Porphyry copper

A. Sutulov, Copper Porphyries University of Utah Printing Services, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1974. 

Major portion of US reserves occur in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. In Canada, British Columbia holds the richest reserves of molybdenum. Central and south American molybdenum reserves are found mainly in copper porphyry deposits. Chile s Chuquicamata and El Teniente deposits are two of the largest deposits in the world, and account for 85% of the country s molybdenum reserves. 

The five types of molybdenum deposits include (i) molybdenum and copper porphyry deposits (ii) Quartz vein and pipes (iii) Pegmatites and apatites dikes (iv) Contact-meta-morphic rocks and tactite bodies of silica bearing limestone and (v) Sedimentary rocks containing bedded deposits. 

Drawing reference to the flotation practice of molybdenite, it may in the first instance be pointed out that production of molybdenite by flotation results from the processing of primary molybdenum ores and copper porphyry ores in which molybdenite is recovered as a byproduct. This by-product accounts for about one-third of the total molybdenum production in the western world. 

Supergene enrichment piayed a criticai roie in making northern Chiie the worid s prime copper-producing province. For copper porphyry deposits in the centrai... 

The metallogenic evolution of the copper porphyry deposits of the Atacama Desert included a long phase of supergene... 

Cameron, E.M. Leybourne, M.I. 2005. Relationship between groundwater chemistry and soil geochemical anomalies at the Spence copper porphyry deposit, Chile. Geochemistry Exploration, Environment, Analysis, 5, 135-145. 

Cameron, E.M., Leybourne, M.I., Kelley, D.L. 2002. Exploring for deeply covered mineral deposits formation of geochemical anomalies at the Spence copper porphyry deposit, Chile. Geology, 30, 1007-1010. Carlisle, D. 1978. The distribution of calcretes and gypcretes in the southwestern United states and their uranium favourability. Grand Junction, Dept. Energy Report, GJBX-29-78, 274 p. 

Figure 34. °Ar/ Ar-Cl/ Ar-K/ Ar mixing diagram for combined in vacuo crushing and stepped heating analyses of vein quartz from the Silverbell copper porphyry deposit Arizona USA. Data form a plane representing a mixture of atmosphere, fluid and solid components The orientation of...

---