The Age of the Neoproterozoic Dapingliang Skarn Copper Deposit in Kuruketage, NW China

The Dapingliang Cu deposit is located at the eastern part of the Kuruketage block in NW China. Igneous rocks are widely distributed in the district and skarn are formed at the contact zone between igneous rocks and the carbonates of Beiyixi Formation. The ore is distributed in the skarn. Zircon U-Pb isotopic ages of the plagiogranite, which is related to the Cu deposit, indicate that the lower and upper intercept ages are 826 ± 23 Ma and 1886 ± 61 Ma, respectively. The lower intercept age corresponds to a weighted mean 206Pb/238U age of 826 ± 13 Ma, yielded by ten analysis points. The upper intercept age may represent the age of the source rock, from which the plagiogranite originated. Re-Os isotopic analysis of six molybdenite samples from L7 orebody in the Dapingliang deposit shows an isochron age of 830 ± 26 Ma, which corresponds to the weighted mean model age of 829.4 ± 9.5 Ma. The concordant ages obtained by zircon U-Pb dating and molybdenite Re-Os dating are compatible with the skarn-type mineralization at Dapingling and confirm that the deposit formed during the Tarim orogeny.