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LITHOEN

Deposit

Goro

A nickel-cobalt laterite in southern New Caledonia, developed on an obducted ophiolite sheet. The USGS laterite model records nickel and cobalt concentrations by layer through its profile.

Classification

recognition basis
publishedDepositModel
realm
oceanic

What this record is, and who says so

Recognised on the basis of

Published deposit model

A deposit model publication that describes this body as a worked example of the class it defines.

A deposit is an occurrence of sufficient size and grade that it might, under the most favourable circumstances, be considered to have economic potential. Lithoen records that a named authority made that judgement. It is not a statement that anything here is recoverable, and it is not a resource or a reserve.

How it is interpreted

A deposit is not a mineral system. A source interprets it as an example of one, and interpretations change while the rock does not.

  • Interpreted as an example of Nickel-cobalt laterite system

    By — USGS SIR 2010–5070–H.

    The interpretation belongs to the source named in the model qualifier, not to the deposit. Another author may classify this body differently, and the record holds the interpretation rather than replacing the object with it.

Commodities documented here

  • Cobalt (commodity)documented association

    The source documents the commodity in this deposit and states no economic role. Lithoen records the association and infers nothing about how it would be worked.

  • Nickel (commodity)documented association

    The source documents the commodity in this deposit and states no economic role. Lithoen records the association and infers nothing about how it would be worked.

Reported figures, and what each one is

A sample assay, a deposit average, a compiler total and a reported reserve are different quantities. Each figure below carries which one it is; none of them is a current resource or reserve.

3 wt%m Nickel

Layer maximum

An upper bound for one horizon of a profile or one zone of a body, not an average over the whole. Weathering profiles are the standing case: the grade changes with depth because the profile is what concentrated it, so a saprolite maximum says nothing about the limonite above it and less about the deposit as a whole.

The USGS laterite model records nickel through the Goro profile layer by layer: minable concentrations of 1.7 percent nickel or less in the limonite, 2 percent or less in the smectite, and 3 percent or less in the saprolite. These are upper bounds by layer through a weathering profile, not one deposit-wide average — the grade changes with depth because the profile is what concentrated it.

Where it is

Lithoen holds no coordinate for Goro. The laterite model locates it by naming southern New Caledonia and by a global figure at continental scale, and neither accepted deposit database covers laterites. No position is invented.

How this record is known

3
Settled consensus
Cited as the accepted position of the discipline.
1
Open questions
Sourced statements that the answer is not currently known.

4 of 4 claims on this page cite at least one registered source. Counts describe how each statement is known, not how likely it is to be true.

What Lithoen records

Each claim states how it is known and cites its evidence.

EstablishedRecognised by USGS SIR 2010–5070–H as an example of the nickel-cobalt laterite class.

How a source classifies it

Lithoen records Goro as a deposit because the USGS nickel-cobalt laterite deposit model names and describes it as an example of that class. The USGS nickel-cobalt laterite model describes the Goro deposit’s nickel and cobalt concentrations layer by layer through its profile.

  • definition basis: Named and described in the model’s treatment of example deposits.
  • assertion basis: SOURCE_CLASSIFICATION

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Marsh 2013 Primary authority

Open question

Derived by Lithoen

Lithoen holds no coordinate for Goro. The laterite model locates it by naming southern New Caledonia and by a global figure at continental scale, and neither accepted deposit database covers laterites. No position is invented.

  • assertion basis: LITHOEN_DERIVED

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Marsh 2013 Primary authority

Established3 wt%m Nickel

Reported for this deposit

The USGS laterite model records nickel through the Goro profile layer by layer: minable concentrations of 1.7 percent nickel or less in the limonite, 2 percent or less in the smectite, and 3 percent or less in the saprolite. These are upper bounds by layer through a weathering profile, not one deposit-wide average — the grade changes with depth because the profile is what concentrated it.

  • scope: layerMaximum
  • definition basis: USGS SIR 2010–5070–H, quoting Goro Nickel (2008); the value carried is the saprolite upper bound and the layer structure is stated in full above.
  • precision note: An upper bound for one layer, not an average for the deposit. Quoting it as a deposit grade would overstate the whole profile, and the layered structure is the scientific point.
  • sample material: Saprolite horizon of the laterite profile.
  • assertion basis: SOURCE_REPORTED

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Marsh 2013 Primary authority

Establishedore body area, length, width, thickness — dimensions without an outline

A property of a dataset or model, shown here for context — not an observation about this record.

The USGS nickel-cobalt laterite compilation records an ore body’s area, length, width and thickness, the thickness being that of the nickel and cobalt-bearing ore body in metres. These are dimensions of a body. They place no outline on the ground: no polygon follows from them, and a deposit carrying them still has only a point.

  • generality: DATASET_PROPERTY
  • precision note: A property of the compilation, shown on this page because Goro is one of its rows. Dimensions are not geometry: an area in square kilometres does not say where the body is.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: V.I. 2011 Primary authority

In the knowledge graph

Record last updated 2026-09-07. Corrections follow the published corrections policy; superseded claims are retained, never silently edited.