Deposit
Also known as Petea
A mineral deposit recorded by the USGS Ni-Co laterite database, at Sulawesi, Indonesia. The compilation classifies it as the Mg hydrous silicate subtype. Minerals reported present include asbolane, garnierite, gibbsite, hematite, kaolinite, limonite, lithiophorite, goethite.
Recognised on the basis of
Authoritative database
A curated deposit database published by a scientific institution, in which inclusion is itself a documented editorial decision with stated criteria.
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.
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 — Membership of the USGS Ni-Co laterite database, which is a compilation of deposits of this class.
Inclusion in a compilation of this deposit class is the compilation’s own interpretation of this deposit. It is not an independent genetic study.
Nickel (commodity)documented association
The compilation reports a grade for this metal at this deposit. Lithoen records the documented association and infers nothing about how it would be worked.
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.
1.78 wt%m Nickel
Reserve grade
A grade reported inside a formal ore-reserve estimate, which additionally embeds modifying factors — mining, processing, economic, legal.
The usgs ni-co laterite database reports a nickel grade of 1.78 weight percent for Soroako, stated with respect to the reported reserve tonnage.
What one row of a published dataset was taken to mean, and why. The original record stays traceable after reconciliation.
Ni-Co laterite deposits of the world (USGS OFR 2011-1058), record 63
The usgs ni-co laterite database states what one of its rows is, and this row is read as the deposit the compilers named. The compilation excludes occurrences and prospects, so the row is a deposit by its own definition.
Merged into this row by the compilers: Petea. Those names were combined under the dataset’s own two-kilometre rule before Lithoen read it.
Read and refused
One published representation of where Soroako is. Each is one interpretation, by one identified source, at one scale — not the shape of the thing itself.
A single position standing for something that is not a point. It exists so a feature can be shown on a map or listed by location, and it asserts NOTHING about extent. A representative point for a 2,000 km province is a label anchor, not a location.
A representative point for Soroako from the USGS Ni-Co laterite database. It marks where the compilation places the deposit; it is not a boundary, not a shaft, and implies nothing about the body's extent.
6 of 6 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.
Each claim states how it is known and cites its evidence.
Reported for this deposit
The compilation records dimensions for the Soroako ore body: deparea 28, deplength 9, depwidth 4, depthick ?10. These describe the size of a body and place no outline on the ground; Lithoen publishes a point for this deposit and no extent.
Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence 2 sources, single source
Evidence: V.I. 2011 Primary authority
How a source classifies it
The usgs ni-co laterite database classifies Soroako as the Mg hydrous silicate subtype.
deptype 2 -> “Mg hydrous silicate subtype”The compilation records a one-character subtype code; its own metadata enumerates what the three codes mean, and that metadata was retrieved and read. The expansion comes from the authority, not from general knowledge about laterite deposits.
Evidence support: Derived from the cited evidence 2 sources, single source
Evidence: V.I. 2011 Primary authority
Reported for this deposit
The compilation reports 16 distinct minerals present at Soroako, of which the first twelve alphabetically are asbolane, garnierite, gibbsite, hematite, kaolinite, limonite, lithiophorite, goethite, serpentine, smectite, talc, chromite. Of these the compilation marks asbolane, garnierite, gibbsite, hematite, kaolinite as nickel-bearing at this deposit. It records presence only: no abundance, no paragenesis and no assay follows from it.
Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence 2 sources, single source
Evidence: V.I. 2011 Primary authority
Reported for this deposit
The usgs ni-co laterite database reports a nickel grade of 1.78 weight percent for Soroako, stated with respect to the reported reserve tonnage.
Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence 2 sources, single source
Evidence: V.I. 2011 Primary authority
How a source classifies it
Soroako is recorded as a deposit because the USGS Ni-Co laterite database includes it, as record 63. The compilation states that it excludes occurrences and prospects that are less well known, so every row is a deposit by the compilers' own definition.
Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence 2 sources, single source
Evidence: V.I. 2011 Primary authority
Reported for this deposit
The USGS laterite database places the laterite-forming weathering at Soroako in the Miocene to present age group. What that dates is the weathering that made the deposit, not the ultramafic parent rock it formed on.
Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence 2 sources, single source
Evidence: V.I. 2011 Primary authority
Record last updated 2026-09-07. Corrections follow the published corrections policy; superseded claims are retained, never silently edited.