Duobaoshan Copper, a subsidiary of major global metals miner Zijin Mining, has announced a significant discovery at its Tongshan Copper Mine, adding 3.65 million tonnes of copper resources from two ore bodies. The V ore body alone contains 2.81 million tonnes of copper metal. The reserves and resources report for the III and V ore bodies has recently been reviewed and confirmed by the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Natural Resources.

The discovery positions the Tongshan Copper Mine as the only ultra-large copper deposit discovered in Northeast China in nearly forty years. Exploration of the depth of the Tongshan Mine began in 2018, with major breakthroughs achieved in 2020. A total of 73,000 meters were drilled, leading to the discovery of the V ore body below the Tongshan Mountain’s fault and an extension of the III ore body. The effort also added a significant amount of associated minerals, including 130,000 tonnes of molybdenum, 55 tonnes of gold, and 1,104 tonnes of silver.

The discovery of the deep ore bodies at Tongshan not only improves the metallogenic theory of Paleozoic porphyry copper deposits but also provides important insights for the expansion of resources around the Duobaoshan Copper Mine. It holds substantial economic value and scientific significance. Duobaoshan Copper will continue to carry out research on the metallogenic patterns and conduct reconnaissance at the project’s depth and periphery, in a bid to make more discoveries

The Duobaoshan Copper-Molybdenum Mine and Tongshan Copper Mine are ultra-large, low-grade porphyry copper deposits. The new discovery puts the project’s total resources at more than 5.6 million tonnes of copper metal. As one of China’s important copper production bases, it produced 110,000 tonnes of mined copper and 2.6 tonnes of mined gold in 2023.

Translator: Li Yuanxing     Reviser: JIAN   Editor-in-Chief: Wang Jie