Carbonate Replacement Deposits (CRDs): What are CRDs?

What are Carbonate Replacement Deposits or CRDs?

Carbonate replacement deposits (CRDs) are also known as high-temperature carbonate-hosted Ag-Pb-Zn (gold, lead, zinc) deposits. These deposits require over 250 degrees Celsius of temperature to form. A Carbonate replacement deposit is an orebody of metallic minerals formed by the replacement of sedimentary, usually carbonate rock, by metal-bearing solutions in the vicinity of igneous intrusions. When the ore forms a blanket-like structure around the bedding plane of rock, it is commonly referred to as a manto ore deposit.

Properties of CRDs

A Carbonate replacement deposit is polymetallic which simply implies that they have various metals in them such as copper, gold, silver, lead, manganese and zinc. The mineralogy changes depend on the distance from the intrusive rock. The mineralization of these deposits usually develops over as many as 7-8 kilometers from the intrusion. Closest to the intrusion is the copper-gold zone, next is the lead-silver zone, then comes the zinc-manganese zone.

Each Carbonate replacement deposit is an epigenetic deposit, which means that they are produced on or near the Earth’s surface and not in volcanos. Many different deposits form through a very similar way, called the replacement process. This replacement process  result in a remarkably similar deposits in terms of their mineralogy and the form of the specimens and crystals. For instance, a sample of CRD deposit found in China would have very similar mixture of minerals as it would in Mexico. The similarities in mineralization are so closely related that it helps create a geologic link between the deposits and highlights a clear proximity to large porphyry systems.

 

 

 

Core Assets Corp. and their Blue property, have been delivering preliminary results indicating that it could follow on the “Hub & Spoke” model similar to one of the largest CRD-Porphyry deposits in the world, Bingham Canyon as shown below:

Some of the discoveries based on the same model above are as follows:

Cinco de Mayo: Mag Silver

❖$2 Billion Market Cap

Taylor Deposit: Arizona Mining
❖    South 32 bought for $1.8 Billion

Resolution Copper: RC Consortium
❖    Estimated to produce 40 Boz Lbs of Cu over 40 years

Peñasquito: Newmont Goldcorp
❖    Fifth largest silver mine in the world (17.8 Moz Au + 1,070 Moz Ag

Why are CRDs important?

CRDs are the foundation of western civilization because of advancements in discoveries and usage. Also, they can be found in 10 to 150 million tons of very high grades economical elements. The low mining cost for CRDs and their metallurgically docile nature makes them increasingly important in today’s world. These deposits avoid big open pit mining leaving a minimal environmental footprint with very selective high grade underground mining.

Moving forward, industries will require a lot more of these deposits to build new technologies and commodities. The world relies on minerals for development, and CRD’s are a great source of material. As a result, the growing demand for the minerals such as copper, zinc will help strengthen our economy.

If you’re interested in investing in CRDs, you can have a look at Core Assets Corp. (CSE:CC) that is a public company focused on the development of their Blue Property deposit in Atlins, BC. Their project is showing promising results, and while  it’s still early, management is quite exceited.

Core Assets currently holds 100% title ownership in the Blue Property, which covers a land area of 109,994.4 ha (~1,010 km²).

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