A potential giant gallium deposit hosted in the tailing dam of the Fankou Zn-Pb deposit in northern Guangdong Province, South China

1.Objective The Fankou giant zinc(Zn)-lead(Pb)deposit in Guangdong Province is well-known for its huge reserves of over 10 Mt(million ton)Zn+Pb metals and high ore-grade with Zn+Pb exceeding 15%(Guangdong Fankou Deposit Investigation Group,1980;Zhu XY et al.,2017).After 60 years of exploration and exploitation,the deposit has accumulated millions of tons of tailings.One interesting question is that what components are hosted in these tailings,and whether some key and critical metals such as gallium and germanium are extremely enriched and worth further comprehensive utilization.This motivated us to conduct an integrated set of field investigation,sampling,major-trace element analyses and reserve assessments about the Fankou tailings.In this contribution,we discover that the tailings contain a variety of metal elements such as zinc,lead and gallium with comprehensive utilization potential.These data can act as a scientific guidance for further exploration and utilization of the Fankou tailings,and aid to enhance the utilization efficiency of the key mineral resource in China.Our study also provide demonstration for future green mine construction in China.

Critical Metals Ga,Ge and In in the Global Pb-Zn Deposits:Current Understanding,Challenges and Perspectives

BACKGROUND A spectrum of strategically critical metals, such as gallium(Ga), germanium(Ge) and indium(In), with promising applications in green and high-tech fields, are produced as byproducts of zinc ores in a variety of Pb-Zn deposits, such as magmatic-hydrothermal porphyry-skarn-vein type.