Gold in Lao PDR

Gold has been mined in different part of Lao PDR by small-scale miners for centuries. Most of this mining took place in river gravels, but scattered mining in quartz veins has also taken place. During the last several decades exploration for gold picked up and several promising gold occurrences were found some of which are being mined (Sepon in Savannakhet and Phu Bia between Vientiane and Louang Prabang). Several companies carry out mining of small gold deposits in quartz veins . This mining is not on an industrial scale. It involves a few dozen workers who often use mercury for gold extraction. Most of the gold and copper is associated with intrusive porphyries. Supergene alteration of the mineralised intrusive rocks has often produced thick covers, which are highly enriched in gold and copper. Locally copper has been completely removed and left a soft gold-rich cover such as the Phu Bia deposit. In other cases chalcopyrite has been altered to chalcosite as seen in the Sepon copper deposit. Grass root work by Intergeo Vietnam was carried out in the eastern part of Lao PDR. This work revealed numerous gold anomalies very, few of which have been followed up so far.
For case stories on gold mines in Lao PDR click the links below
				Sepon Gold Mine Phu Bia Gold Mine