Geological mapping for graphite deposits and its prospecting significance in the central of Inner Mongolia

The thematic geological mapping for graphite deposits was conducted in the Xinhure area, middle of Inner Mongolia. Through this work, the essential minerogenic factors and prospecting criteria for graphite deposits were confirmed. The lower part of Jianshan Formation of the Bayan Obo Group consists of carbonaceous slate, which is the key strata of the graphite deposits. After a lower degree of regional metamorphism, it experienced thermal contact metamorphism caused by the magmatic activity in Late Paleozoic, which resulted in a large-scale graphite mineralization in this formation. According to the thematic geological mapping, the authors detected that there are 3 prospecting target areas and 3 mineralization prospective areas of graphite. The total predictive resources of the 3 targets have reached over 20 million tons. Compared with the traditional geological mapping, the thematic geological mapping is concentrated on the key geological problems of graphite metallogeny in this area, and emphasizes the important role of the pre-research on the typical deposit, which guides the thematic geological mapping from the beginning to the end. With this means, the prospecting target can be delineated quickly, and the efficiency of prospecting work can be improved.