434 



UNITED STATES MINERAL RESOURCES 



terranes characterized by large volumes of silicic 

 rocks older than Tertiary, such as Britich Columbia, 

 low regional gravity values are not correlated 

 closely with the distribution of the silicic rocks; 

 inansmuch as molybdenum is associated principally 

 with Mesozoic intrusives in British Columbia, major 

 regional gravity lows do not correlate closely with 

 regions of known molybdenum deposits. 



Residual heat in intrusive rocks, heat from exo- 

 thermal weathering of sulfides, and differences in 

 vegetative cover due to metal concentration and 

 alteration may be detected by airborne infrared 

 imagery techniques, but these methods are not ade- 

 quately developed to date to be highly useful in 

 exploration. Geochemical and biochemical sampling 

 of vegetative cover, soils, rocks, and water have 

 been used to delineate general target areas of mo- 

 lybdenum concentration at and near ground surface. 



PROBLEMS FOR RESEARCH 



Because economic exploitation of molybdenum 

 today requires that large tonnages of ore be mined 

 and processed, large surface areas will be disturbed 

 whether mining be done by underground methods 

 or by open-pit methods; and because of the low 

 mineral content of the ores, large surface areas will 

 be needed for disposal of the residual waste ma- 

 terials. Molybdenum exploitation therefore is sub- 

 ject to the same or similar environmental problems 

 as any large-scale operations, whether it be strip 

 mining of coal, stone quarrying, mining of beach- 

 sand deposits, or opencut mining of iron, aluminum, 

 and copper. 



Successful prediction of the location of presently 

 unknown molybdenum deposits will come mostly 

 from improved understanding of (1) the genetic 

 connection between molybdenum (as well as associ- 

 ated elements) and the magmatic rocks around 

 which molybdenum deposits formed, (2) the en- 

 vironments in which the magmatic rocks were gen- 

 erated and emplaced, and (3) the role of plate tec- 

 tonics in developing favorable environments for 

 generation and emplacement of molybdenum- 

 carrying magmatic rocks. 



SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 



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