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. . show boron concentration mg l in near-surface brine. From Risacher 1989, Fig. 34 .
( ) F.F. SabinsrOre Geology Reiews 14 1999 157183 177
geophysical investigations. The first holes tested the
low resistivity values at Rosario, on the north rim of
the Collahuasi system, where the drills found zones
of structurally controlled copper mineralization.
These results led to the discovery of two major ore
bodies within the Collahuasi system that are shown
by stippled patterns in Fig. 12.
At Ujina, drilling of the resistivity feature discov-
ered a major new porphyry copper deposit shown by
the stippled pattern in Fig. 12. The primary ore
deposit is overlain by secondary enriched ore. By
early 1993, drilling had outlined over 150 million
tons of enriched ore with a grade of 1.8% copper.
In late 1992, Chevron decided to sell its mineral
properties in order to concentrate on its energy busi-
ness. Chevron sold its one-third interest in the unde-
veloped Collahuasi District to Minorco for US$190
million cash. Chevrons total investment in the prop-
erty is estimated at US$23 million. The remote
sensing work that contributed so much to the in-
creased value of the property cost less than US$50
thousand. In 1995, Minorco and Falconbridge pur-
chased Shells one-third interest for US$195 million.
Minorco and Falconbridge will spend US$1.3 billion
to develop Collahuasi into a world-class copper mine.
Production started in late 1998 and will last for 45
years. Total mineable reserves are 14 million tons of
copper with a value of US$36.4 billion at 1994
copper prices. Remote sensing played a key role in
defining this valuable property.
6. Borate minerals Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Boron and its compounds occur as borate miner-
als in the crust and brine of certain evaporite de-
posits and in modern dry salt lakes, called salars in
Spanish. Fig. 13 is a TM image of the Salar de
Uyuni in southwest Bolivia, which is the worlds
largest salar with an area of 10,000 km
2
. The Salar is
known to contain borate minerals, but the ore re-
serves and economic potential were incompletely
.
evaluated. Risacher 1989 analyzed brine samples
from 68 shallow drill holes and prepared a map of
boron concentration shown in Fig. 14. Had the holes
been uniformly distributed over the Salar, each hole
would represent an area of 147 km
2
, which is very
sparse sampling. Landsat TM, however, covers the
Salar with more than 1 million ground resolution
cells that represent 9=10
y4
km
2
each. The Boli-
vian government contracted with Intercontinental
Resources, to conduct a Landsat evaluation of the
.
Salar Sabins and Miller, 1994 .
A major question in the evaluation was whether
borate minerals in the crust of the Salar have spectral
features that can be recognized in TM data. Fig. 15