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Porphyry copper deposit in Antofagasta, Chile

Names and other identifiers

GMRAP ID 289
Tract name Chile-Peru Paleocene–Eocene Toquepala (005pCu1008)
Site status deposit

Geographic location

Country Chile
State or province Antofagasta
Geographic location -69.302777778, -22.839444444
Geologic map unit -69.302777778, -22.839444444
Nearby data
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Geologic information

Deposit type Porphyry copper
Age (Ma) 57.3Ma
Age determination method unknown
Age range 57 ±0.69 to 56.61 ±0.63 Ma
Age reference Singer and others (2008)
Minerals atacamite, bornite, brochantite, chalcocite, chalcopyrite, chlorite, chrysocolla, covellite, cuprite, epidote, goethite/limonite, hematite/specularite, jarosite, molybdenite, pyrite, sericite
Associated rocks breccia, granodiorite porphyry, monzogranite porphyry, quartz monzonite porphyry, andesite, granodiorite, sandstone, siltstone
Tectonic setting continental margin
Stratigraphic age Paleocene

Commodity and development information

Development status Prospect
Major commodities Cu, Au
Tonnage (Mt) 497Mt
Cu grade (%) 0.92%
Au grade (g/t) 0.18g/t
Contained copper 4,600,000t
Gold-Moly ratio -9999

Reference information

Comments 100% of the deposit area covered by 50 to 100 m of piedmont Miocene gravels. Cu enrichment age 14 Ma.
Study area name Andes
References Anonymous (1993b); Anonymous (1997a); Camus (2005); G.E. McKelvey (written commun., 1998); Palacios and others (2007); Sillitoe (2000d); Sillitoe and Perelló (2005); Zappettini and others (2001); Singer and others (2008)
Site reference Cunningham and others (2008)
Anonymous, 1993b, Chile: Engineering and Mining Journal, August, p. 20.
Anonymous, 1997a, Rio Algom discovers copper in Chilean desert: The Northern Miner, January 20, p. 1.
Camus, F., 2005, The Andean porphyry systems, in Porter, T.M., ed., Super porphyry copper and gold deposits—A global perspective: Adelaide, PGC Publishing, v. 1, p. 45–63. (Abstract also available at http://www.portergeo.com.au/publishing/superporphyry/superpstart.html.)Palacios, C., Ramírez, L.E., Townley, B., Solari, M., and Guerra, N., 2007, The role of the Antofagasta–Calama lineament in ore deposit deformation in the Andes of northern Chile: Mineralium Deposita, v. 42, p. 301–308. (Also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00126-006-0113-3.)
Sillitoe, R.H., 2000d, Spence, Chile, in Exploration and discovery of base-metal deposits in the Circum-Pacific region—A late 1990s update: Tokyo, Resource Geology Special Issue 21, p. 6–7.
Sillitoe, R.H., and Perelló, Jose, 2005, Andean copper province—Tectonomagmatic settings, deposit types, metallogeny, exploration, and discovery, in Hedenquist, J.W., Thompson, J.F.H., Goldfarb, R.J., and Richards, J.P., eds., Economic Geology One Hundredth Anniversary Volume, 1905–2005: Littleton, Colo., Society of Economic Geologists, p. 845–890.
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/.
Zappettini, Eduardo; Miranda-Angles, Vitaliano; Rodriguez S., Carolina; Palacios, Oscar; Cocking,Robert; Godeas, Marta; Uribe-Zeballos, Hernán; Vivallo S., Waldo; Paz, M.M.; Seggiaro, Raúl; Heuschmidt, Bertand; Gardeweg P., Moyra; Boulangger Rondoy, Elmere; Korzeniewski, Lidia I.; Mpodozis M., Constantino; Carpio R., Mario; and Rubiolo, Daniel, 2001, Mapa metalogénico de laregión fronteriza entre Argentina, Bolivia, Chile y Perú (14ºS–28ºS): Santiago, Chile, Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería, Publicacion Geológica Multinacional No. 2, 222 p., 1 map, scale 1:1,000,000.