Geological characteristics of the Tiegelongnan Cu (Au-Ag) porphyry-epithermal deposit, Tibet

The Tiegelongnan deposit, located in north central Duolong district, has an estimated Cu resource of more than 11 Mt. The 110 Ma Meiriqiecuo Formation of intermediate-basic volcanic rocks is significant to ore preservation. Isotopic data, ore minerals and fluid inclusions data show features of high sulfidation-state epithermal and porphyry mineralization. The upper part of the epithermal Au orebodies have been eroded, because depth estimation results indicate that the upper orebodies exposed at surface formed at the depths of about 1.2 km. Geophysical and other exploration works indicate that there is huge potential for more Cu to be discovered.