Abstract
The Jinfeng is the largest known Carlin-type gold deposit in the Peoples Republic of China, with an identified mineral resource of at least 3.5 m oz of contained gold. Jinfeng is a structurally controlled deposit within Triassic turbiditic sediments that overly Permian limestone. This sequence has a multi-phase deformational history dominated by NE-SW compression and to a lesser degree NWSE compression. These events have produced a complex series of gentle to tight folds, and reactivated thrust and transfer faults. This provided the setting for gold mineralisation, which occurred late in the deformational history and is mainly confined to second-order faults F3 and F2. Gold mineralisation occurs in carbonate- and clay-rich rocks. Alteration accompanying gold mineralisation includes replacement of carbonate minerals by quartz, and deposition of arsenical pyrite rims to primary pyrite and arsenopyrite. Late in the mineralisation cycle orpiment and native arsenic were deposited with minor calcite. Gold is found mainly in the arsenical pyrite rims and a lesser amount in arsenopyrite. The June 2004 total Mineral Resource estimate, using a 2gpt Au cut-off, is 20.9 million tonnes at 5.1gpt Au and the total Proved and Probable Ore Reserves are estimated at 11.6 million tonnes at 5.5gpt Au. The project will support annual gold production of approximately 180,000 ounces once full production is achieved in 2006. Both open cut and underground mines will be operated, with initial ore production coming from the open cut. The designed treatment rate is 1.2 million tpa, with provision for expansion. The ore at Jinfeng is refractory but responds well to bio-oxidation and Sino Gold has opted for a BIOX® circuit to treat a flotation concentrate prior to standard CIL leaching to recover the difficult to liberate gold. Overall gold recovery is expected to be 85%. The pre-production capital costs for the project are estimated at approximately US$70 million.
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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Ilchik, R.P., Uttley, P.J., Corben, R., Zhang, A.Y., Ham, A.P., Hodkiewicz, P. (2005). The Jinfeng gold deposit: A new mine leading the way for foreign investment in Guizhou Province, China. In: Mineral Deposit Research: Meeting the Global Challenge. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27946-6_393
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27946-6_393
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