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Argentina Permian San Jorge

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Distribution of Permian calc-alkaline generally dioritic to dacitic plutons defines two geographically separate sub-tracts, SA16aPC and SA16bPC, which are southern continuations of Permian tract SA18PC.
Tract ID 005pCu1016ab
Country Argentina-Chile
Commodity Cu
Study area name Andes
Tectonic setting continental margin
Deposit type porphyry copper
Grade-tonnage model General porphyry copper model (Singer and others, 2005)
Geologic age
Geologic feature age Permian
Generalized age Paleozoic
Oldest rocks age 299Ma
Youngest rocks age 251Ma
Age range 48Ma
Identified Cu resources 1,900,000metric tons
Known prospects 4
Mean Cu (t/sq km) 413t/sq km
Map scales used 1M

Results of the assessment

Assessment date 2005
Estimators Carlos Mario Celada, Vladimir I. Berger, Rodrigo Carrasco, Alejandro Diaz, Mariano Gajardo M., Carlos Portigliati, Donald A. Singer, Waldo Vivallo S., and Eduardo O. Zappettini
Assessment depth 1km
Quantitative assessment Yes

Estimated number of deposits

Number of deposits Confidence level
2 90%
3 50%
6 10%
6 5%
6 1%
Mean estimated deposits 3.47 ±1.64 (0.47%)
Probability of mean 0.29
Probability of no copper 0.04

Estimated deposit density

Known
deposits		 Total
deposits		 Area
(sq km)		 Deposit density
per 100,000 sq km
2 5.47 29,080 19

Mean estimated tonnage

Copper 12,000,000
Molybdenum 290,000
Gold 280
Silver 3,800
Ore 2,300,000,000

Undiscovered copper resource

Confidence level 95% 90% 50% 10% 5%
Tonnage 180,000 790,000 6,200,000 27,000,000 41,000,000

Economic analysis

Fraser country Argentina (Neuquen) used Rio Negro*
Fraser type 0.54%
Fraser high 0.46%
Typical cost 0.58%
High cost 0.42%
Infrastructure setting Mixed
Comments on depth 80% cover skew deep, old
Expected depth distribution
0 - 250m 0.1
250m - 500m 0.3
500m - 1km 0.6
Economically recoverable resources
Copper 6,600,000t
Molybdenum 120,000t
Gold 110t
Silver 2,000t
Probability no econ recoverable 0.51
Econ NPV 1,600x $1M
Exp dollars 39.66x $1M/100,000 sq km
Exp value class Medium

Bibliographic references

General Cunningham and others (2008)
Economic Robinson and Menzie (2012)
Cunningham, C.G., Zappettini, E.O., Vivallo S., Waldo, Celada, C.M., Quispe, Jorge, Singer, D.A., Briskey, J.A, Sutphin, D.M., Gajardo M., Mariano, Diaz, Alejandro, Portigliati, Carlos, Berger, V.I., Carrasco, Rodrigo, and Schulz, K.J., 2008, Quantitativemineral resource assessment of copper, molybdenum, gold, and silver in undiscovered porphyry copper deposits in the Andes Mountains of South America: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008–1253, 282 p., http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1253/.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
Carrizal prospect San Juan Argentina Occurrence Details
El Salado prospect San Juan Argentina Prospect Details
La Voluntad deposit Neuquén Argentina Prospect Details
San Jorge deposit Mendoza Argentina Prospect Details
Yalguaraz prospect Mendoza Argentina Past Producer Details
Alcaparrosa prospect San Juan Argentina Occurrence Details