Characteristics of zinc geochemical blocks and assessment of zinc resource potential in western Hunan and eastern Guizhou Province

Abstract：Based on data obtained from the Regional Geochemistry National Reconnaissance Project (GRNP) of western Hunan and eastern Guizhou and using the theory of geochemical blocks, the authors have studied the characteristics of zinc geochemical blocks and assessed the zinc resources. Four geochemical blocks and seven regional geochemical anomalies were delineated by using 110×10-6 as the threshold of the zinc geochemical block. Statistics and calculation of these four geochemical blocks and other seven regional geochemical anomalies by using the mineral coefficient of 0.36% show that the total predicted mineral resource of zinc is 30.85 million tons (given 1000 m thickness for every rock mass) in western Hunan and eastern Guizhou. It is considered that the four Zn geochemical blocks in Huayuan-Tongren-Zhengyuan, Duyun-Kaili, Dongjiahe and Sanjiaotang areas will be the most important potential areas in further exploration.