l
Outline
Evolution in time
Cerro de Pasco: >1.5 billion oz Ag, >8 billion lb Zn, >2.5 billion lb Pb,
>2 billion lb Cu, >2 million oz Au.
Au equivalent: > 60 millons oz
Colquijirca District: >500 million oz Ag, >6 billion lb of Cu, >6 billion
lb Zn, >2 billion lb Pb, >2 million oz Au.
Au equivalent: > 50 million oz
Not really new: long time known deposit class for polymetallic
veins occurring in the upper part of porphyry copper systems
(e.g., Sawkins (1972), Einaudi (1977, 1982, 1994):
Cordilleran base metal lodes".
N
500 m
1 cm
2 cm
sheelit
e
rutil
e rutil
e
zirco
n
50 m 50 m
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 17
lquijirca, Main ore stage, enargite zo
z
2 cm 1 cm
enargite
dickite
0.5 1 cm
cm
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 18
lquijirca, Main ore stage, enargite zo
z
enargite
colusite
200 50 m
m
Au-(Ag)
telluride alunite
s
+
electrum
tennanti
te
pyrite II
goldfieldit
e 50 m 1 cm
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 19
Colquijirca, Main ore stage, Cu zone
woodhouseit
quartz e
alunite
1 mm
alunite 50 m
colusite
100 100
m m
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 20
uijirca, Main ore stage, chalcopyrite
kaolinit sphalerit
e e aikinite
emplectit
e
tennantit
e
bornite
chalcopyri
100 te 100
m m
tennantit
e
matildite
stromeyerit tennantit
e e
50 m 50 m
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 21
quijirca, Main ore stage, sphalerite z
sphalerit
e
sphalerit
e
galena
alunit
e
alunit
e 100 50 m
m
hematit
e
sphalerit
e
galena
kaolinite
sphalerit 400 m
e Mn-Zn-
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 22 siderit
Colquijirca, Late stage
100 m
tennanti
te
pyrrhotit
e,
quartz,
wolframi
pyrrhotite,
te
sphalerite,
chalcopyrit
e, stannite
pyrrhotite,
Fe-rich
sphalerite, Pyrrhotite
arsenopyrit Transition body Transition
e, zone zone
Pyrite-quartz Zn-Pb ores
chalcopyrit body
eCordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 26
G4
Cerro de Pasco
galena
sphalerite
100 m pyrite
Pipe-like pyrrhotite ores: pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, Fe-rich
sphalerite
Alteration mineral: quartz
=> LowBase
G4 Cordilleran sulfidation statev. 06.12,
Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, assemblages
slide 28
Stage superposition at Cerro de
Pasco
Massive
ore with
Fe- Fe-rich sl
poor sl (early
vein
stage)
(Main
ore
stage)
AA (A), ((S))
rim
S qtz-sericite
Cu-(Ag-Bi) /py-bn, (py-cp),
ten, /py-cp, bn/Bi
From
Contracted (deep)
vapor/Single-
phase fluid?
Heinrich (2005)
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 32
Brine? If yes,
how could reach
dense fluids
shallow depths?
Vapor? If yes,
why Zn and Pb
rich?
Reminder:
Single-phase
The
fluid?/(deep)
"Single phase
contracted
intermediate-density
vapor?
fluid" could ascend
without crossing the
two-phase boundary
and condenses out
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 33
minor mass of saline
Brine and vapour FI in porphyry copper deposits
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 39 (Bendez, 2006)
Less acidic fluids
ly diluted brine enters the epithermal environment
(Bendez, 2006)
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 40
Timing of Cordilleran
mineralization as part of a porphyry
system
HS Cordilleran
lodes
D veins
G4 Cordilleran Base Metal Deposits, Llus Fontbot, v. 06.12, slide 41 Einaudi, M, 1996
Today
Au-(Ag)
high
sulfidation
epithermal Cordilleran base
metal veins and
replacement
deposits
Porphyry copper
Skarn
Zn-Pb-(Ag-Cu)
http://www.unige.ch/sciences/terre/mineral/ore/min_ore.htm