GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND PROSPECTING PERSPECTIVE OF COBALT DEPOSITS IN JIANGXI PROVINCE

Jiangxi Province, located in the junction of Cathaysian Plate and Yangtze Plate, is rich in mineral resources, among which independent cobalt deposits are developed. To study the prospecting perspective of cobalt deposits in the province, the paper reviews the previous geological and geochemical exploration data, and summarizes the geochemical characteristics, deposit distribution, cobalt-bearing formations and metallogenic types of cobalt deposits. The results show that the Co content in Yangtze Plate of northern Jiangxi is high, generally in 10×10^-6-20×10^-6, while that in Cathaysia Plate of southern Jiangxi is obviously lower, generally in 3×10^-6-12×10^-6. Taking 13.5×10^-6 as the anomaly threshold, 291 Co geochemical anomalies are delineated, covering an area of 100.79 km², which are divided into 7 anomaly groups. It is considered that stratabound-transformation(hydrothermal) and weathering-leaching are the two main types of cobalt deposits in Jiangxi Province. On this basis, 16 prospecting perspective areas are divided, including 1 in Class A, 8 in Class B and 7 in Class C.