1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Global assessment of undiscovred copper resources

Balsas

XML
JSON
KML
Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Teloloapan volcanic arc in the Guerrero terrane of southwestern Mexico
Tract ID 003pCu3005
Country Mexico
Commodity Cu
Study area name Mexico
Tectonic setting island arc
Deposit type porphyry copper
Grade-tonnage model General porphyry copper model (Singer and others, 2008)
Geologic age
Geologic feature age Jurassic through Cretaceous
Generalized age Mesozoic
Oldest rocks age 199.6Ma
Youngest rocks age 65.5Ma
Age range 134.1Ma
Identified Cu resources 3,000,000metric tons
Mean Cu (t/sq km) 102t/sq km
Map scales used 500K

Results of the assessment

Assessment date 2008
Estimators Francisco Cendejas-Cruz, Enrique Espinosa, Floyd Gray, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Steve Ludington, Gilpin R. Robinson, Jr., Efren Pérez-Segura, Martín Valencia-Morena, José Luis Rodríguez-Castañeda, Lukas Zürcher
Assessment depth 1km
Quantitative assessment Yes

Estimated number of deposits

Number of deposits Confidence level
1 10%
1 5%
2 1%
Mean estimated deposits 0.33 ±0.62 (1.89%)
Probability of mean 0.15
Probability of no copper 0.71

Estimated deposit density

Known
deposits		 Total
deposits		 Area
(sq km)		 Deposit density
per 100,000 sq km
1 1.33 11,810 11

Mean estimated tonnage

Copper 1,200,000
Molybdenum 35,000
Gold 30
Silver 400
Ore 240

Undiscovered copper resource

Confidence level 10% 5%
Tonnage 2,400,000 5,300,000

Economic analysis

Fraser country Mexico
Fraser type 0.68%
Fraser high 0.32%
Typical cost 1%
High cost 0%
Infrastructure setting Typical
Comments on depth 29% cover; default
Expected depth distribution
0 - 250m 0.25
250m - 500m 0.25
500m - 1km 0.5
Economically recoverable resources
Copper 800,000t
Molybdenum 17,000t
Gold 16t
Silver 250t
Probability no econ recoverable 0.97
Econ NPV 240x $1M
Exp dollars -0.04x $1M/100,000 sq km
Exp value class Very Low

Bibliographic references

General Hammarstrom and others (2010)
Economic Robinson and Menzie (2012)
Hammarstrom, J.M., Robinson, G.R., Jr., Ludington, Steve, Gray, Floyd, Drenth, B.J., Cendejas-Cruz, Francisco, Espinosa, Enrique, Pérez-Segura, Efrén, Valencia-Moreno, Martín, Rodríguez-Castañeda, José Luis, Vásquez-Mendoza, Rigoberto, and Zürcher, Lukas,2010, Porphyry copper assessment of Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010–5090–A, 176 p., http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5090/a/.Robinson, G.R., Jr., and Menzie, W.D., 2012, Economic filters for evaluating porphyry copper deposit resource assessments using grade-tonnage deposit models, with examples from the U.S. Geological Survey global mineral resource assessment (ver 1.2, March 2014): U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010–5090–H, 21 p., http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5090/h/.

Deposits and prospects associated with this tract

Name Type State Country Development Details
Tiámaro deposit Michoacán Mexico Prospect Details