Journal article

Porphyry and epithermal deposits and 40Ar/ 39Ar geochronology of the Baguio district, Philippines

PJ Waters, DR Cooke, RI Gonzales, D Phillips

Economic Geology | Published : 2011

Abstract

The Baguio district is located in the Central Cordillera of northern Luzon, Philippines. It contains numerous mineralized porphyry copper-gold, epithermal gold-silver and skarn gold-lead-zinc deposits. The district is floored by Cretaceous-Eocene metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks, which are overlain by marine to terrestrial sedimentary and volcanic rocks of early Miocene to Pliocene ages. Tertiary arc magmatism related to east-directed subduction of the South China Sea plate along the Manila Trench beneath northern Luzon produced a major batholith, the Central Cordillera Intrusive Complex, which defines the eastern boundary of the Baguio district. The intrusive complex was emplaced in t..

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Funding Acknowledgements

This update on the geology of the Baguio district would not have been possible without the careful field observations AngloAmerican's team of exploration geologists. Thanks also to Anglo's support staff and to Benguet Corporation for providing access to their epithermal gold mines. Thank you also to Mike Baker (CODES) and Norman Tamayo (AngloAmerican) for their assistance in compiling and revising some of the figures. Jim Dunlap and Marc Norman at the Australian National University are thanked for radiometric age determinations and whole-rock geochemical analyses, respectively. Pete Hollings, John Muntean, Jim Lawless, and Stuart Simmons providing review comments on earlier versions of this manuscript, which have helped to substantially improve it. DRC thanks the Australian Research Council for support through the Linkage and Centre of Excellence grant schemes, and AMIRA International and the industry sponsors of AMIRA project P765, Transitions and zoning in porphyry-epithermal mineral districts, for their support.