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Panguna

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Porphyry copper (Cu-Au) deposit in North Solomons, Papua New Guinea

Names and other identifiers

GMRAP ID 553
Alternate names Bougainville
Tract name Outer Melanesian Arc I - Papua New Guinea (009pCu7207)
Site status deposit

Geographic location

Country Papua New Guinea
State or province North Solomons
Geographic location 155.493, -6.318
Geologic map unit 155.493, -6.318
Nearby data
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Geologic information

Deposit type Porphyry copper
Deposit subtype Cu-Au
Age (Ma) 3.4Ma
Age determination method K-Ar
Age range 3.4 ±0.3 Ma
Age reference Singer and others (2008); Page and McDougall (1972)
Minerals actinolite, anhydrite/gypsum, apatite, biotite, bornite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, chlorite, covellite, epidote, galena, gold, hematite/specularite, kaolinite, magnetite, molybdenite, pyrite, rutile, sericite, sphalerite, stannite, tetrahedrite/tennantite, zeolite
Associated rocks breccia, diorite, feldspar porphyry, granodiorite, basalt, dacite, limestone, andesite, quartz diorite
Tectonic setting island arc
Stratigraphic age Pliocene

Commodity and development information

Development status Past Producer
Major commodities Cu
Minor commodities Pt, Pd
Tonnage (Mt) 1,420Mt
Cu grade (%) 0.465%
Mo grade (%) 0.005%
Au grade (g/t) 0.57g/t
Ag grade (g/t) 1.1g/t
Contained copper 6,600,000t
Gold-Moly ratio 100

Reference information

Comments In concentrate: up to 8 ppb Pt, 40 to 52 ppb Pd.
Study area name Southeast Asia and Melanesia
References Andrew (1995); Baldwin and others (1978); Clark (1987); Clark (1990); Eastoe (1978); Ford (1978); Fountain (1972); Mining Journal (2009); Page and McDougall (1972); Tarkian and Stribrny (1999); Singer and others (2008)
Site reference Hammarstrom and others (2013)
Andrew, R.L., 1995, Porphyry copper-gold deposits of the southwest Pacific: Mining Engineering, v. 47, no. 1, p. 33–38.
Baldwin, J.T., Swain, H.D., and Clark, G.H., 1978, Geology and grade distribution of the Panguna porphyry copper deposit, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea: Economic Geology, v. 73, p. 690–702. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.73.5.690.)
Clark, G.H., 1987, Geology and resource estimation at the Panguna porphyry copper/gold mine, Papua New Guinea: Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Pacific Rim Congress 87, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, August 26–29, 1987 [Proceedings], p. 549–556.
Clark, G.H., 1990, Panguna copper-gold deposit, in Hughes, F.E., ed., Geology of the mineral deposits of Australia and Papua New Guinea: Melbourne, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Monograph 14, p. 1807–1816.
Eastoe, C.J., 1978, A fluid inclusions study at the Panguna porphyry copper deposit, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea: Economic Geology, v. 73, p. 721–748. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.73.5.721.)Ford, J.H., 1978, A chemical study of alteration at the Panguna porphyry copper deposit, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea: Economic Geology, v. 73, p. 703–720. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.73.5.703.)Fountain, R.J., 1972, Geological relationships in the Panguna porphyry copper deposit, Bougainville Island, New Guinea: Economic Geology, v. 67, p. 1049–1064. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.67.8.1049.)Mining Journal, 2009, Panguna still has plenty of copper: accessed January 15, 2010, at http://www.mining-journal.com/exploration—and—development/panguna-still-has-plenty-of-copper.Page, R.W., and McDougall, Ian, 1972, Geochronology of the Panguna porphyry copper deposit, Bougainville Island, New Guinea: Economic Geology, v. 67, p. 1065–1074. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.67.8.1065.)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/.Tarkian, M., and Stribrny, B., 1999, Platinum-group elements in porphyry copper deposits—A reconnaissance study: Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 65, p. 161–183. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01161959.)