Method for discriminating deposit types based on tourmaline components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12529688-B2
Application number	US-202318504186-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2023
Priority date	Jul 6, 2023
Publication date	Jan 20, 2026
Grant date	Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

In a method for discriminating deposit types by using tourmaline elemental components, contents of Sn, Li, Ga, and V trace elements are determined by collecting hydrothermal tourmaline samples in a deposit, and deposit type discrimination is performed with F1, F2, and F3 as discriminant factors, in combination with the characteristics that a porphyry type Cu—Mo—Au deposit has lower contents of Sn+Li, and further, a porphyry type Cu—Mo deposit has higher contents of Ga*V, while a porphyry type Au deposit has relatively low contents of Ga*V; a granite-related Sn—W deposit has relatively high contents of Sn+Li; while an IOCG deposit has relatively high contents of Sn+Li and Ga*V, realizing quick discrimination of the deposit types during prospecting and exploration, shortening the exploration period and reducing the exploration cost, and the method can be used for identification of 4 different types of deposits.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for quickly discriminating deposit types by using tourmaline components, comprising:
1) sample collection identifying tourmaline in a deposit, distinguishing magmatic tourmaline from hydrothermal tourmaline, and collecting hydrothermal tourmaline samples; 2) sample preparation and analysis preparing the hydrothermal tourmaline samples collected in the step 1) into probe sheets, and performing in-situ micro-area elemental analysis and data processing to obtain contents of Sn, Li, Ga, and V trace elements in the hydrothermal tourmaline, denoted as c(Sn), c(Li), c(Ga), and c(V) respectively; and 3) performing deposit type discrimination with F1, F2, and F3 as discriminant factors, specifically:

F
⁢
1

=

0.001
⋆

(

3
⋆

c
(
Sn
)

+

c
(
Li
)

)

2.7

(

Formula
⁢

1

)

F
⁢
2

=

5
⋆
1016
⋆

(

3
⋆

c
(
Sn
)

+

c
(
Li
)

)

-
3.5

(

Formula
⁢

2

)

F
⁢
3

=

2
⋆

10
∘

⋆

(

3
⋆

c
(
Sn
)

+

c
(
Li
)

)

-
1.

;

(

Formula
⁢

3

)

using an Excel spreadsheet software installed on a computer, to substitute Sn content and Li content into the formula 1, the formula 2 and the formula 3 to calculate the discriminant factors F1, F2 and F3, respectively, wherein:
when c(Ga)*c(V) when c(Ga)*c(V)>F2, the computer discriminating the deposit as granite-related Sn—W;
when c(Ga)*c(V)>F2, the computer discriminating the deposit of IOCG type Au;
when F1<c(Ga)*c(V)<F3, the computer discriminating the deposit as porphyry type Au; and
when c(Ga)*c(V)>F1, c(Ga)*c(V)>F3 and c(Ga)*c(V)<F2, the computer discriminating the deposit as porphyry type Cu—Mo;
4) carrying out deposit exploration based on deposit type;
wherein the sample collection specifically comprises:
identifying tourmaline in a porphyry type Cu-Mo deposit, a porphyry type Au deposit, a granite-related Sn—W deposit and an IOCG type Au deposit, respectively, distinguishing magmatic tourmaline from hydrothermal tourmaline, and collecting hydrothermal tourmaline samples of different deposits;
wherein the sample preparation and analysis specifically comprises:
preparing the hydrothermal tourmaline samples collected in the step (1) into probe sheets, identifying tourmalines under a microscope, and marking the tourmalines by using a marker pen; selecting tourmalines with a well-developed crystal form and larger particles satisfying the analytical conditions for in-situ micro-area elemental analysis by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; performing data processing by using ICPMSDataCal software installed on the computer to obtain data in an Excel format file; processing the data in the Excel format file by the Excel spreadsheet software installed on the computer to obtain contents of Sn, Li, Ga, and V trace elements in the hydrothermal tourmaline, denoted as c(Sn), c(L1), c(Ga), and c(V); and

wherein obtaining the discriminant factors F1, F2, and F3 specifically comprises:
performing diagram projection with 3*c(Sn)+c(L1) as an abscissa and c(Ga)*c(V) as an ordinate to obtain boundaries of different deposit types according to a diagram projection range, and obtaining the dis

Assignees

• Univ China Geosciences Beijing

Inventors

• Zheng Youye
• Liu Peng
• Ci Qiong
• Dou Xiaofang
• Wu Song
• Liu Xiaofeng
• Gong Fuzhi

Classifications

• G01N1/28

  Preparing specimens for investigation {including physical details of (bio-)chemical methods covered elsewhere, e.g. G01N33/50, C12Q}(mounting specimens on microscopic slides G02B21/34; means for supporting the objects or the materials to be analysed in electron microscopes H01J37/20 {; laboratory gas handling apparatus B01L5/00}) · CPC title

• G01N1/04

  in the solid state, e.g. by cutting · CPC title

• G01N33/24 Primary

  Earth materials (G01N33/42 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01V9/007 Primary

  by detecting gases or particles representative of underground layers at or near the surface (analysing earth materials G01N33/24; analysing gases per se G01N) · CPC title