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Southwest Mexico

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Paleocene to Miocene continental magmatic arc rocks along the Pacific coast of Mexico, from the state of Nayarit southeast to Oaxaca
Tract ID 003pCu3011
Country Mexico
Commodity Cu
Study area name Mexico
Tectonic setting continental margin
Deposit type porphyry copper
Grade-tonnage model General porphyry copper model (Singer and others, 2008)
Geologic age
Geologic feature age Cretaceous through Miocene
Generalized age Tertiary-Paleogene
Oldest rocks age 145.5Ma
Youngest rocks age 5.33Ma
Age range 140.17Ma
Identified Cu resources 1,000,000metric tons
Known prospects 13
Mean Cu (t/sq km) 236t/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
6 90%
10 50%
14 10%
14 5%
14 1%
Mean estimated deposits 9.6 ±3.08 (0.32%)
Probability of mean 0.33
Probability of no copper 0.02

Estimated deposit density

Known
deposits		 Total
deposits		 Area
(sq km)		 Deposit density
per 100,000 sq km
3 12.6 156,650 8

Mean estimated tonnage

Copper 37,000,000
Molybdenum 1,000,000
Gold 940
Silver 12,000
Ore 7,500

Undiscovered copper resource

Confidence level 95% 90% 50% 10% 5%
Tonnage 3,400,000 7,300,000 26,000,000 80,000,000 110,000,000

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 19% cover; default
Expected depth distribution
0 - 250m 0.25
250m - 500m 0.25
500m - 1km 0.5
Economically recoverable resources
Copper 25,000,000t
Molybdenum 480,000t
Gold 490t
Silver 7,400t
Probability no econ recoverable 0.04
Econ NPV 6,900x $1M
Exp dollars 42.5x $1M/100,000 sq km
Exp value class Medium

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
Cerro Azul prospect Guerrero Mexico Prospect Details
Inguarán prospect Michoacán Mexico Past Producer Details
La Balsa prospect Michoacán Mexico Occurrence Details
La Chereca prospect Colima Mexico Occurrence Details
La Verde deposit Michoacán Mexico Past Producer Details
Los Cimientos prospect Michoacán Mexico Occurrence Details
Magistral prospect Jalisco Mexico Prospect Details
Piedra Lipe prospect Guerrero Mexico Occurrence Details
Rodeo prospect Michoacán Mexico Occurrence Details
San Antonio-SGM prospect Michoacán Mexico Occurrence Details
San Diego prospect Michoacán Mexico Occurrence Details
San Isidro deposit Michoacán Mexico Past Producer Details
Tepal deposit Michoacán Mexico Prospect Details