January 22, 2024
New breakthrough in cobalt metal exploration in Xinjiang! Date: 2024-1-15
New breakthrough in cobalt metal exploration in Xinjiang! Date: 2024-1-15 Source: Mining Industry 0. Recently, reporters learned from the Natural Resources Bureau of Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, that after years of efforts, the region has made new breakthroughs in cobalt metal resource exploration on the northeastern edge of the Junggar Basin. It is reported that the Yundu Karatong Gold-Copper-Cobalt Mine in Fuyun County, located on the northeastern edge of the Junggar Basin, is located in the junction of the Almantai Gou Arc Belt-Sawuer-Ertai Late Paleozoic Island Arc Belt, with its main body within the Almantai Gou Arc Belt. Technical personnel from the Fourth Geological Brigade of the Xinjiang Geological and Mineral Exploration Bureau, responsible for exploration work, stated that within this area, the activity of fault structures provides power and some heat sources for the transportation and enrichment of ore fluids and hydrothermal fluids. Secondary structures such as cleavage and joints provide channels and space for the transportation and storage of ore fluids, which is consistent with the distribution and characteristics of mineralization. Geological workers have preliminarily identified 15 gold-copper (gold, cobalt) ore bodies in the Yundu Karatong Mine, including 9 gold ore bodies and 6 gold-copper-cobalt ore bodies. All ore bodies are distributed within the fractured alteration zone, forming thick and rich ore bodies at the turning points and weak parts of the fractured zone, and the ore bodies have layered, parallel, or branching composite characteristics. Using the vertical projection method, the inferred total ore reserve of ore bodies 3, 4, and 6 is estimated to be 38.3819 million tons, including 148,500 tons of copper metal with an average grade of 0.39%; 11.22 tons of associated gold metal with an average grade of 0.29 grams/ton; and 7,429.11 tons of associated cobalt metal with an average grade of 0.02%. Data shows that cobalt, as a rare magnetic hard metal, can maintain high strength at high temperatures, and has low thermal and electrical conductivity and strong ferromagnetism. It is widely used in electrical appliances, machinery manufacturing, and other fields. Due to the relatively limited cobalt metal resources, its market demand has been continuously increasing with the development of new energy and other related industries, thus having broad prospects for development and application.
