Geological Setting and Origin of Mo-W-Cu Deposits in the Honggor-Shamai District, Inner Mongolia, North China

Abstract

Twenty-one Mo-W-Cu deposits and prospects have been discovered in the Honggor-Shamai district, Inner Mongolia, north China during past 5 years. This district is located in the central and western parts of the Chagan Obo-Aoyoute-Chaobulen tectono-magmatic belt, which is part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The Mo-W-Cu deposits in the district are associated with Mesozoic granitoid intrusions and occur as veins, stockwork, and dissemination. The geological features of these newly discovered deposits are similar to porphyry-type deposits worldwide. Two mineralization events have been identified: Indosinian (235-224Ma) and Yanshanian (137-131Ma). It is proposed that these deposits and prospects in the Honggor-Shamai district were related to the post-collisional extension linked to the Indosinian orogeny during the Middle-Late Triassic period, but some of those deposits were overprinted by mineralization associated with the Cretaceous magmatic-hydrothermal (Yanshanian) event. © 2011 The Authors. Resource Geology © 2011 The Society of Resource Geology.