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Cerro Colorado

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Porphyry copper deposit in Chiriquí, Panama

Names and other identifiers

GMRAP ID 210
Tract name Cocos (003pCu4004)
Site status deposit

Geographic location

Country Panama
State or province Chiriquí
Geographic location -81.796600001, 8.5103
Geologic map unit -81.796600001, 8.5103
Nearby data
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Geologic information

Deposit type Porphyry copper
Age (Ma) 4.3Ma
Age determination method K-Ar
Age range 4.3 Ma
Age reference Clark and others (1977)
Minerals bornite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, covellite, molybdenite, pyrite
Associated rocks feldspar porphyry, felsite porphyry, quartz monzonite, rhyodacite, andesite, latite, granodiorite, trachyandesite
Tectonic setting mixed
Stratigraphic age Pliocene

Commodity and development information

Development status Prospect
Major commodities Cu
Minor commodities Au, Mo, Ag
Tonnage (Mt) 3,730Mt
Cu grade (%) 0.39%
Mo grade (%) 0.015%
Au grade (g/t) 0.075g/t
Ag grade (g/t) 5.2g/t
Contained copper 15,000,000t
Gold-Moly ratio 5

Reference information

Comments The Cerro Colorado copper deposit is one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the world.
Study area name Central America and Caribbean Basin
References Anderson (2004); Clark and others (1977); Cook and others (2005); Kents (1975); Kesler and others (1977); Nelson (1995); Nelson (2007); Raynolds (1983); Singer and others (2008)
Site reference Gray and others (2014)
Anderson, S.T., 2004, The mineral industries of Central America—Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, in Area Reports—International—North America, Central America, and the Caribbean: U.S. Geological Survey Minerals Yearbook 2004, v. III, p. 6.1–6.21, accessed online August 15, 2010, at http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2004/camermyb04.pdf.Clark, A.E., Farrar, E., and Kents, P., 1977, Potassium-argon age of the Cerro Colorado porphyry copper deposit, Panama: Economic Geology, v. 72, p. 1154–1158.Cooke, D.R., Hollings, Peter, and Walshe, J.L., 2005, Giant porphyry deposits—Characteristics, distribution, and tectonic controls: Economic Geology, v. 100, p. 801–818.
Kents, P., 1975, Cerro Colorado, Panama, copper-porphyry geology and mineralization: Economic Geology, v. 70, no. I, p. 247.
Kesler, S.E., Sutter, J.F., Issigonis, M.J., Jones, L.M., and Walker, R.L., 1977, Evolution of porphyry copper mineralization in an oceanic island arc, Panama: Economic Geology, v. 72, p. 1142–1153. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.72.6.1142.)Nelson, C.E., 1995, Porphyry copper deposits of southern Central America, in Pierce, F.W., and Bolm, J.G., eds., Porphyry copper deposits of the American Cordillera: Arizona Geological Society Digest, v. 20, p. 553–565. (Also available at http://cbmap.net/images/porphyry_copper_deposits.pdf.)Nelson, C.E., 2007, Metallic mineral resources, chap. 32 of Bundschuh, Jochen, and Alvarado, G.E., eds., Central America—Geology, resources and hazards: London, A.A. Balkema, Francis and Taylor Group, v. 2, p. 885–915. (Also available at http://www.cbmap.net/images/Nelson,%202007%20(Metallic%20Mineral%20Deposits%20of%20Central%20America,%20low%20res).pdf.)
Raynolds, M.V., 1983, Geochemistry of fluids in the Cerro Colorado porphyry copper deposit, Panama: Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University, Ph. D. thesis, 219 p.
Singer, D.A., Berger, V.I., and Moring, B.C., 2008, Porphyry copper deposits of the world—Database and grade and tonnage models, 2008: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008-1155, [45] p. and digital data, accessed December 31, 2013, at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1155/.