Sandstone copper assessment of the Teniz Basin, Kazakhstan
Links
- More information: USGS Index Page
- Document: Report (1.9 MB pdf)
- Plate: Tabloid Figure 3 (615 KB pdf)
- Larger Work: This publication is Chapter R of Global mineral resource assessment
- Spatial Data: GIS package (824 KB zip)
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts national and global resource assessments (mineral, energy, water, and biological) to provide data and scientific analyses to support decision making. Three-part mineral resource assessments result in informed, unbiased, quantitative, and probabilistic estimates of undiscovered mineral resources and deposits. In particular, mineral assessment results inform decisions concerning land-use and mineral-resource development. A probabilistic mineral resource assessment of the sandstone subtype of sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits in the Teniz Basin, Kazakhstan, was undertaken by the USGS.
The Teniz Basin is located in Akmola Oblast, central and western Kazakhstan. With an areal extent of almost 78,000 km2, the basin contains many sediment-hosted stratabound copper prospects, none of which are well described, and the majority of which may belong to the sandstone subtype of sediment-hosted copper deposits. There are no known locations within the Teniz Basin currently mined for copper. Within the basin, however, map units permissive for the sandstone subtype of sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits include (from oldest to youngest): the Middle Carboniferous Kiery Suite; the Middle to Upper Carboniferous Vladimirov Suite (a stratigraphic equivalent of the Dzhezkazgan Suite, Chu-Sarysu Basin); and the Upper Carboniferous or lowest Permian Kayraktin Suite. The multicolored sedimentary rocks of the Vladimirov Suite, in which 14 potentially ore-bearing horizons of gray beds have been recorded, have the greatest potential for undiscovered, sandstone subtype, sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits.
A quantitative mineral resource assessment has been completed that (1) delineates one 49,714 km2 tract permissive for undiscovered, sandstone subtype, sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits, and (2) provides probabilistic estimates of numbers of undiscovered deposits and probable amounts of copper resource contained in those deposits. The permissive tract delineated in this assessment encompasses no previously known sandstone subtype, sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits. However, this assessment estimates (with 30 percent probability) that a mean of nine undiscovered sandstone subtype copper deposits may be present in the Teniz Basin and could contain a mean total of 8.9 million metric tons of copper and 7,500 metric tons of silver.
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Sandstone copper assessment of the Teniz Basin, Kazakhstan |
| Series title | Scientific Investigations Report |
| Series number | 2010-5090 |
| Chapter | R |
| DOI | 10.3133/sir20105090R |
| Year Published | 2014 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Publisher location | Reston, VA |
| Contributing office(s) | Eastern Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center, Mineral Resources Program |
| Description | Report: vi, 42 p.; Tabloid Figure 3; GIS package |
| Larger Work Type | Report |
| Larger Work Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Larger Work Title | Global mineral resource assessment |
| Country | Kazakhstan |
| Other Geospatial | Teniz Basin |
| Projection | Asia North Albers Equal Area Projection |
| Online Only (Y/N) | Y |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |