The Himalayas---Home of Mineral Resources

The Himalayas, the highest mountain in the world, locates on the border between the Tibet Autonomous Region and Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and other countries. Its Sanskrit name is hima alaya which means the hometown of snow. 

For years, humans have never stopped the pace of its exploration. What hides behind the snow-white coat is the habitat of snow. 

Mineral resources in the Himalayas, sapphire in the Zaskar Mountains, gold placer in the Indus Riverbed, copper mine in Baltistan, iron mine in the Kashmir Valley, borax and sulphur mines in Ladakh, coal mine in the Jammu Mountain, and mica, gypsum, graphite, iron, copper, lead, zinc mine in Nepa…… Those mines are resources in the outermost surfaces which are easily detected by people under the condition that the level of technical equipment is limited. The mountains are not easily to explore.

The Himalayas have come from a vast ocean, through the crustal movement, and now rise from the low-lying alluvial plains of the Indus, Ganges, and other rivers, stretching over 1,500 miles. It forms a large arc which separates the Indian subcontinent and the Tibetan plateau. The width ranges from one hundred to two hundred and fifty miles, and the height of each peak is over 19,000 feet. The active geological changes such as continuous compression, rising and erosion make it difficult for people to explore this ancient mountain.

However, with the large-scale investigation of geological minerals and scientific research in the Himalayan metallogenic belt in recent years, we are able to have a further exploration finally. Researchers have found that in the Himalayas, due to the collision of the continents and the rapid uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, relatively violent granitic magmatic activity occurs and forms a lot of granite bodies (also known as pale granite). Because some leucogranites own the higher magmatic differentiation index and low oxygen fugacity which are very good for the formation of rare metal minerals such as beryllium, lithium, niobium and tantalum, and non-ferrous metal minerals such as tin-tungsten ore and lead-zinc ore.

At the same time, violent orogeny and the formation of leucogranites can lead to large-scale fluid movement in the deep crust, contributing to the formation of gold deposits. Subsequently, geologists continued to summarize the geological evolution and metallogenic regularity, and proposed a new metallogenic theory. They also carried out mines exploration in the Himalayan metallogenic belt, and discovered large and medium-scale gold deposits.

Scientists from the Chengdu Geological Survey Center discovered a large-scale metal deposit in the eastern Himalaya metallogenic belt. In addition to minerals such as lead, zinc, and gold, rare metal mines such as tungsten also have great potential.

The exploration for mines in the Himalayas still has a long way to go. It is predictable that more new deposits will be discovered through the exploration. The Himalayas is also possible to become another important strategic reserve base for rare metal mines, non-ferrous metal mines and gemstone mineral resources.