Chapter 162: Lenticular Ore Body
Upon returning to Yunding Tower, Li Tang learned that He Runqi had already transferred the six million yuan to Geological Team Six. The next day, he took eight of the company's key staff and flew to Tubo Province.
Two of them stayed behind at Zise Mining's office to assist with the consulting project, while the others joined the Gongcun Copper-Gold Mine project.
They bought two off-road vehicles in the provincial capital and drove straight to Duide County.
The county town was close to the Gongcun project site, so everyone stayed in the dorms arranged by Geological Team Six. After a day of basic rest, Damba led the whole team to the project area.
The project site wasn't large, only a dozen square kilometers, located right beside a paved road.
They got out of the car and looked up at the bare hills, with patches of snow still hanging onto the slopes. That was the mineral exposure point.
Damba looked at the fair, delicate faces of the people from Yanjing and doubted they could endure hardships. He stayed on the roadside and began explaining with a geological map in hand: "Back in '93, our geochemical survey team from the Bureau did a stream sediment survey in this area and found abnormally high concentrations of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and other metals. The entire area is anomalous."
He pointed to the project zone marked on the geological map. "This is the area. Over the past few years, we've also done some geophysics, geochemistry, and hydrogeological work. We've used almost every low-cost exploration method available. In terms of groundwork, this area is quite well-covered."
"Any significant results?" Li Tang asked.
"Of course!" Damba tapped a few precise locations on the map. "Near these two fault lines, we've discovered multiple mineralized spots. We've also drilled shallow holes in these zones, some of which intercepted ore, some didn't."
"Why didn't you drill deeper beneath the mineralized holes?" Li Tang asked, puzzled.
"No funds." Damba's dark face revealed helplessness.
"Drilling is like burning money. It definitely requires massive investment," Li Tang nodded in agreement. Otherwise, Land Mining Company wouldn't have been brought in—and he wouldn't have had the chance to seize the exploration rights.
"What we can say for sure now is that the Gongcun Copper-Gold Mine is structurally controlled." Damba pointed to two nearly parallel red lines on the map. "These two east–west faults control the copper-gold layers in this area."
"Mm." Li Tang rubbed his chin in thought.
"Based on multiple shallow drill hole results, the mineralization here is unpredictable. I suspect it's a lenticular ore body—its scale is very hard to define."
He pointed to marked mineralized spots on the map. "When you see all these points aligned, you might think there's a large, continuous ore body underground. But when we drilled, many holes didn't hit anything."
"A lenticular ore body—that sounds right," Li Tang agreed.
A lenticular ore body, commonly called a "chicken nest deposit," consists of isolated pockets of ore scattered underground.
Generally, lenticular bodies are small and hard to develop on a large scale.
But in rare cases, massive lenticular ore bodies exist—clusters of ore forming a huge deposit, which are both valuable and easy to mine.
From a technical standpoint, finding lenticular deposits is much harder than locating stratiform deposits.
Even though Li Tang already knew there were massive copper-gold deposits underfoot, without detailed data, it was still difficult to predict the precise trend of the underground ore veins.
Damba, seeing Li Tang's initial agreement, was slightly relieved. Aligning with the client's thinking made progress smoother. "Our plan is to deepen the holes previously drilled near the faults to see if the ore layers are continuous."
"Good idea."
Li Tang furrowed his brow and stared intently at the drill hole positions on the map.
"You mostly drilled along the edges of the faults," he noticed a pattern.
"We think the mineralization occurs in the fractured fault zones. With limited funds, we only drilled shallow holes—under 100 meters—along the edges."
"These two faults aren't far apart. What's the dip and direction?" Li Tang asked.
"They both trend almost due north. Fault 1 in the north has a steep dip—60 to 70 degrees. Fault 2 in the south is gentler—around 45 to 50 degrees," Damba explained.
"What about the area between the faults? Any deeper drilling there?" Li Tang asked.
"Not really…"
Damba paused, then added, "Actually, there was one hole, funded by Land Mining Company. It was over 300 meters deep. Since they followed international standards, they handled all core sampling and analysis themselves. We only helped coordinate on-site. The samples were sent to a lab, but we never received the analysis results, which is odd."
"Is that so?" Li Tang nodded thoughtfully, further confirming his suspicions.
Without a doubt, Land Mining got the data—and that drill hole struck ore. And most likely, it struck high-quality ore.
Otherwise, Lucas's previous behavior made no sense.
"It's possible the two faults converge and form a copper-gold deposit in the middle," Damba said.
Throughout the project area, mineralization was evident. The real question was where to focus exploration.
Damba pulled out a fresh engineering design. The plan, based on budget constraints, had multiple drill holes laid out.
"Surface work, geophysical and geochemical surveys have mostly been done. What we lack now is drilling. Your investment will mainly fund this. Our layout complies with technical regulations."
"Looks good."
Li Tang quickly scanned the planned drill locations. They were mostly along the fault dips, especially near the earlier mineralized shallow holes, where hole density was higher.
"I have some thoughts—not to negate your plan, or imply dissatisfaction," he said carefully.
He was aware that Damba had a good relationship with Lucas. By acquiring the exploration rights, Li Tang had indirectly offended him.
Although Damba remained professional, one could never fully know someone's inner thoughts.
"Go ahead," Damba said politely.
"I think we should add a few holes north of Fault 1, though not too many." Li Tang pointed to the older map. "Most of the mineralized holes were near Fault 2 in the south. The northern side didn't perform as well."
"You're right," Damba nodded.
"And between the two faults—especially where Land Mining drilled—we should add more holes to test deeper zones."
Li Tang smiled. "I have to admit—those foreign geologists know a thing or two about finding gold. Drilling in those 'empty' zones showed foresight."
"But there's no surface evidence of mineralization there. If those holes come up empty, it'll be a waste of funds," Damba said, concerned.
"No need to worry about money. As long as the work is done by the book, everything is fine," Li Tang said generously.
He already knew the main ore body lay between the two faults.
The copper-gold deposit was continuous. Once the main body was found, smaller veins could be tracked and identified.
What remained uncertain was the precise location and depth.
That required more drilling—hundreds of meters deep—to uncover.
"In that case, I won't hold back," Damba grinned.
He didn't mind Li Tang adjusting the plan. In fact, he welcomed the added workload—it meant more revenue.
The more work, the higher the exploration fees.
Previously, they couldn't reach the 20-million-yuan budget cap, even after days of effort by the tech and finance teams. Now, with Li Tang's blessing, that problem was solved.
What a generous Chinese client—spending money like water.
Truly, the best kind of client.
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