Quantitative Mineral Resource Assessment of Copper, Molybdenum, Gold, and Silver in Undiscovered Porphyry Copper Deposits in the Andes Mountains of South America

Cunningham, Charles G.; Zappettini, Eduardo O.; Vivallo, S Waldo; Celada, Carlos Mario; Quispe, Jorge; Singer, Donald A.; Briskey, Joseph A.; Sutphin, David M.; Gajardo, M Mariano; Díaz, Alejandro A.; Portigliati, Carlos; Berger, Vladimir I.; Carrasco, Rodrigo; Schulz, Klaus J.

doi:10.3133/ofr20081253

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…In particular, along the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula there are many exposed rock outcrops containing copper ores, copper-molybdenum porphyry deposits, while in minor amounts copper was also found in metamorphic and intrusive rocks of East Antarctica and Transantarctic Mountains not covered by ice [ 91 , 92 , 93 ]. The same high copper content is present on dust from the southernmost part of South America, which together with the Antarctic Peninsula (a geological continuation of South American Andes) is part of the Andean copper province and belongs to the circum-Pacific copper belt [ 91 , 94 , 95 , 96 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of Cd, Pb, and Cu in the Atmospheric Aerosol of Central East Antarctica at Dome C (Concordia Station)

et al. 2021

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Trace heavy metals Cd, Pb, and Cu were determined (by square wave anodic stripping voltammetry) in aerosol samples collected at Dome C (the Italo-French Station Concordia), a remote site of the Central East Antarctic plateau, for which no data are available until now. During the Austral Summer 2005–2006, three PM10 high-volume impactors were installed in two locations nearby of Concordia station: the first one very close and downwind of the station (about 50 m north), the other two (very close to each other) in a ‘distant’ site, upwind of the station and close to the astrophysics tent (not used in that expedition) at ~800 m south of Station Concordia. For each sample, the availability of the mass of the aerosol collected (obtained by differential weighing carried out on site), in addition to the volume of the filtered air, allowed us to express results both in terms of metal mass fractions in the aerosol and in the usual way of metal atmospheric concentrations. Metal contents increased in the order Cd < Pb < Cu with the following ranges of values: Cd 1.0–8.4 µg g−1 (0.09–3.1 pg m−3), Pb 96–470 µg g−1 (12–62 pg m−3), and Cu 0.17–20 mg g−1 (0.027–2.4 ng m−3). From the metal temporal profiles obtained we estimated the following background values for the area of Dome C, expressed both in mass fractions and in atmospheric concentrations: Cd 1.2 ± 0.2 µg g−1 (0.24 ± 0.13 pg m−3), Pb (here fixed as upper limit) 113 ± 13 µg g−1 (21 ± 8 pg m−3), and Cu 0.91 ± 0.48 mg g−1 (0.12 ± 0.07 ng m−3). The highest values were observed in the first part of the season, and particularly for the site close to the station, possibly related to sample contamination linked to intense activity at the Concordia station connected with the beginning of the expedition, including aircraft arrivals/departures. Increments of up to 10 times (and even 20 times for Cu) were recorded with respect to the background values. The metal excesses of the contaminated over background samples were found approximately, except for Cu, in the same proportion of the metal contents of the special Antarctic blend (SAB) diesel fuel, which is used almost exclusively at Concordia Station. The effect of the wind direction was also observed. Thus in the intermediate period of the campaign, when the wind direction reversed for several days with respect to the prevailing one, Cd and Pb metal contents decreased at the sampling point installed close to the station, now upwind of Concordia station, and increased at the ‘clean’ site astrophysics tent, turned downwind at the main station. No simple and easily interpretable effect of the wind direction was observed for Cu, which suggests that some other extemporaneous and not clearly identified factor may have intervened in this case. These results suggest that the human impact at Dome C influences mainly the zone very close to the station, but also the area in the neighborhood, including the supposed clean site of the astrophysics tent (about 800 m far from the station), when the wind direction reverses with respect to the prevailing one, leaving the site downwind of the station Concordia. Since no other data are reported for the Dome C area, our results are compared with literature data referred to the South Pole Station (the only other plateau site for which data are available) and several other coastal Antarctic sites, observing that our results (excluding Cu) are the lowest ever observed for Antarctic aerosol.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of Cd, Pb, and Cu in the Atmospheric Aerosol of Central East Antarctica at Dome C (Concordia Station)

et al. 2021

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“…Perhaps the best known and largest study of this type is the United States Geological Survey's Global Mineral Resource Assessment Project, which is being undertaken to assess the world's undiscovered non-fuel mineral resources. One of the first studies completed was a quantitative mineral resource assessment of copper, molybdenum, gold and silver in undiscovered porphyry deposits of the Andean mountain belt in South America (Cunningham et al, 2008). This study concluded that there may be a huge amount of copper to be discovered to a depth of one kilometre below the Earth's surface in the Andes, equivalent to 1.3 times as much as has already been found in porphyry copper deposits in this region.…”

Section: Geological Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 84%

Metal resources, use and Criticality

Graedel

Gunn

Espinoza

2013

Critical Metals Handbook

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“…Thus, in aggregate, 1.3 billion tons of copper have been dis covered in the Andes. In addition to copper, the cur rently unopened deposits contain molybdenum (20 million tons), gold (13 000 t), and silver (250 000 t) [6]. These results will stimulate the development of exploration not only in the Andes and neighboring areas but also in the volcanic-plutonic belts of the Pacific Rim, which, in turn, will make it possible to renew regional resources of copper-porphyry and gold-silver deposits in the future.…”

Section: The Exploration Degree Of the Volcanic-plutonic Belts Of Thementioning

confidence: 96%

“…Recently, an international research group evalu ated the forecast copper, molybdenum, gold, and sil ver resources of the currently unopened copper-por phyry deposits of the Andean Province of South America [6]. The researchers calculated that there were 69 known copper-porphyry deposits in the Andes plus 145 unopened ones.…”

Section: The Exploration Degree Of the Volcanic-plutonic Belts Of Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Northeastern Asian deposits of volcanogenic belts as a base for creating new mining districts

Волков¹,

Sidorov²

2012

Her. Russ. Acad. Sci.

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Quantitative Mineral Resource Assessment of Copper, Molybdenum, Gold, and Silver in Undiscovered Porphyry Copper Deposits in the Andes Mountains of South America

Cited by 19 publications

References 33 publications

Determination of Cd, Pb, and Cu in the Atmospheric Aerosol of Central East Antarctica at Dome C (Concordia Station)

Determination of Cd, Pb, and Cu in the Atmospheric Aerosol of Central East Antarctica at Dome C (Concordia Station)

Metal resources, use and Criticality

Northeastern Asian deposits of volcanogenic belts as a base for creating new mining districts

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