Juniors lured to Xinjiang region

The potential for large, bulk-Tonnage gold deposits has lured a growing number of mining companies to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of northern China.

Xinjiang is a neighbor to the Central Asian republics of Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, where several multi-Million-ounce gold deposits have been discovered and developed. Many of those — including Muruntau, the largest gold deposit in the world outside of South Africa — are found within a geological terrane known as the Tien Shan Orogenic Belt.

This favorable geology continues into Xinjiang region, though only limited exploration has taken place on the Chinese portion of the Tien Shan belt.

Xinjiang is prospective for a variety of other metals and minerals, according to officials from the region’s state-owned geological and mining enterprises.

While gold is an important commodity, mines in the region also produce copper, nickel, iron, coal, chromium and asbestos.

A delegation from Xinjiang visited Canada recently to deliver the message that foreign investment in now welcome in the mineral sector. A government policy, established in 1996, is designed to stimulate the development of resource projects in the autonomous region which covers one-sixth of China’s land mass. The initiative is a priority for the region, as well as for China’s central government.

So far, about half a dozen companies are active in the region. The list includes Barrick Gold (ABX-T), Asia Minerals (AMP-A) and Minco Mining & Metals (MMM-V). Minco’s efforts in China are backed by its two largest shareholders, Teck (TEK-T) and Cominco (CLT-T).

Minco raised more than $6 million last year to explore its Chinese projects.

The company has agreements covering more than 36,000 sq. km of prospective ground in the Xinjiang region.

In mid-June, the company announced it had acquired ground in a newly discovered gold belt 200 km northeast of Beijing, in Hebei province. The project is a joint-Venture with a state-owned enterprise.

Historically, the bulk of Hebei’s gold production has been from numerous Archean lode gold deposits. The new type of mineralization is described as being associated with northwest-Trending, oxidized breccia zones within a Proterozoic-Aged limestone unit. The gold is fine-grained and believed to be amenable to heap-leaching technology.

Three open pits in this area have been operated by local miners. At one location, an 80-Metre wide zone has been mined at a reported grade of about 2 grams gold per tonne, including a higher-grade zone of about 12 metres grading 5 grams per tonne. Minco notes that another open-pit on the zone indicates a 19-Metre-wide zone grading 9 grams. Reconnaissance mapping is under way on the project areas, with geochemical and geophysical work to follow.