Resource Assessment For The Pulang Porphyritic Copper Deposit In Yunnan Province, Southwest China

A comprehensive metallogenic prognosis has been made on the Pulang porphyritic copper deposit in Yunnan Province on the basis of widely collecting and systematically sorting out its orefield geology, geophysics, geochemistry, remote sensing and geological engineering data. It is suggested based on this metallogenitic prognosis that the deposit is evidently controlled by the Pulang porphyritic complex and deep fault structures, and the lower part of eastern outer contacting zone of the complex and the northern part of the orefield could be the largest potential locations of further ore prospecting for deep deposit and surrounding deposit, respectively. A database of copper contents of samples in three-dimension space has been set out in a GIS platform using analyzing data of mineralized samples from 72 borehole coles in the deposit, and a computer simulating of two-dimension and three-dimension shapes of copper bodies in different visual angle has been carried out based on data in the database and using GIS space analysis and computer body imagery technology. The simulating results indicate gradual decreasing of grade of copper bodies from surface to the depth and multi-center distribution of mineralized bodies below 3750m, which might be resulted from multi-phases of veined and disseminated mineralizations. A quantitative resource assessment of controlled and predicted copper ore bodies has been made using slicing technology and unit block estimating method. The controlled and predicted copper resources are estimated to be about 2510000 ton and 3510000 ton, respectively.