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Argentina, Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic, Bajo de la Leona

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Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic calc-alkaline plutons, including the Subcordilleran batholith and the Central Patagonian Batholith, which consists mostly of granodiorite, granite, and leucocratic granite.
Tract ID 005pCu1019
Country Argentina
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 Late Triassic through Middle Jurassic
Generalized age Mesozoic
Oldest rocks age 228.7Ma
Youngest rocks age 161.2Ma
Age range 67.5Ma
Known prospects 1
Mean Cu (t/sq km) 129t/sq km
Map scales used 1M

Results of the assessment

Assessment date 2006
Estimators Eduardo O. Zappettini, Charles G. Cunningham, Carlos Mario Celada, and Donald A. Singer
Assessment depth 1km
Quantitative assessment Yes

Estimated number of deposits

Number of deposits Confidence level
1 50%
4 10%
4 5%
4 1%
Mean estimated deposits 1.6 ±1.54 (0.97%)
Probability of mean 0.25
Probability of no copper 0.3

Estimated deposit density

Known
deposits		 Total
deposits		 Area
(sq km)		 Deposit density
per 100,000 sq km
1.6 45,642 4

Mean estimated tonnage

Copper 5,900,000
Molybdenum 150,000
Gold 140
Silver 2,100
Ore 1,100,000,000

Undiscovered copper resource

Confidence level 50% 10% 5%
Tonnage 1,400,000 15,000,000 25,000,000

Economic analysis

Fraser country Argentina (Chubut, Santa Cruz*)
Fraser type 0.29%
Fraser high 0.71%
Typical cost 0%
High cost 1%
Infrastructure setting High cost
Comments on depth 70% cover by ash flow tuff but exposed plutons deeply eroded; recent cover
Expected depth distribution
0 - 250m 0.25
250m - 500m 0.25
500m - 1km 0.5
Economically recoverable resources
Copper 2,800,000t
Molybdenum 53,000t
Gold 43t
Silver 970t
Probability no econ recoverable 0.86
Econ NPV 480x $1M
Exp dollars 0.73x $1M/100,000 sq km
Exp value class Very Low

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
Bajo de la Leona prospect Santa Cruz Argentina Occurrence Details