en.Wedoany.com Reported - The distribution of copper resource reserves and types in Hunan Province, China, has recently been made public. The largest skarn-type copper deposit in the province is located at Qibaoshan in Liuyang, with reserves of 280,000 tons, primarily composed of chalcopyrite. The Jiuquwan deposit in Mayang has reserves of 110,000 tons, representing a rare sandstone-type native copper deposit in China, with native copper accounting for over 90% of its content, and its mining history dating back to the Zhou Dynasty. The Tonggutang deposit in Changning has reserves of 80,000 tons.
Hunan's copper deposits are diverse in type, primarily controlled by strata, structures, and magmatic rocks, and are classified into skarn-type, sandstone-type, vein-type, and copper-cobalt polymetallic hydrothermal types. The sandstone-type copper deposit is represented by Jiuquwan in Mayang, hosted in Cretaceous red sandstone conglomerate, with ore bodies occurring in a stratiform-like form, and mineralization controlled by paleochannels and groundwater reduction. The skarn-type is represented by Qibaoshan in Liuyang, the largest in Hunan, occurring in the contact zone between intermediate-acidic rock bodies and carbonate rocks. Vein-type copper deposits are controlled by faults, such as Miaoxi in Guzhang, where ore bodies occur as veins in the fracture zone of purplish-red sandy slate, with ores primarily composed of chalcopyrite and bornite.
Copper's electrical conductivity is second only to silver, and its electromigration resistance is over a hundred times greater than that of silver. Each kilowatt of power in a new energy vehicle motor requires 1.2 kilograms of copper, and each kilometer of submarine cable requires 35 tons of oxygen-free copper. A newly developed copper/graphene alloy composite material in China has further improved electrical conductivity.
China is one of the earliest countries in the world to use and mine copper. Driven by the national "dual carbon" goals, Hunan's copper industry is undergoing profound industrial transformation.
