Exploration Strategy
Regional Geological Setting
The high prospectivity of Inner Mongolia exists by virtue
of its geological setting astride the Mongolian-Great Hinggan Fold
Belt. It also takes in a substantial section of the northern edge of
the North China Platform, a geological terrane that has accounted for
approximately 20% of China’s gold production.
The Mongolian-Great Hinggan Fold Belt is a
large scale zone of complexly deformed rocks extending from Kazakhstan
and Kyrghistan in the west to south-eastern Siberia in the east and
taking in mineral-rich Mongolia. The Tien Shan and Altay gold belts of
central Asia converge into the Fold Belt from the west and northwest
respectively. These terranes host some of the world’s largest copper
and gold deposits.
The complexity of the Fold Belt derives from its history as
a late Palaeozoic collision zone between formerly opposing continental
margins. It consists of Palaeozoic island arc terranes in fault bounded
juxtaposition with Archaean-Proterozoic continental fragments, deformed
ophiolites and related ocean-floor remnants, all overlain locally by
shallow marine and more recent terrestrial sediments. Magmatism
associated with a series of major orogenic episodes has added a variety
of plutonic, hypabyssal and volcanic rocks to the deformation mix.
This history has left the Belt highly prospective for a
wide range of mineral commodities from active-plate-margin style
precious and base metal deposits, through fossil fuels in
post-Palaeozoic basins, to evaporites in the current landform cycle.
Inner Mongolia also takes in approximately 1,000 km of the
northern margin of the North China Platform, an ancient and stable
crustal block that contains some of the most valuable mineral deposits
in Asia. Approximately 20% of China’s present gold
production is derived from the northern edge of the platform where
Archaean gneiss basement and Palaeo-proterozoic metamorphic and igneous
rocks outcrop through overlying clastic sediments.
China is the largest gold producer in the world.
Inner Mongolia Exploration Potential
Inner Mongolia is rich in mineral occurrences with
government records reporting 70 categories of minerals identified in 860
deposits around the region. These include ferrous and non-ferrous
metals, precious and rare metals, rare earths (REE), native elements,
metallurgical raw materials, fossil fuels, chemical raw materials,
building materials and other non-metals. The known deposits of iron,
rare earths, niobium, zirconium and coal are large. The rare-earths
deposit at Bayan Obo is the largest known such deposit in the world and
accounts for 70% of the world’s resource. Its coal reserves are the
second largest in China and the Erdos natural gas field is the largest
onshore field in China.
Despite the exciting geological environment, the multitude
of mineral occurrences and the undoubted capability of many Inner
Mongolian government geological teams, exploration within the province
remains relatively immature. This is a consequence of a number of
factors including the historic limitation of mineral access and
exploration to government agencies and the usually very limited budgets
of those agencies.
Strategy
King Solomon’s exploration strategy in Inner Mongolia has
evolved from an initial “grass-roots” prospecting approach to the
following set of guiding principles:
- Focus on base metals and gold - especially porphyry and/or skarn copper, volcanogenic massive sulphides and orogenic gold.
- Focus on the geological belts in areas of those belts yet to be systematically.
- Acquire discoveries by local explorers lacking technical or financial strength.
- Seek projects where modern exploration technologies could lead to rapid progress.
- Focus on large scale targets with potential for major discoveries.