.7357 million tons of copper and 851,000 tons of associated gold, and the Bolong copper-gold deposit is estimated to contain 3.6979 tons of copper and 1.7793 tons of gold.

The reporter has learned that in August 2012, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the People’s Government of Tibet Autonomous Region, China Aluminum Corporation and Sichuan Hongda Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation framework agreement in Lhasa, Tibet. After that, the Ministry of Land and Resources has timely provided policy support for the project, and the Ministry’s Prospection Department, China Geology Investigation Bureau and the Technical Guidance Center have actively provided technical support and information service, facilitating the seamless connection between the public welfare geology work and the commercial geology work; the People’s Government of Tibet Autonomous Region and the Department of Land and Resources have proactively coordinated with Ali Prefecture and Administrative Office to create a good environment of the project’s execution; and as the main investors, China Aluminum Corporation and Sichuan Hongda Group have continuously increased investment to accelerate the integrated prospection of the Duolong ore concentration area in Tibet.

After more than a year’s work, there are new discoveries within the area, such as determining the southern Tiegelong deposit as the first super large epithermal hydrothermal copper (gold) deposit in Tibet. The deposit is highly comparable with the Zijin Mountain Copper-Gold deposit in Fujian in terms of the ore characteristics and the size of the ore body, and is the second super-large high-sulphur epithermal hydrothermal deposit. Furthermore, there is high probability in locating similar deposits in the neighboring area, and Gaerqin and Dibaonamugang within the area will be a key area for prospection. There are porphyry + breccia + epithermal hydothermal “trinity” ore combinations in the entire Duolong ore concentration area…

Some experts even suggested that mine reserves to be found in this area in the next 10 years can contain up to 30 million tons of copper and 10 million tons of associated gold. In order for the area to become a world-class copper-gold base, geologists need to work much harder. Experts recommend that going forward, relevant parties should continue to carry out organization and execution work, assemble human resources, ensure the availability of equipment, further conduct geophysical prospecting, enhance the efforts in the comprehensive study, deepen the study of strategic selection area, systematically study and review the entire Bangonghu-Nujiang metallogenic belt, continuously select potential prospection areas and target prospecting areas, deploy overall plans, strengthen the follow up of geochemical survey, conduct necessary drilling verification, realize the combination of production and academic research, and drive more breakthroughs in prospection.