THE OUTLINE OF GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE LAOS

The geology and mineral resources of Laos have been poorly studied and roughly known. The Precambrian high-grade metamorphic rocks are found in certain areas in the northwest, northeast and southeast. Most areas are dominated to Paleozoic and Mesozoic folded belts.There are more than 20 types of mineral resources, such as Fe, Sn, Cu, Pb, Zn, Au, Mo, Sb and rock salt, potash, gypsum, garnet, limestone etc. The Mesozoic mag matic and hydrothermal activities seem to be the cause of the metallic minerlization. Such deposits are found in veins, disemina-tions, stockworks or replacement bodies in proximity with granitic and granodioritic intrusions. Stratiform or strata bound deposits are found in the Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata.The Cretaceous was a time of deposition of thick evaporites, rock salt with subsidiary gypsum and potash minerals. There is coal in Upper Carboniferous and Permian, lignite in Triassic, and garnet in Quaternary basalt.