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Geology and Development History of the Antamina Copper – Zinc Skarn

Deposit, Peru

Article · January 2004

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©2004 Society of Economic Geologists
Special Publication 11, 2004, pp. 259–277

Chapter 14

Geology and Development History of the Antamina Copper-Zinc Skarn Deposit, Peru
STEWART D. REDWOOD,†,*
Inmet Mining Corporation, P.O. Box 18-0465, Lima 18, Peru

Abstract
Antamina, the world’s largest copper-zinc skarn deposit, entered production in 2001. This paper describes
the development of the geologic model for the feasibility study (1996–1998). Antamina is located in the east-
ern part of the Western Cordillera of northern Peru at latitude 9º 32' S and longitude 77º 03' W and 4,200 to
4,800 m in elevation.
Antamina has a long history of exploration and is a case study of successful creation of an orebody from a
mineral resource. While small-scale mining is recorded intermittently since 1860, the first serious exploration
was not begun until a century later by Cerro de Pasco Corporation (1952–1970), followed by a Minero Peru-
Geomin (Romania) partnership, which conducted a feasibility study (1970–1976) with a reserve of 128.6 mil-
lion metric tons (Mt) at 1.6 percent Cu and 1.3 percent Zn.
Privatization of the project was won by Compañía Minera Antamina in 1996. This consortium undertook a
major exploration program and completed a full feasibility study in 1998 that defined a minable, open-pittable
resource of 500 Mt at 1.2 percent Cu, 1.0 percent Zn, 0.03 percent Mo, and 12 g/t Ag within a global resource
of 1,500 Mt. Production is by open pit and flotation at 70,000 t/d, producing 270,000 t of copper and 162,000
t of zinc in concentrates per year. This makes Antamina the seventh largest copper and the third largest zinc
mine in the world.
Antamina is located in the polymetallic belt of central Peru, which comprises copper, zinc, silver, lead and
gold deposits related to mid to late Miocene calc-alkaline stocks. The regional geologic setting comprises Late
Jurassic to Late Cretaceous siliciclastic to carbonate sequences in a northwest-trending foreland fold-thrust
belt of mid-Eocene age, the Incaic II deformation phase. Antamina is hosted by calcareous siltstone and mud-
stone of the Late Cretaceous Upper Celendin Formation. Skarn mineralization forms a shell over and around
a quartz monzonite porphyry stock of late Miocene age, which itself hosts subeconomic porphyry copper-
molybdenum mineralization. The skarn body is approximately 2,500 m long in a northeasterly direction and up
to 1,000 m wide, with a known vertical extent of 1,000 m. The skarn consists mainly of andraditic garnet. It is
symmetrically zoned around the intrusion from proximal brown garnet endoskarn and exoskarn outward to
green garnet exoskarn, with peripheral wollastonite-diopside exoskarn. Significant copper mineralization is
hosted by endoskarn. Retrograde chlorite skarn and hydrothermal breccia are minor.
Metals are zoned laterally from a central copper-only zone to a peripheral copper-zinc zone. Chalcopyrite is
distributed throughout all skarn zones. Appearance of sphalerite approximately coincides with the transition
from brown to green garnet. The copper-zinc zone thins at depth and originally appears to have closed over the
top of the intrusion, although most of it has been eroded. The main copper mineral in the wollastonite-diop-
side skarn is bornite, and this zone also has elevated gold values. Silver, lead, and bismuth values are highest in
the outer part of the copper-zinc zone and adjacent marble. Molybdenite occurs in the intrusion and adjacent
skarn, as well as being abundant in the wollastonite-diopside skarn. Sulfides were deposited during the late pro-
grade and retrograde phases and occur disseminated interstitial to garnet; as irregular massive sulfide zones;
and as veinlets. The deposit was unroofed by glaciation and is exposed in a glacial valley; hence there is no sig-
nificant oxidation or enrichment.
Antamina is an oxidized calcic copper skarn related to a calc-alkaline quartz monzonite porphyry stock con-
taining subeconomic porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralization. The outer zinc zone is unusually well de-
veloped. Features that appear to have contributed to Antamina’s world-class status include a possible mantle
origin of the intrusions, the basin-margin setting of the host sedimentary rocks, favorable structural prepara-
tion, limited retrograde alteration, and partial preservation of the intrusion roof zone.

Resumen
Antamina, el yacimiento de cobre-zinc tipo skarn más grande del mundo, comenzó la producción en el año
2001. Este artículo, describe el desarrollo del modelo geológico elaborado para el estudio de factibilidad (1996-
98). Antamina se ubica en la parte este de la Cordillera Occidental del norte de Perú con una latitud de 9º 32’
S y longitud de 77º 03’ W a una altura de 4,200 a 4,800 m. sobre el nivel del mar.
Antamina tiene una larga historia de exploración y es un ejemplo de la transformación exitosa de un recurso
mineral a un depósito económico. Aunque hay informes de la minería pequeña desde el año 1860, los
primeros trabajos serios de exploración comenzaron un siglo después por Cerro de Pasco Corporation (1952-
70), seguido por una asociación entre Minero Perú y Geomin (Romania), que completaron un estudio de
† E-mail:stewart@goldquestcorp.com
*Present address: GoldQuest Mining Corporation, Balboa Plaza no. 516, Balboa Avenue, P.O. Box 832-1784, World Trade Center, Panama, Panama.

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