COPPER Flashcards
A brownish-red metallic element, is one of the most widely used of metals. It is a ductile and malleable metal that is resistant to corrosion and possesses a very good conductivity to electricity and heat that makes it useful in a wide variety of applications.
Copper (Cu)
____ and ____ are alloys of copper with tin and zinc, respectively
Bronze and brass
The principal sources of copper are ______ and ______,
mixed sulfides of copper and iron.
chalcopyrite and bornite
______, ______, and ______ are known for their large scale copper mining operation (construction, elec and manufacturing)
Chile, Peru, and China
In the Philippines, the principal sources of copper are _________________ associated with dioritic to quartz dioritic and granodioritic stocks and batholiths
occurring in major arcs of the Philippines.
Porphyry copper deposits
lesser significance copper deposits are copper associated in
Polymetallic skarn deposits
Epithermal/mesothermal vein-type
deposits have a more limited age range, from _______ to _____
Late Miocene to Pliocene
Cebu
Cretaceous
Nueva Vizcaya and Southeastern Negros
Oligocene
Luzon Central Cordillera
Late Miocene to Pliocene
_____________ have higher copper grades than porphyry-type deposits but have a more limited distribution (in ophiolites and mature arcs).
VMS-type deposits
Mining for copper in the Philippines dates back to the ________ when crudely smelted copper was traded with the Chinese.
14th century
Significant production started in _________, when the ____________ opened the ___________ in Antique
1842; San Remigio Copper Mines, Inc.; Carawisan Mine
The Americans took little interest in the metal until ___ when the _______ was reopened.
1936; Mankayan Mine
In ____, the _________, Albay was put into production.
1939; Hixbar Mine in Rapu-rapu Island
The three mines which were accounted for all the copper produced in the Philippines before World War II.
Carawisan mine, Mankayan mine, Hixbar mine
This was followed by Mankayan Mine in Benguet which was operated by the __________ from _________
Contrabro-Filipino Co. from 1865 to 1875
For its high-grade copper ore, Mankayan Mine was reopened in ____ by the __________.
1948 by the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company
Atlas Mine in Cebu production started in
1955
Sipalay Mine in Negros
1957
Sto. Thomas II Mine in Benguet
1958
year when full-blown copper boom dominated the mining industry, triggering extensive exploration activities that led to the discovery and opening of new porphyry
copper mines
1960s
Many of the new copper mines had to succumb to the crisis in the ____ due to declining copper prices, brought about by the worldwide slowdown of copper dependent
industries.
1980’s
Only ____ copper producers were in operation in 1983
11
By 1984, the number of copper producers was reduced to only ______.
5
The optimism of the copper mining industry was short-lived, as it was doused by the terrible mine tailings spill of _________
Marcopper in Marinduque on March 24, 1996.
_______ are hypogene sulfide deposits in which the ore minerals are disseminated in the form of grain impregnations and/or network of veinlets within acid to
intermediate bodies and the rocks they intrude. In the Philippines, this type of deposit is of utmost importance.
Porphyry copper deposits
These are strata-bound polymetallic mineral deposits genetically related to submarine acid volcanic activity. The orebodies occur mostly as lenses concordant to the general orientation of the host
rocks
Kuroko-type VMS deposit
Typical features of Kuroko-type VMS include:
(1) intimate association with submarine felsic volcanics;
(2) economic or subeconomic grades of Cu, Pb, Ag, and Au, and
abundant occurrences of Ba- Ca-sulfates; and
(3) occurrence of stratiform lenticular orebodies that are concordant with surrounding sediments.
The massive sulfide base metal sulfide ores are associated with
rocks of mafic-ultramafic association of ophiolitic affinity. The
orebodies are lens-shaped pyrite-chalcopyrite ores contained in spilitized basaltic pillow lavas which are the product of relatively deep water, quiescent,
fissure eruptions in the sea floor
Cyprus-type
Stratabound massive cupriferous iron sulfide deposits, bed-like or lenticular in form, that lie conformably in crystalline schists. that these types of deposits are simply metamorphosed VMS deposits, of either the Kuroko or Cyprus types.
Besshi-type or Kieslager-type
Copper deposits of the vein-type in the Philippines may be classified into two types:
Volcanic-hosted Cu-As-Sb veins and Mafic/ultramafic-hosted chalcopyrite-pyrrhotite-pyrite-quartz veins.
