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Southwest Laramide East

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A composite island-continental margin arc that formed during subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath western North America
Tract ID 003pCu9008
Country United States of America
Commodity Cu
Study area name United States revised
Tectonic setting continental margin
Deposit type porphyry copper
Grade-tonnage model General porphyry copper model (Singer and others, 2008)
Geologic age
Geologic feature age Late Cretaceous through Eocene (Laramide)
Generalized age Tertiary-Paleogene
Oldest rocks age 99.6Ma
Youngest rocks age 33.9Ma
Age range 65.7Ma
Identified Cu resources 90,000,000metric tons
Known prospects 6
Mean Cu (t/sq km) 1554t/sq km
Map scales used 500K

Results of the assessment

Assessment date 2010
Estimators Steve Ludington, Jane Hammarstrom, Gilpin Robinson, and 1996 Team
Assessment depth 1km
Quantitative assessment Yes

Estimated number of deposits

Number of deposits Confidence level
1 90%
2 50%
6 10%
6 5%
6 1%
Mean estimated deposits 2.83 ±1.97 (0.7%)
Probability of mean 0.28
Probability of no copper 0.07

Estimated deposit density

Known
deposits		 Total
deposits		 Area
(sq km)		 Deposit density
per 100,000 sq km
7 9.83 7,080 139

Mean estimated tonnage

Copper 11,000,000
Molybdenum 290,000
Gold 270
Silver 3,700
Ore 2,200

Undiscovered copper resource

Confidence level 90% 50% 10% 5%
Tonnage 200,000 4,600,000 24,000,000 39,000,000

Economic analysis

Fraser country New Mexico
Fraser type 0.91%
Fraser high 0.09%
Typical cost 1%
High cost 0%
Infrastructure setting Typical
Comments on depth default
Expected depth distribution
0 - 250m 0.25
250m - 500m 0.25
500m - 1km 0.5
Economically recoverable resources
Copper 7,400,000t
Molybdenum 140,000t
Gold 140t
Silver 2,300t
Probability no econ recoverable 0.38
Econ NPV 2,000x $1M
Exp dollars 229.48x $1M/100,000 sq km
Exp value class High

Bibliographic references

General U.S. Geological Survey National Mineral Resource Assessment Team (2002)
Economic Robinson and Menzie (2012)
U.S. Geological Survey National Mineral Resource Assessment Team, 2002, Assessment of undiscovered deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States—A portable document (pfd) recompilation of USGS Open-file Report 96-96 and Circular 1178, recompiled by Paul Schruben: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-198, http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2002/of02-198/.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
Chino deposit New Mexico United States Producer Details
Copper Flat deposit New Mexico United States Occurrence Details
Gold Lake prospect New Mexico United States Occurrence Details
Hanover Mountain deposit New Mexico United States Occurrence Details
Morenci-Metcalf deposit Arizona United States Producer Details
Red Hills prospect Texas United States Prospect Details
Safford deposit Arizona United States Producer Details
Sanchez deposit Arizona United States Occurrence Details
Steins prospect New Mexico United States Prospect Details
Tyrone deposit New Mexico United States Producer Details
Lone Mountain prospect New Mexico United States Occurrence Details
Lordsburg prospect New Mexico United States Occurrence Details