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

Yulong

Map
XML
JSON
KML
Porphyry copper deposit in Xizang, China

Names and other identifiers

GMRAP ID 458
Tract name Yulong (142pCu8710)
Site status deposit

Geographic location

Country China
State or province Xizang
Geographic location 97.730262, 31.409551
Geologic map unit 97.730262, 31.409551
Nearby data
List
Map

Geologic information

Deposit type Porphyry copper
Age (Ma) 40Ma
Age determination method Re-Os molybdenite
Age range 40.1 ±1.8 Ma (Re-Os molybdenite); 40.9±0.1 Ma (U-Pb zircon SHRIMP); 41.2 ±0.2 Ma (U-Th-Pb zircon LA-ICP-MS)
Age reference Hou and others (2006); Liang and others (2005); Liang and others (2006); Wang, Tang and others (2009)
Minerals actinolite, albite, allophane, alunite, azurite/malachite, biotite, bismuthinite, bornite, carbonate, cerussite, chalcocite/digenite, chalcopyrite, chlorite, copper, covellite, cubanite, cuprite, delafossite, epidote, fluorite, galena, garnet, gold, halloysite, hematite, kaolinite/dickite/illite, limonite, jarosite, magnetite, malachite, molybdenite, montmorillonite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, scheelite, sericite, silver, smithsonite, sphalerite, tenorite, tennantite, tourmaline
Associated rocks hornfels, monzogranite, monzogranite porphyry, quartz monzonite porphyry, skarn, slate, dolomitic mudstone, limestone, marble, mudstone, sandstone
Tectonic setting postconvergence
Stratigraphic age Eocene

Commodity and development information

Development status Producer
Major commodities Cu, Mo, Au
Tonnage (Mt) 850Mt
Cu grade (%) 0.84%
Mo grade (%) 0.022%
Au grade (g/t) 0.35g/t
Contained copper 7,100,000t
Gold-Moly ratio 16

Reference information

Comments Tibet. Yulong porphyry copper belt. Discovered in 1966; production began in 2010. Resource may be as high as 10 Mt Cu. Mining.
Study area name Tibetan Plateau
References Chen and others (2009); Anonymous (2001a); Fan (1984); Fan (1986); Ge and others (1990); Gu and others (2003); Hou, Ma and others (2003); Hou and others (2006); Hou, Xie and others (2007); Hou, Zaw and others (2007); Liang and others (2006); Metal Mining Agency of Japan (1998); Tang and Luo (1995); Wang (1996); Zhang and others (1993); Zhang and Rui (1992); Zhou (1985); Singer and others (2008); Liang and others (2005); Wang, Tang and others (2009)
Site reference Ludington, Hammarstrom, and others (2012)
Anonymous, 2001a, Asia—The waking giant: Mining Journal, March, v. 336, no. 8630, p. 12.
Chen Jianping, Tang Juxing, Cong Yuan, Dong Qingji, and Hao Jinhua, 2009, Geological characteristics and metallogenic model in the Yulong porphyry copper deposit, east Tibet: Acta Geologica Sinica, v. 83, p. 1887–1900. [In Chinese, English abstract.] (Abstract also available at http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-DZXE200912007.htm.)Fan, Pow-Foong, 1984, Geologic setting of selected copper deposits of China: Economic Geology, v. 79, p. 1785–1795. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.79.8.1785.)Fan, Pow-Foong, 1986, Porphyry copper deposits in east and southeast Asia: Geological Society of China Memoir, no. 7, p. 249–257. (Also available at http://twgeoref.2002.moeacgs.gov.tw:8080/star/1986/19860310/EAB.PDF.)
Ge Chaohua, Sun Haitian, and Zhou Taihe, 1990, Copper deposits of China, in Mineral deposits of China, v. 1: Beijing, Geological Publishing House, p. 1–106. [In Chinese.]
Gu, X.X., Tang, J.X., Wang, C.S., Chen, J.P., and He, B.B., 2003, Himalayan magmatism and porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralization in the Yulong ore belt, East Tibet: Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 78, p. 1–20. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00710-002-0203-6.)Hou, Zengqian; Zeng, Pusheng; Gao, Yongfeng; Du, Andao; and Fu, Deming, 2006, Himalayan Cu-Mo-Au mineralization in the eastern Indo-Asian collision zone—Constraints from Re-Os dating of molybdenite: Mineralium Deposita, v. 41, p. 33–45. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00126-005-0038-2.)Hou Zengqian, Ma Hongwen, Khin Zaw, Zhang Yuquan, Wang Mingjie, Wang Zeng, Pan Guitang, and Tang Renli, 2003, The Himalayan Yulong porphyry copper belt—Product of large-scale strike-slip faulting in eastern Tibet: Economic Geology, v. 98, p. 125–145. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.98.1.125.)Hou, Zengqian; Xie, Yuling; Xu, Wenyi; Li, Yinqing; Zhu, Xlangkun; Zaw, Khin; Beaudoin, G.; Rui, Zongyao; Huang, Wei; and Luobu, Ciren, 2007, Yulong deposit, eastern Tibet—A high-sulfidation Cu-Au porphyry copper deposit in the eastern Indo-Asian collision zone: International Geology Review, v. 49, p. 235–258. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2747/0020-6814.49.3.235.)Hou, Zengqian; Zaw, Khin; Pan, Guitang; Mo, Xuanxue; Xu, Qiang; Hu, Yunzhong; and Li, Xingzhen, 2007, Sanjiang Tethyan metallogenesis in S.W. China—Tectonic setting, metallogenic epochs and deposit types: Ore Geology Reviews, v. 31, p. 48–87. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2004.12.007.)Liang, Huaying; Zhang, Yuqiang; Xie, Yingwen; Lin, Wu; Campbell, I.H.; and Yu, Hengxiang, 2005, Geochronological and geochemical study on the Yulong porphyry copper ore belt in eastern Tibet, China, chap. 11-5 of Mao, Jingwen, and Bierlein, F.P., eds., Mineral deposits research—Meeting the global challenge: Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA) Biennial Meeting, 8th, Beijing, China, August 18–21, 2005 [Proceedings], v. 1, p. 1235–1237. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27946-6_315.)Liang, Hua-Ying; Campbell, I.H.; Allen, Charlotte; Sun, Wei-Dong; Liu, Cong-Qiang; Yu, Heng-Xiang; Xie, Ying-Wen; and Zhang, Yu-Qiang, 2006, Zircon Ce4+/Ce3+ ratios and ages for Yulong ore-bearing porphyries in eastern Tibet: Mineralium Deposita, v. 41, p. 152–159. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00126-005-0047-1.)
Metal Mining Agency of Japan, 1998, Mineral Resources Map of Asia: Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ), 43 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:10,000,000.
Singer, D.A., Berger, V.I., and Moring, B.C., 2008, Porphyry copper deposits of the world—Database and grade and tonnage models, 2008: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008-1155, [45] p. and digital data, accessed December 31, 2013, at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1155/.
Tang, Renli, and Luo, Huaisong, 1995, The geology of Yulong porphyry copper (molybdenum) ore belt, Xizang (Tibet): Beijing, Geological Publishing House, 320 p. [In Chinese.]
Wang, Z., 1996, Source of the Yulong porphyry copper ore zone and its formation mechanism, China [abs.]: International Geological Congress, 30th, Beijing, August 4–14, 1996 [Proceedings], v. 2, p. 632.
Wang Chenghui, Tang Juxing, Chen Jianping, Hao Jinhua, Gao Yiming, Liu Yaowen, Fan Tao, Zhang Qizhi, Ying Lijuan, and Chen Zhijiao, 2009, Chronological research of Yulong copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit: Acta Geologica Sinica, v. 83, p. 1445–1455. [In Chinese, English abstract.] (Also available at http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-DZXE200910010.htm.)
Zhang, Hongtao; Pei, Rongfu; and Wu, Liangshi, 1993, Evolution of the porphyry copper deposits from Proterozoic to Cenozoic Era in China, in International Geological Congress, 29th, Kyoto, Japan, August 24–September 3, 1992, Proceedings: Tokyo, Society of Resource Geology, Resource Geology Special Issue, no. 15, Mineral Resources Symposia Volume A, p. 55–65.
Zhang Hongtao, and Rui Zongyao, 1992, Geologic setting of the porphyry copper deposit series of China: Acta Geologica Sinica (English edition), v. 5, no. 1, p. 59–73. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-6724.1992.mp5001004.x.)Zhou Yiji, 1985, Alteration and mineralization zoning of ore deposits in the Yulong porphyry copper belt: Mineral Deposits, v. 4, no. 2, p. 23–30. [In Chinese, English abstract.] (Abstract also available at http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-KCDZ198502002.htm.)