Journal article
The Productora Cu-Au-Mo Deposit, Chile: A Mesozoic Magmatic-Hydrothermal Breccia Complex with Both Porphyry and Iron Oxide Cu-Au Affinities
Angela Escolme, David R Cooke, Julie Hunt, Ron F Berry, Roland Maas, Robert A Creaser
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY | SOC ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS, INC | Published : 2020
DOI: 10.5382/econgeo.4718
Abstract
The Productora Cu-Au-Mo deposit is hosted by a Cretaceous hydrothermal breccia complex in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile. The current resource, which includes the neighboring Alice Cu-Mo porphyry deposit, is estimated at 236.6 Mt grading 0.48% Cu, 0.10 g/t Au, and 135 ppm Mo. Local wall rocks consist of a thick sequence of broadly coeval rhyolite to rhyodacite lapilli tuffs (128.7 ± 1.3 Ma; U-Pbzircon) and two major intrusions: the Cachiyuyito tonalite and Ruta Cinco granodiorite batholith (92.0 ± 1.0 Ma; U-Pbzircon). Previous studies at Productora concluded the deposit had strong affinities with the iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) clan and likened the deposit to Candelaria. Based on..
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Awarded by ARC Research Hub for Transforming the Mining Value Chain
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank Hot Chili Ltd for its financial, technical, and logistical support during this study, particularly Melanie Leighton, Samantha Kemp, and Lachlan MacDonald. Thanks are also extended to all those who assisted with field work, including Bruce Hunter, Cristian Vasquez, Antonio Munoz Algobia, Ana Centeno, Pablo Torres, and Andrea Aravena. This research benefited greatly from the insights of Warren Potma, John Beeson, and Scott Halley, and from Mark Barton and Richard Sillitoe's comments. Thanks go to Christine Cook for undertaking the sulfur isotope analyses, to Garry Davidson for his insights regarding their interpretation, and to Jay Thompson for undertaking U-Pb geochronology analysis. Sebastian Meffre, Jocelyn McPhie, Joshua Phillips, Ayesha Ahmed, and Evan Orovan are thanked for their enlightening discussions and advice. Additional funding for this research was gratefully received from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Society of Economic Geologists, and Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. This research was supported by the ARC Research Hub for Transforming the Mining Value Chain (project number IH130200004).