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Chang Shan Hao, 217
Inner Mongolia, China
Main commodities: Au Ag


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The Chang Shan Hao (217) gold-silver deposit is located on the northern margin of the North China Craton in Inner Mongolia (Nei Mongol) Province, ~650 km NW of Beijing, 126 km WNW of the city of Baotou, and ~90 km WSW of Bayan Obo in northern China (#Location: 41° 39' 50"N, 109° 15' 29"E).

The deposits on the northern margin of the North China Craton are just south of the southern margin of the eastern Altaid Tectonic Collage which extends across Eurasia from the Caspian Sea to the Pacific Ocean and embraces a diffuse, 1000 km long belt of gold deposits, which includes the Tien Shan Belt in central Asia to the west.

The northern margin of the North China Craton extends from North Korea to central Inner Mongolia and comprises a basement of Archaean to Palaeoproterozoic gneisses, schists, amphibolites and banded iron formations. These rocks were deformed and metamorphosed by the 1.8 Ga Zhongtiao Orogeny. They are overlain by an accretionary complex of low grade metamorphosed Proterozoic quartzite, shales and limestones and un-metamorphosed Palaeozoic sequences, extending northwards into Mongolia to become part of the more extensive Mongolian-Great Hinggan Fold Belt that separates the North China and Siberian cratons. These are in turn unconformably overlain by Permian to Cretaceous continental basinal, commonly coal bearing, sediments and sub-aerial volcanic rocks.

Magmatic activity is represented by 1.7 to 1.4 Ga alkalic intrusions to the north of Baotou, including syenite and carbonatite sills. Widespread calc-alkaline to alkalic granitoid plutons were regionally emplaced in multiple episodes from the Caledonian to the Hercynian to the Yanshanian.

The Chang Shan Hao deposit is hosted by Meso- to Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks of the Byan Obo Group which is dominated by clastic sediments (sandstones, greywackes and slates) intercalated with carbonate rich rocks (dolomite and limestone).

In the mine area only the central section of the Byan Obo Group is recognised, represented by, from oldest to youngest:
Jianshan Formation - black carbonaceous slate, silty slate, andalusite hornfels, phyllitic schist, meta-siltstone and quartzwacke. This unit outcrops in the western, northern and southern sections of the Chang Shan Hao area and has a gradational contact with the overlying unit;
Halahougete Formation - thin to medium bedded dolomitic limestone intercalated with cherty slate and calcareous sandstone, siltstone and slate;
Bilute Formation - can be divided, from base to top, into:
  Unit b1 - carbonaceous meta-siltstone,
  Unit b2 - carbonaceous phyllite and andalusite-garnet schist with minor meta-siltstone and meta-greywacke,
  Unit b3 - meta-siltstone, meta-sandstone and sedimentary breccia,
  Unit b4 - calcareous and carbonatised phyllite and schist.

All of the significant gold mineralisation at Chang Shan Hao is hosted within Unit b2 of the Bilute Formation, with a consistent footwall band of andalusite-garnet schist. The host unit dips at 82±10°N in the North-west Zone, is near vertical in the Central Zone, but is overturned to 85 to 88°S in the South-west Zone where the bedding has been deformed in the vicinity of a major fault zone.

Intrusive rocks which are found both to the north and south of the deposit area were emplaced during the Late Caledonian, Hercynian and Indosinian orogenies between 413 and 205 Ma and comprise composite granitoid batholiths. Within the deposit numerous igneous bodies include dykes of dolerite, lamprophyre, diorite, aplite and pegmatite, all of which are barren.

The meso-thermal quartz vein mineralisation lies within a broad, south-westerly trending ductile shear zone cutting at about 10° the bedding of the Proterozoic phyllites and andalusite schists on the southern limb of an east plunging syncline. The shear zone is parallel to the regional metamorphic foliation. The immediate host rocks are predominantly carbonaceous phyllite, schist and slate. The main ore zones occurs as the North-east and South-west Zones, both around 1 km in length separated by the low grade 1.5 km long Central Zone over total 4.6 km continuous strike length. The main mineralised zone has true widths of up to 44 m, with a maximum horizontal width of 150 m in the eastern part of the deposit. The vertical extent is at least 260 m.

The gold mineralisation occurs as thin (1 to 10 mm) sulphide and quartz sulphide veins, stringers and boudinaged lenses, concordant with the bedding and foliation and trend along the shear zone. The quartz-sulphide veining was boudinaged by the foliation and are part of the shear deformation. Only weak hydrothermal alteration is evident in the wall-rocks characterised by chlorite and silica. Abundant sericite and andalusite occur in the footwall schists, possibly a reflection of an aluminous protolith.

In the upper third of the host unit, the mineralisation is dominantly quartz-rich, with only minor sulphide seams, while in the lower third it is primarily associated with sulphide veins with only rare scattered quartz material. In the middle of the sequence, there is an even mixture of the two styles.

Mineralisation is principally native gold occurring directly with sulphides in the seams and in association with the quartz vein material. The native gold is visible and occurs as fine locked grains or attachments to arsenopyrite. It is also seen as attachments and inclusions within and on pyrrhotite and as liberated particles. The gold ore has minor accompanying silver, copper, lead and zinc, such that the dore product is approximately 70% Au, 30% Ag.

In the oxide zone gold occurs as liberated particles, with a transition to the sulphide zone at a depth of 40 to 70 m.

Mineral Resources in the Northeast and Southwest pits at a 0.35 g/t Au cut-off were estimated (Nilsson et al., 2012) to be:
  Measured + Indicated Resources - 171.3 Mt @ 0.71 g/t Au for 122 t of contained gold; plus
  Inferred Resource - 64.2 Mt @ 0.65 g/t Au for 42 t of contained gold.

The total Proven + Probable open-pit Ore Reserves at 0.2 g/t Au cut-off (Nilsson et al., 2012) in the
  Northeast Pit - 63.957 Mt @ 0.62 g/t Au
  Southwest Pit - 12.688 Mt @ 0.59 g/t Au
  TOTAL - 76.645 Mt @ 0.61 g/t Au.

Much of this summary is drawn from Nilsson, J., Rossi, M., Major, K. and McKenzie, W., 2012 - Technical report expansion feasibility study for the Chang Shan Hao (CSH) Gold Project, Inner Mongolia, Peoples Republic of China; Prepared by China Gold International Resources Corp, Ltd,, Vancouver, British Columbia, 136p. and a report to Jinshan Gold Mines Inc., by Keane (2005).

The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 2005.    
This description is a summary from published sources, the chief of which are listed below.
© Copyright Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd.   Unauthorised copying, reproduction, storage or dissemination prohibited.


Chang Shan Hao

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Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd (PorterGeo) provides access to this database at no charge.   It is largely based on scientific papers and reports in the public domain, and was current when the sources consulted were published.   While PorterGeo endeavour to ensure the information was accurate at the time of compilation and subsequent updating, PorterGeo, its employees and servants:   i). do not warrant, or make any representation regarding the use, or results of the use of the information contained herein as to its correctness, accuracy, currency, or otherwise; and   ii). expressly disclaim all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or conclusions contained herein.

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