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Argentina-Chile Late Cretaceous–middle Eocene Campana Mahuida

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Late Cretaceous, Paleocene, and middle Eocene mainly calc-alkalic granite, granodiorite, andesite, diorite, and dacite plutons too small to show at million scale.
Tract ID 005pCu1015
Country Argentina-Chile
Commodity Cu
Study area name Andes
Tectonic setting continental margin
Deposit type porphyry copper
Grade-tonnage model General porphyry copper model (Singer and others, 2005)
Geologic age
Geologic feature age Late Cretaceous through middle Eocene
Generalized age Tertiary-Paleogene
Oldest rocks age 99.6Ma
Youngest rocks age 41.3Ma
Age range 58.3Ma
Identified Cu resources 950,000metric tons
Known prospects 3
Mean Cu (t/sq km) 180t/sq km
Map scales used 1M

Results of the assessment

Assessment date 2005
Estimators Carlos Mario Celada, Vladimir I. Berger, Rodrigo Carrasco, Alejandro Diaz, Mariano Gajardo M., Carlos Portigliati, Donald A. Singer, Waldo Vivallo S., Eduardo O. Zappettini, and Joseph A Briskey
Assessment depth 1km
Quantitative assessment Yes

Estimated number of deposits

Number of deposits Confidence level
1 90%
2 50%
11 10%
11 5%
11 1%
Mean estimated deposits 4.33 ±3.87 (0.89%)
Probability of mean 0.32
Probability of no copper 0.07

Estimated deposit density

Known
deposits		 Total
deposits		 Area
(sq km)		 Deposit density
per 100,000 sq km
1 5.33 83,204 6

Mean estimated tonnage

Copper 15,000,000
Molybdenum 360,000
Gold 340
Silver 4,700
Ore 2,900,000,000

Undiscovered copper resource

Confidence level 90% 50% 10% 5%
Tonnage 160,000 5,900,000 40,000,000 58,000,000

Economic analysis

Fraser country Argentina and Chile* (mostly Argentina in Chubut, Rio Negro*, and Neuquen)
Fraser type 0.54%
Fraser high 0.46%
Typical cost 0.58%
High cost 0.42%
Infrastructure setting Mixed
Comments on depth 80% consanguinous cover; skew deep - if back arc basin lots of volcanosed fill
Expected depth distribution
0 - 250m 0.2
250m - 500m 0.3
500m - 1km 0.5
Economically recoverable resources
Copper 8,600,000t
Molybdenum 150,000t
Gold 140t
Silver 2,600t
Probability no econ recoverable 0.37
Econ NPV 2,200x $1M
Exp dollars 20.36x $1M/100,000 sq km
Exp value class Medium

Bibliographic references

General Cunningham and others (2008)
Economic Robinson and Menzie (2012)
Cunningham, C.G., Zappettini, E.O., Vivallo S., Waldo, Celada, C.M., Quispe, Jorge, Singer, D.A., Briskey, J.A, Sutphin, D.M., Gajardo M., Mariano, Diaz, Alejandro, Portigliati, Carlos, Berger, V.I., Carrasco, Rodrigo, and Schulz, K.J., 2008, Quantitativemineral resource assessment of copper, molybdenum, gold, and silver in undiscovered porphyry copper deposits in the Andes Mountains of South America: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008–1253, 282 p., http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1253/.Robinson, G.R., Jr., and Menzie, W.D., 2012, Economic filters for evaluating porphyry copper deposit resource assessments using grade-tonnage deposit models, with examples from the U.S. Geological Survey global mineral resource assessment (ver 1.2, March 2014): U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010–5090–H, 21 p., http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5090/h/.

Deposits and prospects associated with this tract

Name Type State Country Development Details
Arroyo Luque prospect Chubut Argentina Occurrence Details
Campana Mahuida deposit Neuquén Argentina Producer Details
Cerro Coihue prospect Chubut Argentina Occurrence Details
Quebrada del Bronce prospect Neuquén Argentina Occurrence Details