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Tectonic Diffusion Estimates of Global Porphyry Molybdenum Resources

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Abstract

Because of the decreasing discovery rate of outcropping mineral deposits, quantitative estimates of undiscovered deep mineral resources are of great interest to many stakeholders, including governments, businesses, and researchers. Molybdenum (Mo) plays a crucial role in modern societies worldwide by contributing to infrastructure, technology, and lifestyles. In this paper, we present an up-to-date age–frequency compilation of globally reported porphyry Mo resources and we used the tectonic diffusion model to estimate the potential Mo resources at different depths in continental crust and according to different tectonic settings. Our modeling indicated that, between 300 Ma and the present, about 5,600 porphyry Mo deposits and Mo-rich porphyry copper deposits were formed worldwide. About 70% of those with ~ 1.1 × 109 tons (t) of Mo resources remain, buried and at the surface, whereas ~ 30% have been destroyed through uplift and erosion. In detail, the results suggest that ~ 2.9 × 108 t of Mo resources exist within the continental crust above ~ 3 km. Exposed deposits currently compose only ~ 7% of the endowment of porphyry Mo resources during the Phanerozoic.

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available at https://github.com/myscren/Global-PMDs-compilation)

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Data Availability

The compiled dataset is available at https://github.com/myscren/Global-PMDs-compilation, and the computation program (Python) used in this study can be requested through e-mail from gxchen@cug.edu.cn.

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Acknowledgments

This research was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41972305, 42172331, and 42050103). Thanks are due to B.H. Wilkinson, John Carranza, and three anonymous reviewers for their comments that helped us improve this paper greatly.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Lei Luo & Guoxiong Chen

  2. Faculty of Earth Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Qinglin Xia

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  1. Lei Luo
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Correspondence to Guoxiong Chen.

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Luo, L., Chen, G. & Xia, Q. Tectonic Diffusion Estimates of Global Porphyry Molybdenum Resources. Nat Resour Res 31, 751–766 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-022-10024-z

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