On 9 May we got a report from Confederation Helvèce on how to find porphyry on Earth. Massimo Chiaradia says the copper-heavy deposits are from "failed eruptions".
Porphyry is, then, of the volcanic specie of ore-deposit. They are deposited when a magma-chamber fills with mineral-rich water and then just... fizzles. 1-6 km beneath the surface.
It strikes me that Mars is a planet of dead volcanoes and will likely include failed eruptions, as well. We've been talking up the lava-tubes for some time on this blog. I should be very surprised if the tubular Martians cannot get at its copper.
Of course I am not saying that Earthers can get at its copper. I think hacking the metal out of asteroids will be more economical for us and for the Belt (and for Venus).
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