The project is located within a geological region known as the Basin and Range province, near the boundary with another geological region known as the Arizona Transition Zone.
Structural Geology
The Resolution ore deposit, lying about 4,500 to 7,000 feet below Oak Flat, is located in a structural feature called the “Resolution Graben.” A graben is an area that is bounded on the sides by normal faults and is downthrust below those faults. The Resolution Graben is bounded by the West Boundary, North Boundary, South Boundary, Conley Springs, and Rancho Rio Faults.
Resolution ore deposit
The Resolution ore deposit is approximately 64 million years old and is a porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit. It lies approximately 4,500 to 7,000 feet below Oak Flat. As defined by the 1 percent copper shell, the deposit extends over an area of at least 1.2 miles in an east-northeast direction, and 0.9 mile in a north-northwest direction
Rock types with diabase, limestone, and local breccia host and control the strongest copper mineralization. Quartz-rich sedimentary rocks and Cretaceous-Tertiary intrusive rocks demonstrate the strongest molybdenum mineralization. The highest copper grades (greater than 3 percent) are located in the upper central portion of the deposit associated with a large hydrothermal breccia body and hosted primarily in breccia and diabase. The total mineral resource at the Resolution ore deposit is currently estimated (indicated ........
