Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

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Ore Geology Reviews

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Review

Physiographic and tectonic settings of high-sulfidation epithermal

gold–silver deposits of the Andes and their controls on
mineralizing processes
Thomas Bissig a,⁎, Alan H. Clark b, Amelia Rainbow b, Allan Montgomery c
a
Mineral Deposit Research Unit, University of British Columbia, 2020-2207 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
b
Queen's University, Bruce Wing/Miller Hall, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
c
Riverside Resources Suite 1110, 1111 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 4M3, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Gold and silver ores in the vast majority of Andean high-sulfidation epithermal Au–Ag deposits occur at high
Received 6 July 2014 present day elevations and typically 200–500 m below low relief landforms situated at 3500 to 5200 m a.s.l.
Received in revised form 10 September 2014 Most deposits are middle Miocene and younger and include, El Indio, Tambo, Pascua–Lama, Veladero (El Indio
Accepted 17 September 2014
belt, Chile/Argentina), Cerro de Pasco (Central Peru), Pierina, Lagunas Norte, Yanacocha (northern Peru),
Available online 28 September 2014
Quimsacocha (Ecuador), and the California–Vetas mining district (Santander, Colombia), jointly accounting for
Keywords:
N 130 Moz Au resources. Slightly older examples are only preserved in the Atacama Desert and include the middle
High-sulfidation Eocene El Guanaco and El Hueso and the late Oligocene/early Miocene La Coipa deposits. The absence of Paleo-
Epithermal cene and older high-sulfidation epithermal deposits can be explained by limited preservation potential imposed
Andes by transpressional tectonics within overall contractile episodes and surface uplift. These conditions prevailed pre-
Landscape evolution dominantly in segments of shallow-angle subduction of the Nazca or Caribbean plate below the South American
Erosion continent, a tectonic setting also common for porphyry-style Cu (–Au, Mo) deposits. Stratovolcanoes are uncom-
Uplift mon ore hosts and volcanic rocks coincident with mineralization are in most cases volumetrically restricted or
Flat subduction
absent, recording the terminal stages of local arc magmatism. However, dacitic domes are important at,
Neogene
e.g., Yanacocha and La Coipa. At Lagunas Norte, a small stratovolcano largely pre-dating but temporally overlap-
ping with mineralization occurs immediately east of the deposit and volcanic sector collapse may have occurred
during hydrothermal activity.
Mineralization is typically located near the backscarp of pediments or the heads of valleys incising now high-
elevation, low-relief surfaces. In the California–Vetas Mining District and El Indio belt, hydrothermal alunite
ages become generally younger upstream along the incising valleys, indicating that hydrothermal activity and,
by inference, ore deposition were facilitated by erosion. The lowering of the water table and reduction of hydro-
static and lithostatic pressure at these sites of high local relief are believed to have enhanced both boiling and
mixing of magmatic with meteoric fluids, ultimately enhancing ore deposition.
The host rock composition, permeability and location of the water table control the distribution of alteration
zones and ore. Intermediate volcanic rocks are the most common ore-hosts but they typically pre-date mineral-
ization by several Ma. However, high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization can be hosted in any conceivable
rock type including high grade metamorphic rocks (California–Vetas mining district), significantly older plutonic
rocks (Pascua–Lama) or quartzites (Lagunas Norte). Large vuggy quartz alteration zones and commonly oxidized
low-grade large-tonnage mineralization are best developed in relatively permeable volcaniclastic rocks or hydro-
thermal breccia bodies, whereas coherent volcanic, plutonic, or metamorphic rocks may host fault- and breccia-
controlled ores. The near-surface steam-heated zone can attain a thickness of several hundred meters in dry
climates (e.g. Veladero, Pascua–Lama, Tambo) but is typically poorly developed and less than 20 m thick in
humid climatic zones.
The physiographic and tectonic settings of high-sulfidation epithermal deposits are distinct from low-sulfidation
epithermal districts such as those of Patagonia, El Peñón (Chile) or Fruta del Norte (Ecuador). The latter range to
significantly older ages (Jurassic to early Eocene) occur at mainly lower elevations and were emplaced in exten-
sional settings. A temporal coincidence between uplift, erosion and mineralizing processes as well as a spatial and
temporal association with porphyry style mineralization is not evident for these low-sulfidation districts.
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: tbissig@eos.ubc.ca (T. Bissig).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2014.09.027
0169-1368/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
328 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
2. Epithermal deposits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
3. Distribution of high-sulfidation deposits in the Andes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
4. El Indio belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
4.1. The Tambo deposit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
4.2. El Indio deposit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
4.3. Pascua–Lama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
4.4. Veladero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
5. Maricunga belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
5.1. La Coipa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
5.2. La Pepa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
6. High-sulfidation epithermal deposits of the Domeyko fault system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
6.1. El Hueso . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
6.2. El Guanaco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
7. Late Miocene high-sulfidation epithermal Au deposits of the western Cordillera of northern Chile and southern Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
8. Central to northern Peruvian flat slab segment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
9. High-sulfidation epithermal deposits of the central Peruvian polymetallic belt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
9.1. Julcani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
9.2. The Marcapunta–Colquijirca district . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
9.3. Cerro de Pasco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
9.4. Quicay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
10. The high-sulfidation epithermal Au (–Cu, Ag) deposits of northwestern Peru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
10.1. Pierina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
10.2. Lagunas Norte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
10.3. Yanacocha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
10.4. Tantahuatay, Sipan and La Zanja . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
11. The northern Andes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
11.1. Quimsacocha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
11.2. California Vetas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
12. Summary and comparison to low-sulfidation deposits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
13. Controls of geomorphic processes and climate on mineralization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
14. Igneous rocks, volcanology and magmatic fluids related to high-sulfidation epithermal deposits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
15. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

1. Introduction
The Andes are the world's most endowed region with respect to
giant magmatic-hydrothermal ore deposits (Cooke et al., 2005). They
host the largest-known porphyry copper deposits (e.g., Rio Blanco–Los
Bronces–Los Sulfatos, El Teniente, Chuquicamata) as well as many of
the world's largest epithermal Au–Ag deposits (e.g., Yanacocha, Lagunas
Norte, Pascua–Lama, Veladero: Sillitoe, 2008). The vast majority of
Andean epithermal deposits containing N 10 Moz Au are of high-
sulfidation type. These deposits have a close link to a magmatic source
for fluids, volatiles and metals (e.g., Deyell et al., 2004; Rye, 1993) but
form at depths of typically less than 1 km (e.g. Sillitoe, 2010) and conse-
quently mineralizing processes are influenced by the near-surface phys-
icochemical environment. The main focus of this review is on deposits
and districts where the bulk of the precious metal is contained in
the epithermal environment, i.e., the shallow part of magmatic-
hydrothermal systems, and concentrates on the physiographic environ-
ment of epithermal mineralization. This paper does not discuss major
porphyry Cu deposits in detail, although the shallow portions of many
of these have been overprinted by epithermal mineralization or alter-
ation (e.g., Masterman et al., 2004; Ossandón et al., 2001). Similarly,
the deposits hosting Sn, W, Ag and Au ores in the eastern Cordillera of
Bolivia and Peru are not discussed. Following a general summary of
epithermal deposit types and their terminology, this article presents a
comprehensive overview of the major high-sulfidation epithermal dis-
tricts and mineral belts of the Andes. It focuses on the links between
landscape evolution, climatic setting, volcanology and tectonics, and
discusses the influence these factors can have on both mineralizing
processes and the preservation of the deposits.
2. Epithermal deposits
Epithermal deposits are usually classified into sub-types based on ei-
ther ore sulfide assemblage or characteristic associated alteration; both
schemes have inherent limitations. Some of the most widely referenced
review papers on the topic (Hedenquist et al., 2000; Sillitoe and
Hedenquist, 2003; Simmons et al., 2005) prefer a classification into
high, low and intermediate-sulfidation types. This classification scheme
can, however, be problematic, because sulfide assemblages may be dif-
ficult to classify in a field exploration setting, particularly if the deposit
has been oxidized. Moreover, sulfide assemblages within a single de-
posit may represent precipitation over the entire breadth of sulfidation
state, from high to intermediate and low-sulfidation, depending on
fluid–wall rock interaction (e.g., El Indio: Heather et al., 2003a, 2003b;
Cerro de Pasco: Baumgartner et al., 2008; Lagunas Norte: Cerpa et al.,
2013). Alternative classification is based on dominant alteration
and gangue assemblages and includes quartz–adularia–sericite and
quartz–alunite or acid sulfate type epithermal deposits (Heald et al.
1987, Tosdal et al., 2009), the former typically including low to
intermediate-sulfidation sulfide assemblages and the latter associated
with high-sulfidation deposits. The limitation of this classification
scheme is that, particularly in high-sulfidation deposits, alteration may
pre-date and may not be directly related to mineralization (see below).
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
For this paper we use the widely applied classification scheme of
high-sulfidation (normally associated with acidic quartz–alunite
alteration) and low-sulfidation type (associated with near neutral
quartz–adularia gangue and illite–adularia alteration) deposits. The
term intermediate sulfidation is used to describe sulfidation state but
is not used in the sense of a distinct subtype of epithermal deposit due
to the inherent variation of sulfide assemblages within a single deposit
or vein.
In most high-sulfidation epithermal deposits, two hydrothermal
stages can be distinguished (e.g., Simmons et al., 2005). An early stage
of intense acid leaching of the wall-rock by a magmatic vapor that con-
densed into groundwater, cooled to temperatures below 300 °C and
was acidified by dissociation of acids such as HCl, or H2SO4
(Hedenquist and Taran, 2013); and, a subsequent stage of weakly-
acidic fluid incursion, from which the bulk of the sulfides and precious
metals, together with euhedral quartz, precipitated (e.g., Heinrich
et al., 2004, 2007; Holley, 2012; Stoffregen, 1987). The intense acid
leaching generates the zoning from vuggy quartz to quartz–alunite
and more distal kaolinitic alteration. This assemblage is commonly re-
ferred to as a lithocap because it “caps” potential porphyry Cu mineral-
ization (Sillitoe, 1995). Although mineralization is widely related to the
infiltration of the less acidic fluids into the precursor lithocap
(e.g., Holley, 2012; Stoffregen, 1987), it has been shown that the acidic
magmatic vapors can also transport gold into the shallow epithermal
environment (Scher et al., 2013; Taran et al., 2000). At Pascua–Lama
such fluids were responsible for at least some of the gold mineralization
(Chouinard et al., 2005). Conversely, there are examples of high-
sulfidation epithermal deposits where vuggy quartz alteration is largely
absent (e.g., La Bodega, Colombia: Rodriguez, 2014).
The precipitation mechanisms for precious metals in high-
sulfidation epithermal deposits are not as well understood as for low-
sulfidation systems. For the latter, ample textural and fluid inclusion ev-
idence leaves little doubt that fluid boiling leads to precipitation of
metals due to the loss of the dominant ligands (H2S) to the gas phase
(Moncada et al., 2012; Simmons et al., 2005). In contrast, fluid inclusion
studies of high-sulfidation deposits are difficult, as the appropriate
transparent minerals are rare. Several possible precipitation mecha-
nisms such as boiling, and fluid mixing of a magma derived fluid with
oxidized groundwater have been proposed (e.g., Rye et al., 1992;
Jannas et al., 1999). Recent work on the La Bodega deposit in
Colombia, where the high-sulfidation sulfide assemblage is hosted in
veins with similar textures as described for low-sulfidation deposits
(see below), supports that boiling is a viable mechanism to precipitate
sulfides (Rodriguez, 2014). Moreover, steam-heated alteration, present
above many Andean high-sulfidation systems, forms by H2S-rich steam
that condenses and oxidizes to form sulfuric acid in the vadose zone,
and is considered evidence for fluid boiling at depth (Simmons et al.,
2005).
A close association of high-sulfidation epithermal deposits with a
parent intrusion and porphyry-style mineralization has been proposed
by Hedenquist and Loewenstern (1994) and documented in detail
for the Lepanto–Far Southeast porphyry system in the Philippines
(Hedenquist et al., 1998). In earlier literature, stratovolcanoes, calderas
and extrusive or subvolcanic dacitic to andesitic domes have been
considered the dominant hosts, and large volcanic centers have been
presumed to be temporally and genetically associated with high-
sulfidation epithermal deposits (e.g. Hayba et al. 1985, Arribas, 1995).
Indeed, stable S, H and O isotopic evidence (e.g., Deyell et al., 2005a,
2005b; Rye, 1993, 2005) as well as thermodynamic considerations
(Heinrich, 2005, 2007) clearly indicate that magma-derived fluids or
condensed magmatic vapors constitute the dominant component of
the mineralizing fluids. However, as will be discussed below, better geo-
logical understanding and new geochronological information, together
with exploration discoveries made since 1995, suggest that stratovol-
canoes and calderas are uncommon hosts to epithermal ore in the
Andes.
329
3. Distribution of high-sulfidation deposits in the Andes
High-sulfidation epithermal deposits occur mostly in the Central
Andes (~ 34° to 3° Lat. S) with few examples in the Northern Andes
(~3° Lat. S to 11.3° Lat. N) and no known example in the southern vol-
canic zone of the Central Andes (south of 34° Lat. S) and the southern,
a.k.a. Patagonian Andes, south of 46° Lat. S (Fig. 1). The overwhelming
majority of high-sulfidation epithermal deposits are Miocene or youn-
ger, and are located in segments of the Andean arc where magmatism
is now absent or subdued (e.g., Bissig et al., 2008; Kay and Mpodozis,
2001; Rosenbaum et al., 2005). The lack of magmatism is attributed to
two zones of shallow angle subduction of the Nazca plate below the
South American continent in the Central Andes (the Pampean flat slab
in northern Chile and the Peruvian flat slab in central and northern
Peru: Ramos, 2009) as well as the Bucaramanga flat slab where Caribbe-
an plate is subducting below northern Colombia (Vargas and Mann,
2013). Flat subduction coincides with shortening and crustal thickening
of the overriding continental plate (Martinod et al., 2010) and has been
spatially linked to the subduction of aseismic ridges or oceanic plateaus
on the oceanic plate (e.g. Gutscher et al., 1999b; Yañez et al., 2001).
However the causative relationship between ridge impingement and
onset of flat subduction remains a matter of debate (Skinner and
Clayton, 2013). Thus, crustal shortening, uplift and porphyry Cu
mineralization pre-dates the arrival of the subducting aseismic Juan
Fernández ridge in Central Chile (Deckart et al., 2013), a situation
comparable to northern Peru where high-sulfidation epithermal gold
mineralization at Lagunas Norte occurred at 17 Ma, coincident with up-
lift, but several Ma prior to the inferred onset of Nazca ridge subduction
(Montgomery, 2012, see below).
The Northern Andes are characterized by a series of oceanic terranes
accreted to the South American continent dominantly between the Me-
sozoic and Miocene (Cediel et al., 2003). The Central Andes, in contrast,
consist of a collage of terranes accreted during the Proterozoic-to-
Paleozoic (Ramos, 2008). Here, Andean type subduction has dominated
the active continental margin since Permo-Triassic times (Ramos,
2009), and in both the Northern Andes south of ~ 5.5° Lat. N and the
Central Andes, the Nazca plate is currently subducting eastward
beneath the South American continent.
High-sulfidation epithermal deposits occur in the same segments of
the Andean arc as porphyry-style deposits (e.g. Sillitoe, 2008, 2010).
However, a direct temporal, spatial and genetic relationship to porphyry
deposits containing economic Cu mineralization, as demonstrated at Far
Southeast and Lepanto (Hedenquist et al., 1998), has not been docu-
mented for any Andean high-sulfidation epithermal deposits discussed
herein, although the two mineralization styles may overlap either
spatially or temporally (e.g. Yanacocha district: Longo et al., 2010, La
Pepa, Maricunga belt: Muntean and Einaudi, 2001).
All high-sulfidation epithermal deposits of the Andes now
crop out at high elevation, and with few exceptions, above
~ 3500 m a.s.l. Most are also located near the water-shed along the
crest of the orogen, or what appears to have been the water-shed
at the time of hydrothermal activity, in areas dominated by relatively
flat landforms which are interpreted as uplifted sub-planar
paleosurfaces. In the semi-arid and arid portions of the Andes,
these paleosurfaces probably represent pediplains (regionally inter-
connected pediment surfaces) formed under semi-arid conditions
and several pulses of pediment erosion separated by uplift pulses
can commonly be distinguished (Bissig and Riquelme, 2009; Bissig
et al., 2002a; Riquelme et al., 2007; Rodriguez et al., 2014; Sillitoe
et al., 1968), resulting in a series of pediment surfaces, vertically sep-
arated up to several 100 m by steeper back-scarps. Similar relation-
ships between high-level sub-planar landforms incised by broad,
flat bottomed valleys are present in southern Peru (Quang et al.,
2005; Tosdal et al., 1984) and northern Peru (Montgomery, 2012).
The major high-sulfidation deposits and districts are described with-
in their geomorphologic and volcanologic context from south to north
330 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

90° W 80° W 70° W 60° W 50° W

epithermal deposits
1: Tambo
2: El Indio
20° N 3: Pascua-Lama
4: Veladero
5: Famatina
6: La Coipa
7: El Hueso
8: El Guanaco
9: Choquelimpie
10: Santa Rosa
10° N 11: Tucari
12: Julcani
13: Marcapunta/Colquijirca
23/24 14: Cerro de Pasco
15: Quicay
CoR 16: Pierina
17: Lagunas Norte
18: Yanacocha
0° 19: Tantahuatay
des 20: Sipán
CaR n An
22 Norther al Andes 21: La Zanja
ntr
Ce 22: Quimsacocha
23: La Bodega
IP
21 20 19 24: Angostura
18 Active volcano
17 Flat slab segments
16 15
10° S 14 Aseismic ridges
13 Subducted aseismic
12
ridges/plateaus

11
10
9
10° S

8
NR
7
IR 6
4 35
30° S 2
1

JFR

Fig. 1. Map of South America, showing locations of major high-sulfidation epithermal deposits discussed in this paper. Also indicated are segments of flat subduction (dashed black lines),
volcanoes, aseismic ridges and inferred subducted portions of aseismic ridges and oceanic plateaus. The boundary between the northern and central Andes is indicated. Abbreviations:
CoR: Cocos Ridge; CaR: Carnegie Ridge; IP: Inca Plateau; NR: Nazca Ridge; IR: Iquique Ridge; JFR: Juan Fernandez Ridge.

in the following section. Key characteristics, locations, ages and approx-
imate contained resources are summarized in Table 1.
4. El Indio belt
The El Indio belt straddles the Chile–Argentina Border between 29°
and 30° Lat. S. which corresponds to the middle of the Pampean flat
slab segment. The belt is named after the El Indio Au (–Ag, Cu) deposit
which was mined between 1978 and 2001. The belt also includes the
small Tambo and the giant Veladero and Pascua–Lama deposits as
well as other prospects (Fig. 2), jointly accounting for ~ 40 Moz of Au
resources. Additionally, the belt contains numerous alteration zones
ranging in age from Eocene to late Miocene but, with the exception of
Veladero (12.7–10.3 Ma; Holley, 2012), economic mineralization is
only known to have occurred between 9.5 and 5 Ma (Bissig et al.,
2001; A.H. Clark, unpubl. data). Alteration and mineralization ages quot-
ed herein for the El Indio belt are all 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages on alunite or
sericite mostly with analytical errors of b1 to 5% on individual dates. It is
worth noting that the small epithermal Cu–Au district at Famantina
(Table 1), is located in the same Andean segment, albeit some 220 km
E of Veladero in Argentina, and is at 5 to 3.8 Ma just slightly younger
than El Indio (Lozada-Calderón et al., 1994; Pudack et al., 2009).
Volcanism in the Oligocene and early Miocene was voluminous in
the El Indio belt (Bissig et al., 2001; Martin et al., 1995; Winocur et al.,
2014) initially generating the 27–23 Ma Tilito Formation dacitic-to-
andesitic pyroclastic and volcaniclastic rocks and small volumes of
basalts in an extensional setting (Winocur et al., 2014). The Tilito
Formation is unconformably overlain by the dominantly-andesitic
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
Escabroso (21–17 Ma) and Cerro de las Tórtolas (16.6–14 Ma) Forma-
tions (Fig. 2), both associated with large volcanic edifices and
subvolcanic intrusions (Bissig et al., 2001; Martin et al., 1995). Erupted
magma volumes decreased markedly after ca. 14 Ma and volcanism
was confined to isolated eruptive centers at ~ 12.7–11 Ma (Vacas
Heladas formation andesite to dacite) and the rhyodacitic Pascua
(8–7.6 Ma) and Vallecito (6–5.5 Ma) Formations (Bissig et al., 2001).
An upper Pliocene rhyolite dome (Cerro de Vidrio) has been document-
ed ~7 km E of the Veladero deposit (Bissig et al., 2001, 2002a, 2002b).
The voluminous upper Oligocene to middle Miocene andesites show
an increasing modal abundance of phenocrystic hornblende, relative to
clinopyroxene, with time (Bissig et al., 2003). Further, igneous rocks
younger than ca. 14 Ma are characterized by elevated Sr/Y (N40) and
depleted HREE contents, indicative of garnet fractionation at the base
of the crust and elevated pressure equivalent to N 45 km crustal thick-
ness (Bissig et al., 2003). This change in both the erupted volumes and
chemistry of the igneous rocks is attributed to the onset of flat subduc-
tion and associated increased coupling between the Nazca slab and
overlying continental plate, which led to contractile deformation and
crustal thickening (Bissig et al., 2003; Kay et al., 1999). Epithermal min-
eralization is generally hosted in Cerro de las Tórtolas Formation and
older rocks but occurred several Ma after the emplacement of the host
rocks. Mineralization of the Filo Federico ore zone of the Veladero
deposit is partly hosted in volcaniclastic deposits of the Vacas Heladas
Formation (Holley, 2012).
The geomorphology in the El Indio belt preserves evidence of a his-
tory of episodic uplift and pediplain erosion throughout the middle to
late Miocene (Bissig et al., 2002a; Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6). Relics of three low-
relief erosional surfaces, vertically separated from each other by
200–400 m, have been documented. These are the 17–15 Ma
Frontera–Deidad surface, the 14–12.5 Ma Azufreras–Torta surface and
the 10–6 Ma Los Ríos surface (Bissig et al., 2002a). The Frontera–Deidad
surface dominating the higher interfluves is a relic of a regionally exten-
sive pediplain on the western Andean slope at the latitude of the El Indio
belt (Aguilar et al., 2011; Rodriguez et al., 2014), subsequently incised
by the Azufreras–Torta and Los Ríos pediment surfaces. These nested
paleosurfaces in the main Cordillera are now separated from the land-
forms of the Coastal Cordillera by the north striking, west verging Vicu-
ña–San Félix fault system (Aguilar et al., 2011, 2013). Vertical
displacement along this fault system starting in the early–middle Mio-
cene is thought to be responsible for the three distinct paleosurfaces ob-
served in the El Indio belt (Aguilar et al., 2011). Steam-heated alteration
associated with epithermal mineralization in all deposits of the El Indio
belt is almost exclusively exposed on the Azufreras–Torta surface
(Figs. 3,4,5, 6), whereas the top of the mineralized zone typically occurs
~200 m below this surface (Bissig et al., 2002a).
4.1. The Tambo deposit
At Tambo, mineralization is hosted mainly in three diatreme
breccia bodies (Wendy, Kimberly and Canto Sur; Figs. 3, 4), as well
as a number of satellite breccia bodies and replacement veins, all of
which were emplaced into dacitic pyroclastic and volcanoclastic
rocks assigned to the upper Oligocene Tilito Formation. The ore
zone has an overall vertical extent of about 300 m (Deyell et al.,
2005a; Jannas et al., 1999). The paleosurface level is located at
4500 m a.s.l. for Kimberly and Wendy and has been downfaulted
~ 100 m relative to Canto Sur, located at 4600 m a.s.l. elevation
(Deyell et al., 2005a). Alunite, some intergrown with native Au, has
been dated at 8.8 to 8 Ma although at Canto Sur it yields ages as
young as 7.1 Ma (Bissig et al., 2001; Deyell et al., 2005a). Alunite
ages coincide with the inferred age of the Los Ríos surface incision
(10–6 Ma) and the Tambo area is situated near the back scarp of a
Los Ríos valley where it incises the older Azufreras–Torta surface
(Figs. 3, 4).
331
4.2. El Indio deposit
Mineralization at El Indio, in contrast to Tambo, is hosted in veins
(Jannas et al., 1999) and includes sulfide-rich massive enargite ± pyrite
veins as well as quartz-rich veins with tetrahedrite/tennantite and
chalcopyrite. For some veins, an along-strike zonation from high- to
intermediate-sulfidation sulfide assemblages, and from pyrophyllite–
sericite–diaspore ± alunite to illite-dominated alteration has been doc-
umented (Heather et al., 2003a; K.B. Heather, pers. commun. 2012). El
Indio is world-renowned due to exceptional bonanza grades of up to
N1% Au in the quartz-rich, intermediate-sulfidation El Indio Sur 3500
vein which permitted shipping of the ore directly to the smelter (direct
shipping ore) in the early days of exploitation. Gold occurred mainly as
native Au, auricupride and as tellurides (Heather et al., 2003a; Jannas
et al., 1990, 1999). As is the case for Tambo, the top of the mineralized
zone at El Indio is located about 200 m below the Azufreras–Torta Sur-
face, here located at ~4400 m a.s.l. Steam-heated alteration is exposed
locally on Cerro Campana above the western part of the deposit
(Fig. 3). The mineralized zone has a vertical extent of 500 m extending
down to 3700 m a.s.l, below which the gold grade decreases markedly
(Bissig et al., 2002a; Jannas et al., 1999). The veins are best developed
in dacitic pyroclastic rocks of the Tilito Formation, which in the area of
the deposit are uncomformably overlain by andesitic lavas and
volcaniclastic rocks of the lower Miocene Escabroso Group. Most veins
also cross-cut the Escabroso Group but typically horsetail out above
the contact (Bissig et al., 2002a; Heather et al., 2003a). Low volumes
of ca. 8 Ma dacitic hypabyssal intrusions spatially associated with min-
eralization have also been reported (Heather et al., 2003b). The miner-
alization ages range from 8 to 5 Ma and are inferred from sericite
immediately adjacent to and alunite from within veins (Bissig et al.,
2001; A.H. Clark and K.B. Heather, unpubl. data) and a late stage 3.5–
2.5 Ma barren hydrothermal overprint has also been identified (A.H.
Clark and K. B. Heather, unpubl. sericite 40Ar/39Ar data). The age range
indicates that multiple hydrothermal pulses related to successive pres-
sure release, likely facilitated by erosion, from a sizeable batholith scale
magma system were responsible for mineralization. Contrary to the
conclusion of Jannas et al. (1999) enargite-rich veins are not systemat-
ically older than gold-rich veins, since the youngest data come
from 6.2 Ma alunite in the enargite-rich Campana B vein (Bissig et al.,
2001) and sericite from the 5 Ma Viento Oeste/Cuarzo Uno high to
intermediate-sulfidation veins whereas the El Indio Sur 3500 vein
yielded the oldest sericite ages of ca. 8 Ma (A.H. Clark and K.B. Heather
unpubl. data). The geochronological data demonstrate a significant
age gap of at least 7 Ma between volcanic rock deposition (~ 26–
15 Ma) and mineralization (8–5 Ma). Only small amounts of igneous
rocks contemporaneous with mineralization are known and these in-
clude ca. 8 Ma dacitic plugs and 5.5 Ma Vallecito Formation rhyolite
tuffs in the vicinity of El Indio (Bissig et al., 2001; Heather et al.,
2003a; A.H. Clark and K.B. Heather unpubl. data). Like Tambo, it is
plausible that El Indio formed near the back-scarp of the incising Río
Malo valley (part of the Los Ríos surface) and is hosted below the
Azufreras–Torta surface (Bissig et al., 2002a; Fig. 3).
4.3. Pascua–Lama
Pascua–Lama is the largest deposit in the El Indio belt and is located
some 50 km N of El Indio on the Chile–Argentina border. It is hosted
within an uplifted Paleozoic basement block (Figs. 5, 6), with minerali-
zation centered on a series of diatreme breccia complexes. The most im-
portant of these is Brecha Central, which cuts Paleozoic and Jurassic
granitoids (Chouinard et al., 2005). Hydrothermal activity is constrained
to 9.1–8 Ma based on 40Ar/39Ar dating of alunite and jarosite; alunite
from pyrite–enargite veins constraining the gold mineralization to
8.8 ± 0.6 Ma (Bissig et al., 2001; Deyell et al., 2005b). Slightly older al-
unite of 9.5 Ma is documented from the Penelope ore zone some 2 km
SE of Brecha Central (Bissig et al., 2001; Deyell et al., 2005b). No igneous
 332
Table 1
Summary of main HS deposits.

Deposit/ Lat. Long. Elevation of Elevation of Mineraliza-tion Total Mineralization Host rocks Volcanology Selected references
district mineralization paleosurface age (method) resources
(m.a.s.l.) (if known) (approx.)

Tambo −29.8 −69.95 4300–4100 4500 8.5 to 8 Ma 0.8 Moz Hydrothermal breccia hosted Au–Ag Late Oligocene Tilito No igneous rocks age equivalent to Bissig et al. (2002a,
Au mineralization associated with Formation dacite tuffs mineralization recognized, dacite 2002b); Deyell et al.
intense acid sulfate alteration. tuffs of the Tilito Formation pre-date (2005a); Jannas et al.
Subordinate replacement veins. mineralization by N 14 m.y. Minor, (1999)
undated pre-mineral diorite
porphyry has locally been
intersected below mineralization.
Phreatomagmatic activity pre to syn
mineralization evidenced by breccia
bodies.
El Indio −29.74 −69.97 4200–3700 4400 8 to 5 Ma 4.2 Moz Largely vein hosted Au (–Cu, Ag) Late Oligocene Tilito No igneous rocks age equivalent to Bissig et al. (2002a,
40
Ar/39Ar, Au mineralization. Most gold produced Formation dacite tuffs and mineralization recognized, except for 2002b); Heather et al.
alunite, sericite from quartz rich veins with sulfide overlying early Miocene possible 8 Ma dacite dyke. Host rocks (2003a); Jannas et al.
assemblage of intermediate Escabroso Group andesite pre-date mineralization by ~7 to (1999)
sulfidation state, most Cu produced lavas and breccias 17 m.y.

T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

from massive enargite veins.
Dominant alteration is advanced
argillic to phyllic (sericite, diaspore,
locally pyrophyllite, alunite).
Veladero −29.36 −69.95 4300–3900 4600 12.7–10.7 Ma 12.2 Moz Mineralization in two principal ore Cerro de las Tórtolas Volcano sedimentary host rocks Charchaflie et al. (2007);
(40Ar/39Ar, Au; 180 zones and associated with intense Formation (16–14 Ma) pre-date hydrothermal breccias and Holley (2012)
alunite) Moz Ag acid sulfate alteration and volcano sedimentary breccias, mineralization by ~ 2–4 Ma. Locally
silicification: Amable (12.1 to subvolcanic domes 12.1 Ma andesite dykes cutting
12.7 Ma) and Filo Federico (10.7– mineralization at Amable zone
11 Ma). Apart from minor argentite
no primary sulfides recognized. Most
Ag in jarosite at Amable.
Pascua-Lama −29.32 −70.01 4850–4550 5000–5150 9.1–8 Ma 17.6 Moz Breccia and stockwork vein-hosted Permo-Triassic to Jurassic Phreatomagmatic breccias, pre and Bissig et al. (2002a,
(40Ar/39Ar, Au; 585 mineralization associated with high granitic rocks syn mineralization. Post mineral 2002b); Chouinard et al.
alunite) Moz Ag sulfidation state sulfide assemblage dacitic dyke (7.8 Ma) cutting (2005); Deyell et al.
and intense acid sulfate alteration mineralization. (2005b)
Famatina −29.00 −67.78 4750–4350 3.8 Ma 0.4 Moz Vein hosted mineralization above Cambrian weakly Dacitic porphyries dated at 5 Ma are Lozada Calderón et al.
(40Ar/39Ar, Au; 3 porphyry center. Ore mineralogy metamorphosed marine shale associated with porphyry (1994); Pudack et al.
sericite) Moz Ag indicates high-sulfidation state and and siltstones of the Negro mineralization but no extrusive (2009).
includes famatinite, enargite, pyrite Peinado formation volcanic rocks known from the
and lesser, tennantite, tetrahedrite, district but ash-flow tuffs from the
sphalerite, gold, tellurides,covellite, eastern flank of the Famatina range
and chalcopyrite. may be age equivalent to porphyries.
La Coipa −26.81 −69.27 4150–3800 4350 20–17 Ma K/Ar, 3.5 Moz Primary sulfides include pyrite– Black shales and sandstones of Domes and lava flows of Cecioni and Dick (1992);
alunite Au; 230 enargite, at depth also bornite, the Triassic Ternera formation intermediate composition were Oviedo et al. (1991)
Moz Ag covellite, fahlore, galena and and overlying Oligocene dated at 24–22 as well as 16–14.7 Ma
spalerite. Much of the ore is oxidized dacitic domes and pyroclastic and thus both pre- and post date
rocks. Diatreme breccias are a hydrothermal alunite ages. No
common ore host throughout volcanic rocks coincident with
the district as well mineralization known
El Hueso −26.49 −69.53 3950–3700 n/a 40–36.2 Ma 0.84 Moz Mineralization is associated with Calcareous silt and Host rocks pre-date mineralization Marsh et al. (1997)
(40Ar/39Ar, Au; 3.9 illite–sericite and quartz alteration. sandstones, limestones of the by ~15 m.y. No age equivalent
alunite) Moz Ag Sulfide minerals include pyrite, Asientos Formation (u. volcanic rocks known but
chalcopyrite, galena, native bismuth Jurassic) and overlying subvolcanic porphyries are
and Bi–Pb sulfide minerals. This Paleocene andesite lavas and widespread and associated with
assemblage is overprinted by volcaniclastic rocks porphyry Cu mineralization at
advanced argillic alteration (alunite, Potrerillos
pyrophyllite) and pyrite. Most gold
was introduced during the first stage
El Guanaco −25.1 −69.53 2400–2900 n/a 48–42 Ma 1.6 Moz Vein hosted mineralization of Andesite lava flows and Volcanic host rocks pre-date Puig et al. (1988);
(K/Ar, alunite) Au enargite, pyrite and minor overlying dacitic pyroclastic mineralization by 12 or more m.y. No http://
chalcopyrite with quartz gangue in rocks. Both units were dated volcanic rocks age equivalent to www.australgold.com.au
andesite, smaller irregular veins in by K–Ar at ~60.2–60.7 Ma mineralization known. accessed Nov 2013.
overlying pyroclastic rocks. Oxidaton
and supergene enrichment affected
the ore to ~ 300 m depth and is
characterized by the presence of a
variety of rare arsenate minerals.
Choquelimpie −18.49 −69.39 4860–4700 n/a 6.6 Ma?? (K/Ar, 0.5 Moz Mineralization associated with Late Miocene andesite lavas Andesitic stratovolcano. Groepper et al. (1991)
host rock) Au hydrothermal breccia bodies in the and dacite subvolcanic dome Mineralization largely hosted in late
core of a late Miocene stratovolcano dacitic subvolcanic dome
Santa Rosa −16.63 −70.02 4950–4750 n/a 7.2 Ma 0.5 Moz Mineralization is hosted in vuggy Miocene (9–7 Ma) felsic Mineralization occurs adjacent to Barreda et al. (2004);
(Aruntani) (40Ar/39Ar, Au quartz zones centered on magmatic pyroclastic deposits are rhyolitic flow/dome complex and is Morche et al. (2008)
alunite) hydrothermal breccia bodies and is dominant ore host. closely associated with magmatic-
surrounded by quartz–alunite hydrothermal breccias.
alteration zones. Primary sulfides
include pyrite and enargite but the
deposit has been oxidized to a depth
of 300–400 m below surface. High-
grade mineralization is controlled by

T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

NNE oriented fractures.
Tucari −16.57 −70.19 5200–4900 n/a 4.6 Ma 2.1 Moz Mineralization is hosted in vuggy Intrusions and domes of Mineralization is spatially associated Barreda et al. (2004);
(Aruntani) (40Ar/39Ar, Au quartz zones centered on dacitic composition. with magmatic-hydrothermal Morche et al. (2008)
alunite) hydrothermal breccias and is breccias emplaced at the margin of
surrounded by quartz–alunite dacitic domes. The latter were
alteration zones. Primary sulfides emplaced in the core of an andesitic
include pyrite and enargite but the stratovolcano.
deposit has been oxidized to a depth
of 300–400 m below surface.
Julcani −12.95 −74.95 4500–4000 ~9.7 Ma (K/Ar 8 Moz Ag Pre-ore acid sulfate alteration with 10.1 Ma andesitic to dacitic Voluminous extrusive domes of Deen et al. (1994);
on biotite) vuggy quartz core and surrounding domes overlying paleozoic andesitic to dacitic composition, Noble and Silberman,
quartz–alunite zone in the center of phyllites of the Excelsior covering 16 km2. Syn mineralization 1984
the district, cut by discontinuous group 9.7 Ma dykes and post
quartz–tourmaline–pyrite breccias. mineralization 7 Ma rhyolite dome
Mineralization is hosted by laterally are also documented.
zoned veins with quartz–pyrite–
wolframite–enargite–tetrahedrite–
galena and barite rich zones. Zoning
is from high sulfidaton near the core
to distal intermediate sulfidation
assemblages).
Marcapunta/ −10.78 −76.27 4450–4850 n/a 11.9–10.6 Ma 2345 kt Zoned polymetallic district with a Eocene limestone and marls Mineralization is spatially associated Bendezu et al. (2008);
Colquijirca (40Ar/39Ar, Zn, 910 high-sulfidation Au–Ag prospect and and 12.9–12.4 Ma diatreme with a 12.9–12.4 Ma diatreme dome Vidal and Ligarda
alunite) kt Pb, distal carbonate replacement dome complex. complex (Marcapunta) pre-dating (2004);
1510 kt Pb–Zn–Ag mineralization. alunite by N0.8 m.y. A dacite dyke
Cu, dated at 14.1 Ma has been
6620 t documented W of Marcapunta. No
Ag, 64 t other igneous rocks recognized.
Au
Quicay −10.7 −76.26 4350–? n/a 37.5 Ma (K/Ar) n/a Mineralization is hosted in an Intermediate volcanic rock Subvolcanic to extrusive dome Rossell et al. (2006);
alunite (?) oxidized diatreme–dome complex. and hydrothermal breccias complex of uncertain age hosting Ingemmet.gob.pe,
Highest grades up to 3 g/t are hosted mineralization. Apparently no post- accessed Jan 2014.
in a central vuggy quartz zone. mineral volcanic rocks.

(continued on next page)

333
 334
T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
Table 1 (continued)

Deposit/ Lat. Long. Elevation of Elevation of Mineraliza-tion Total Mineralization Host rocks Volcanology Selected references
district mineralization paleosurface age (method) resources
(m.a.s.l.) (if known) (approx.)

Cerro de −10.68 −76.27 4350–3900 n/a 15.4–14.4 12,250 kt Early pyrrhotite-pyrite–galena–Fe Late Triassic to early Jurassic Mineralization occurs at eastern Baumgartner et al.
Pasco (40Ar/39Ar, Zn, 3500 rich sphalerite (stage I) and later Pucara group limestone and border of a large 15.4 to 15.15 Ma (2008, 2009)
alunite) kt Pb, Cu–Ag (Au–Pb–Zn) enargite–pyrite mid Miocene diatreme diatreme–dome complex pre-dating
15,750 t veins as well as carbonate breccias. stage II mineralization by N 0.8 Ma
Ag, 1000 replacement Pb–Zn ore (stage II). but with unclear temporal
kt Cu relationship to stage I mineralization.
No volcanic rocks pre-dating the
dome complex known.
Pierina −9.46 −77.59 n/a 14.2–14.7 9 Moz Au Mineralization hosted in permeable Oligocene to Middle Miocene Late dacite flow dome complexes Fifarek and Rye (2005);
(40Ar/39Ar, pumiceous rock units and associated (29.3–14.8 Ma) andesitic to immediately pre-date Rainbow et al. (2005,
alunite) with intense acid sulfate alteration, dacitic tuffs, lavas and mineralization. No post mineral 2006)
including vuggy quartz and quartz subvolcanic domes of the volcanic rocks reported.
alunite. Sulfides include enargite, Huaraz group
pyrite as well as galena, sphalerite
and stibnite, and lesser
paragenetically late digenite and
covellite.
Lagunas −7.95 78.25 n/a 17.4–16.5 Ma 13.1 Moz Disseminated and fracture hosted Lower Cretaceous Chimú Volcanic rocks hosting Cerpa et al. (2013);
Norte (40Ar/39Ar, Au mineralization, centered on diatreme Formation quartzites (two mineralization were emplaced Montgomery (2012).
alunite) breccias. Mineralization in volcanic thirds) and early Miocene between early and main
rocks hosted in vuggy quartz and dacite tuffs and breccias (one mineralization stage. Volcanic rocks
quartz–alunite zones. Dominant third). were likely derived from diatreme
sulifdes include enargite, pyrite and breccias which also host
digenite. mineralization. Andesite lava and
dome adjacent to main diatreme has
same age as mineralization.
Yanacocha −7 −78.58 4100–3500 ~4200 11–8.2 Ma N70 Moz Massive and vuggy quartz zones Calipuy group (19.5–15.1 Ma) Mineralization overlaps in age with Longo et al. (2010)
(40Ar/39Ar Au hosting pyrite ± enargite– andesitic to dacitic lavas and voluminous andesitic to dacitic
Alunite) tennantite–covellite pyroclastic deposits and volcanic rocks. Most mineralization
14.5–8.4 Ma Yanacocha unit (N47 Moz Au) emplaced in the
dacite lavas and pyroclastic waning stages of volcanism
rocks represented by the felsic Coriwachay
dacite domes (10.9–8.4 Ma).
Sipan −6.9 −78.79 ~3500 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Gustafson et al. (2004)
La Zanja −6.83 −78.89 3700–3400 n/a n/a 0.73 Moz n/a n/a n/a Compañía minera
Au, 6 Buenaventura 2012
Moz Ag Annual report, Gustafson
et al. (2004)
Tantahuatay −6.72 −78.67 4050–3800 n/a 12.4 Ma 5.1 Moz Gold is mostly associated to pyrite– Miocene andesite domes and Volcanic domes hosting the Gustafson et al. (2004);
(K/Ar alunite) Au; 108.3 enargite hosted in intensely quartz– to a lesser degree underlying mineralization are not age Noble and Mckee
Moz Ag pyrophyllite–alunite and vuggy to pyroclastic rocks constrained. Post mineral dyke of (1999); Compañía
massive quartz alteration. Much of restricted volume was dated at minera Buenaventura
the ore is oxidized 8.6 Ma (K/Ar, biotite). 2012 Annual report
Quimsacocha −3.04 −79.22 3700–3450 3900 7.5–7.3 Ma 3.6 Moz Stratabound Au-Ag mineralization Mineralization located in Andesite lavas and intercalated MacDonald et al. (2011,
(40Ar/39Ar Au, 27 associated with pyrite and enargite, pyroclastic units between less pyroclasitc units associated to a large 2012)
Alunite) Moz Ag hosted in vuggy quartz zones permeable coherent andesite stratovolcano complex. Andesite
lava flows of the Quimsacocha is ~ 9 Ma, pre-dating mineralization
Formation by 1.5 Ma. A central caldera and
dacite domes were emplaced at
6.7 Ma, 0.5 Ma after mineralization
La Bodega/La 7.38 −72.9 2900–2300 ~3600 3.5–1.7 Ma 3.5 Moz Dominantly structurally controlled Proterozoic gneisses and late No igneous rocks age equivalent to Rodriguez (2014)
Mascota (40Ar/39Ar, Au breccias cemented by quartz, alunite Triassic leucogranite. mineralization recognized. No
alunite, sericite) and high-sulfidation sulfide juvenile clasts in breccias observed.
assemblage, overprinting earlier

T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

quartz–pyrite ± chalcopyrite veins
in phyllic alteration. Most Au–Ag in
late stages. Banded, colloform and
lattice textures normally typical for
low to intermediate sulfidation
deposits are common.
Angostura 7.39 −72.88 3500–2600 ~3600 4–1.9 Ma 2.7 Moz Widespread sheeted quartz– Proterozoic gneisses and late No igneous rocks age equivalent to Felder et al. 2005,
(40Ar/39Ar, Au pyrite ± chalcopyrite veins Triassic leucogranite. mineralization recognized. Rodriguez (2014).
alunite, sericite) associated with pervasive quartz–
sericite alteration. Locally cut by
enargite–Cu sulfide bearing breccias
and veins associated with quartz
alunite alteration. The latter hosts
highest grade Au zones.

335
336 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

6,800,000 El Indio belt geology

2 Ma Cerro de Vidrio rhyolite dome
6-5.5 Vallecito Fm. rhyolite

Au mineralization
8-7.6 Ma Pascua Fm. dacite
6,780,000

12.7-11 Ma Vacas Heladas Fm. dacite

Cerro del Toro (6168 m)
21-14 Ma Escabroso and Cerro
de las Tórtolas Fm. andesite
and subvolcanic diorite
27-23 Ma Tilito Fm. and equivalents
dacite, andesite and minor basalt

a
ra Ortíg
Paleozoic and Mesozoic basement
6,760,000

Thrust/reverse fault (symbol on

Cordille
hanging wall side)
Pascua-Lama Fault (unspecified)
Lineament from satellite image

High-sulfidation epithermal deposit

Veladero Major Mountains
6,740,000

Brea
ra de la
arrón

Sancarrón
Cordille
ra Zanc
Cordille
6,720,000

El Indio
ngüil

Cerro Doña Ana

(5625 m) Tambo
ra Cola
6,700,000

Cordille

Cerro de las Tórtolas (6160 m)

N
6,680,000

20 km

380,000 400,000 420,000 440,000 460,000

Fig. 2. Geological map of the El Indio belt and location of principal epithermal deposits. Compiled from Martin et al. (1995), Bissig et al. (2001), Zappettini (2008), and Winocur et al. (2014).
Coordinates in UTM Zone 19S, Provisional South American Datum 56.

rocks contemporaneous with mineralization have been confirmed but
low volumes of juvenile igneous material probably played a role during
emplacement of the diatreme complexes and rare, locally weakly
argillically altered, 7.8 Ma rhyodacitic dykes post-dating mineralization
have been recognized at Pascua (Bissig et al., 2001).
The alteration and sulfide paragenesis reveals that unusually acidic
fluids were responsible for alteration and some of the mineralization.
Gold mineralization is associated with pyrite and enargite, as well as
alunite, jarosite and szomolnokite (Chouinard et al., 2005). Jarosite
is locally overprinted by hypogene alunite–enargite bearing veins
(Chouinard et al., 2005). Based on light stable isotope evidence, jarosite
precipitated from mixed meteoric and magmatic fluids whereas alunite
has a magmatic fluid signature (Deyell et al., 2005b). This indicates that
fluid sources varied through time, plausibly as a function of a fluctuating
but overall decreasing water table and short lived magma-derived fluid
pulses, as also documented for El Indio (see above).
Near Pascua–Lama, the Frontera–Deidad surface reaches elevations
of 5200–5300 m a.s.l. (Fig. 5) The Azufreras–Torta surface is incised
into this high-elevation pediplain at 4950–5100 m and extensive
steam-heated alteration and clastic deposits, both probably related to
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364 337

El Indio/Tambo Area, Chile & Argentina

29°40'0"S 70°2'0"W 70°0'0"W 69°58'0"W 69°56'0"W 69°54'0"W 69°52'0"W 69°50'0"W

Chile Argentina
29°42'0"S

Río del Medio

LR
29°44'0"S

AT

6710000
Cerro Campana
El Indio

AT LR
29°46'0"S

AT

FD
Canto Sur
Veta Veronica
Kimberly
29°48'0"S

Tambo

Wendy
AT

6700000
29°50'0"S

LR
29°52'0"S

0 1 2 3 4 5 km

400000 410000 420000

Elevation (m) Slope (Degrees) Paleosurfaces

High : 6107
Los Ríos (LR); 10-6 Ma
0 - 10
Azufreras-Torta (AT); 14-12.5 Ma

Frontera-Deidad (FD); 17-15 Ma

Low : 1775

Fig. 3. El Indio Tambo area topography and landscape elements. Paleosurfaces after Bissig et al. (2002a). UTM Zone 19S, WGS84.

phreatomagmatic eruptions derived from the mineralized breccia pipes,
are exposed on this landform (Bissig et al., 2002a). Mineralization occurs
below the steam-heated zone at 4850 to 4600 m (Chouinard et al., 2005).
As at El Indio and Tambo, a valley (Río Turbio valley: Fig. 5) incised the
Azufreras–Torta surface from the east. Ferricrete-cemented conglomer-
ates at the valley-bottom display glacial striations, showing that this val-
ley pre-dated Plio-Pleistocene glacial erosion. Further, steam-heated
alteration also overprints the eastern side of the deposit to lower
elevations (to 4800 m) than to the west (to 5000 m: Chouinard et al.,
2005) indicating that incision of the Río Turbio valley from the east
may have occurred during hydrothermal activity.
4.4. Veladero
Veladero is situated about 8 km to the SE of Pascua in a NNE striking
graben (Charchaflié et al., 2007). Gold and silver mineralization is
338 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
te
las s
fan
Tó de la
B
Ele
rto
Veta Verónica
Co
Tambo
Co
(Kimberly pit)
Deidad
Steam-heated alteration
Frontera Deidad surface (17-15 Ma)
Azufreras-Torta surface (14-12.5 Ma)
Los Ríos surface (10-6 Ma)
Fig. 4. Landscape in the Tambo area. A) Panoramic view to the south, B) line drawing of the photograph in A) showing the principal landscape elements, locations of steam-heated
alteration zones as well as the Kimberly and Canto Sur orebodies. See Fig. 3 for locations.
hosted in two principal breccia bodies: Amable and Filo Federico
(Fig. 6). Ore mineralogy comprises electrum and silver-bearing jarosite
which were deposited together with euhedral quartz, and are
superimposed on earlier acidic residual quartz alteration (Holley,
2012). Jarosite is abundant, especially at Amable, whereas sulfides are
exceedingly rare. At Amable, jarosite forms euhedral crystals and
grows in open spaces and veins, and is locally overgrown by barite.
Stable-isotope evidence indicates that most jarosite precipitated from
meteoric fluids above the water table, with sulfur derived from precur-
sor sulfides. However, one location in the Fabiana zone to the east of
Veladero (Figs. 5, 6) shows unambiguous hypogene jarosite, replacing
plagioclase and biotite phenocrysts in the host rock and displaying
stable isotope signatures of magmatic fluids (Holley, 2012).
Mineralization at Amable is constrained between a 12.7 Ma alunite
40
Ar/39Ar age and a 12.14 Ma U/Pb zircon date of a narrow andesite
dyke that cross-cuts mineralization (Holley, 2012). Mineralization at
Filo Federico is at 11.1 to 10.3 Ma (40Ar/39Ar, alunite, n = 4) somewhat
younger than at Amable (Bissig et al., 2001; Holley, 2012). Jarosite ages
at Amable range from 11.8 to 8.6 Ma and overlap with hypogene alunite
and gold deposition at Filo Federico (Holley, 2012). These data are
interpreted as evidence for an overall lowering of the water table with
time, episodically interrupted by pulses of magma derived fluids.
Jarosite at Veladero almost entirely pre-dated hypogene alunite alter-
ation and sulfide mineralization at nearby Pascua−Lama.
The host rocks of the Amable ore zone consist of crudely stratified
volcaniclastic breccias assigned to the Cerro de las Tórtolas formation,
unconformably overlying Tilito Formation andesites and dacites as
well as Permian felsic tuffs (Charchaflié et al., 2007; Holley, 2012). The
Filo Federico ore zone is partly hosted in volcaniclastic deposits assigned
to the Vacas Heladas Formation (Holley, 2012). Mineralization is closely
associated with hydrothermal breccias intruding the volcaniclastic de-
posits and occurs between 4400 and 3900 m a.s.l. in a subhorizontal,
N − S elongated ore body, extending extends to lower elevations at
Filo Federico than at Amable. A steam-heated alteration zone of up to
200 m thickness overlies the orebodies and defines the paleosurface at
~4400–4600 m a.s.l. At Filo Federico, steam-heated alteration is local-
ized along fracture zones, and overprints the mineralized zone down
to more than 500 m below the inferred paleosurface (Holley, 2012).
Here, the Frontera–Deidad surface is marked by the lower contact of
the Cerro de las Tórtolas formation which here has been downfaulted
o
C Doña Ana
Azufreras
Canto Sur pit
Looking S from Canto Sur, Tambo
from 5300 m to about 4100 m in the N–S oriented Río de las Taguas
graben (Charchaflié et al., 2007, Fig. 6), whereas the Azufreras–Torta
surface has been cut into Cerro de las Tórtolas volcaniclastic deposits
at an elevation of ~ 4500 m (Charchaflié et al., 2007, Fig. 6), i.e. at the
time of, or immediately prior to, hydrothermal activity in that area.
Conversely, the Filo Federico mineralization probably formed at a time
when incision of the Los Ríos surface was well advanced, as evidenced
by the steam-heated overprint of the ore zone and the mineralization
extending to lower elevations than at Amable. The lowering of the
water table in the Veladero area during Los Ríos surface incision is also
reflected in the formation of jarosite in the vadose zone at Amable
between 11.8 and 8.5 Ma.
5. Maricunga belt
The Maricunga belt is defined as the region of the Andean Cordillera
between 26° and 28° Lat S (Vila and Sillitoe, 1991), located at the north-
ern margin of the Pampean flat slab segment. Gold-rich porphyry type
deposits (e.g., Cerro Casale (a.k.a. Adelbarán), Caspiche, Lobo, Marte)
are the defining mineralization style and the gold-rich nature of
porphyry-style mineralization is thought to be related to the shallow
emplacement of the porphyry intrusions (Muntean and Einaudi,
2001). Although barren quartz–alunite alteration is commonly found
in the shallow portions of these porphyry systems, La Pepa is the only
porphyry deposit where significant gold mineralization hosted in
quartz–alunite veins that overprint porphyry-style mineralization has
been documented (Muntean and Einaudi, 2001). In contrast, La Coipa,
located at the northern end of the Maricunga belt, hosts Ag–Au miner-
alization exclusively as epithermal mineralization of largely high-
sulfidation type (Cecioni and Dick, 1992; Oviedo et al., 1991).
Porphyry and epithermal deposits of the Maricunga belt occur in
two partly overlapping parallel N–S striking belts, with mineralization
traditionally considered to have been emplaced during two distinct ep-
isodes at 25–20 Ma and 15–13 Ma (Sillitoe et al., 1991). However, more
recently published, but still limited geochronology requires modifica-
tion of this model. The Caspiche porphyry Au deposit was dated at
~25.4 ± 0.01 Ma by Re/Os on molybdenite (Sillitoe et al., 2013) whereas
the Caserones porphyry Cu deposit in the southern Maricunga belt
formed at 20–18 Ma (Mpodozis and Kay, 2003). Further, alunite K/Ar
ages from the La Coipa district range from ~ 20 to ~ 17 Ma (Oviedo
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364 339

Pascua-Lama/Veladero Area, Chile & Argentina

70°0'0"W 69°55'0"W

Chile
Argentina

6760000
AT
AT
Pascua-Lama
29°20'0"S

Río
Tu
rbi
Penelope o
Lama Central
LR

Veladero
AT

6750000
AT Fabiana Cerro de Vidrio

FD
LR
29°25'0"S

AT
AT

0 1.5 3 6 km

400000 410000

Elevation (m) Slope (Degrees) Paleosurfaces

High : 5678 Los Ríos (LR); 10-6 Ma
0 - 13
Azufreras-Torta (AT); 14-12.5 Ma

Frontera-Deidad (FD); 17-15 Ma

Low : 2877

Fig. 5. Veladero and Pascua area topographic map and landscape elements. Paleosurfaces after Bissig et al. (2002a) and Charchaflié et al. (2007). UTM Zone 19S, WGS84.

et al., 1991) which disagree with the range between 25 and 20 Ma
established on the basis of alunite K/Ar ages (Sillitoe et al., 1991) and
biotite and hornblende K/Ar ages for dacite domes that were thought
to be closely related to mineralization (Oviedo et al., 1991; Sillitoe
et al., 1991).
The large-scale morphotectonic features of the Andes are different at
the latitude of the Maricunga belt to those of the El Indio belt, probably
influenced by the differing Paleozoic and older basement architecture
(Ramos, 2008). Thus, the Precordillera (a.k.a. Cordillera Domeyko),
resulting from the late Eocene Incaic deformation is present north of
29° Lat. S but absent south of it (Rodriguez et al., 2014), a location
which roughly coincides with the inferred southern limit of the
Antofalla massif and the northern limit of the Chilenia terrane (Ramos,
2008). Oligocene extensional tectonics are documented from south of
the Vallenar Orocline (Abanico basin, Tilito Fromation: Winocur et al.,
2014; Charrier et al., 2002) whereas a contractile tectonic regime at
340 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

Cerro Pelado
Amable Filo Federico Cerro Nevado
Penelope Río Turbio
Lama Central

Pascua/Lama

s
g fault
nb oundin
grabe

Fabiana

Steam-heated alteration
Frontera Deidad surface (17-15 Ma)
Azufreras-Torta surface (14-12.5 Ma)
Los Ríos surface (10-6 Ma)
Looking W from Fabiana

Fig. 6. Landscape in the Veladero and Pascua–Lama area. A) panoramic view from the Fabiana prospect toward the west. B) Line drawing of the landscape shown in A. Landscape elements
are shown as well as steam-heated alteration zones. See also Fig. 5 for locations.

roughly the same time is documented from the Cordillera Claudio Gay at
the latitude of the Maricunga belt during the late Oligocene (Mpodozis
and Clavero, 2002). The dominant landscape elements at the latitude of
the northern Maricunga belt include the probably Oligocene relict Sierra
Checos de Cobre surface which is incised by the upper Oligocene
to ~ 18 Ma Asientos pediplain in the eastern Precordillera (Bissig and
Riquelme, 2009; Mortimer, 1973). The Oligocene to early Miocene land-
scape was incised by the middle- to early-upper Miocene Atacama
pediplain and late Miocene canyons (Bissig and Riquelme, 2009)
which record a progressive tilting of the western Andean slope and up-
lift of the Andean Cordillera since the early Miocene (Riquelme et al.,
2007).
5.1. La Coipa
The La Coipa district contains multiple epithermal deposits of mostly
high-sulfidation type including Ladera Farellón, Can Can, Coipa Norte,
Purén, Purén Sur and Pompeya (Fig. 7). With the exception of Purén
and Pompeya, mineralization is hosted in the Triassic La Ternera forma-
tion, consisting of black shales and sandstones, as well as in overlying
upper Oligocene (24–22 Ma) dacitic tuffs, volcaniclastic breccias and
domes (Cecioni and Dick, 1992; Oviedo et al., 1991). Hydrothermal
breccias hosting ore are probably penecontemporaneous with mineral-
ization. Alunite K/Ar ages range between ca. 20 and 17 Ma (Oviedo et al.,
1991). A relict, large, upper Oligocene volcanic center, Cerros Bravos
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364 341

La Coipa Area, Chile

69°18'0"W 69°16'0"W 69°14'0"W 69°12'0"W

7040000
26°46'0"S

Purén

L. Oligocene/E. Miocene paleosurface

Purén Sur

Coipa Norte

Pompeya
26°48'0"S

Can Can

Ladera Farellón
26°50'0"S

7030000
26°52'0"S

0 0.5 1 2 3 4 5 km

470000 480000

Elevation (m) Slope (Degrees)

High : 4907 Outline of post-mineral
0 - 10 dacite domes and lavas

Low : 3013

Fig. 7. Topographic map and landscape elements of the La Coipa district. Some geological information from Cornejo et al. (1998). UTM Zone 19S, WGS84.

(Cornejo et al., 1993), is located 16 km N of Ladera Farellón. Unaltered,
16–14.7 Ma dacitic domes and lavas post-date mineralization (Oviedo
et al., 1991) and locally overlie the mineralized zones at Pompeya
(Figs. 7, 8). The Pompeya and the Purén ore bodies were discovered
after 2010, and only Purén has been mined. Pompeya is located ~3 km
NE of Ladera Farellón and is of high-sulfidation type. Purén, 8 km
NE of Ladera Farellón features high grade Pb–Zn mineralization
representing an intermediate sulfidation sulfide assemblage, an absence
of advanced argillic alteration and the occurrence of various carbonates
including rhodochrosite as alteration minerals (S. Gamonal, pers.
commun. 2014). At Purén Sur, some 2.5 km south of Purén, native
sulfur associated with steam-heated alteration was historically mined.
Steam-heated alteration is also present at Pompeya, Purén and Coipa
Norte and is generally preserved at 4250 to 4400 m a.s.l. (Figs. 7, 8).
Mineralization at Ladera Farellón, Can Can and Coipa Norte is largely
controlled by subvertical fractures when hosted in Triassic shales, but
342 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

16 Ma dacite lava
Pompeya 16 Ma dacite dome

Steam-heated
alteration zone

Late Oligocene/early Miocene erosion surface

Can Can Coipa Norte 16 Ma

Ladera Farellón
dacite dome
D

Fig. 8. Landscape and physical setting of mineralization in the La Coipa district. A) Panoramic view to the southwest from Pompeya. Dark unaltered rocks at left margin of photograph
belong to a post mineral dacite dome. B) Line drawing of photograph shown in A) highlighting the relationship of landscape and mineralization. Steam-heated alteration is exposed on
a late Oligocene to early Miocene erosion surface (light blue). C) Panoramic view looking northwest at the Ladera Farellón, Can Can and Coipa Norte ore bodies. D) Line drawing of the
photograph shown in C). Light blue indicates the late Oligocene to early Miocene paleosurface.

expands into mushroom-shaped zones in the overlying volcanic rocks. to ~ 3800 m a.s.l. (Cecioni and Dick, 1992). The dominant alteration
The latter hosts higher Ag grades, whereas the former is relatively is vuggy–quartz and quartz–alunite in the volcanic rocks and quartz–
Au-rich (Oviedo et al., 1991). The top of the exposed orebodies lies alunite ± dickite and pyrophyllite in the shale and sandstones.
around 4300 m a.s.l., with sulfide oxidation extending downwards There is a close association of alunite vein stockworks with gold
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
mineralization (Oviedo et al., 1991). The sulfides observed at depth in-
clude pyrite, chalcocite, covellite, bornite, chalcopyrite, tennantite,
tetrahedrite, galena and sphalerite (Oviedo et al., 1991), representative
of precipitation at intermediate to high-sulfidation states. No porphyry-
style mineralization related to epithermal mineralization is known at La
Coipa.
The geomorphology of the La Coipa district is dominated by a planar,
slightly west-inclined landscape constructed on the upper Oligocene
pyroclastic rocks and domes, but covered by the post mineral
16–14.7 Ma dacite lavas and extrusive domes which form the topo-
graphic highs in the district (Cornejo et al., 1998; Figs. 7, 8). This planar
surface is located at present day elevations of 4400–4200 m a.s.l., and
appears to have been the dominant paleosurface at the time of
epithermal mineralization as steam-heated mineralization is commonly
exposed on it (Fig. 8). The paleosurface that plausibly controlled
epithermal activity can be correlated with the upper Oligocene
to ≥ 18 Ma Asientos pediplain mapped on the northern side of the
Cerros Bravos volcanic complex (Bissig and Riquelme, 2009). The uplift
and subsequent erosion of the Asientos pediplain is probably related to
the late Oligocene contractile tectonic phase described from the Cordil-
lera Claudio Gay some 50 km E of La Coipa (Mpodozis and Clavero,
2002). Gold and silver mineralization at Ladera Farellón and Pompeya
is located near the upper reaches of a NE oriented valley, incised into
the probable upper Oligocene to lower Miocene paleosurface, but the
timing of valley erosion is currently unknown.
5.2. La Pepa
Within the Maricunga belt, besides la Coipa, only La Pepa contains
significant high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization. Here it is hosted
in NNW-trending quartz alunite veins that cross-cut porphyry-Au style
mineralization centered on the Cavancha porphyry (Muntean and
Einaudi, 2001). Similar quartz–alunite veins are widespread in other
porphyry Au deposits of the Maricunga belt, but only those at La Pepa
contain gold grades high enough to sustain small-scale historic produc-
tion (Muntean and Einaudi, 2001). La Pepa is also the only one of these
deposits where alunite precipitation (between 23.5 and 23.25 Ma,
based on 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages), did not overlap temporally with the
potassic alteration, here dated at 23.81 ± 0.08 Ma (hydrothermal biotite
40
Ar/39Ar plateau age, Cavancha porphyry; Muntean and Einaudi, 2001).
The late Oligocene landscape at La Pepa is obscured by extensive upper
Miocene ignimbrite deposits through which La Pepa is exposed in an
erosional window (Muntean and Einaudi, 2001).
6. High-sulfidation epithermal deposits of the Domeyko fault system
Two noteworthy middle to late Eocene high-sulfidation epithermal
deposits, El Hueso and El Guanaco, are located in the southern Atacama
Desert. These deposits occur near the Domeyko fault system of the
Chilean Precordillera, which also contains the behemothian Escondida,
Chuquicamata, and Collahuasi porphyry Cu districts. All of these
deposits were emplaced during, or immediately after the late Eocene
Incaic orogenic event which has been ascribed to an inferred episode
of slab flattening, crustal thickening, volcanic lull and subsequent east-
ward shift of the volcanic arc (Mpodozis and Cornejo, 2012; O'Driscoll
et al., 2012).
Regional uplift and formation of large scale erosional surfaces of
Incaic age are implied from constraints on supergene activity and
large scale morphotectonic features such as the Precordillera which
formed during the Incaic orogeny in the southern Atacama Desert of
northern Chile. Uplift in the Eocene to elevations similar to the present
day is also evidenced from stable-isotope paleoaltimetry for the Puna
plateau (Canavan et al., 2014) as well as for the pre-Cordillera at ~26°
Lat. S (Bissig and Riquelme, 2010). Supergene oxidation and Cu enrich-
ment in Paleocene to middle Eocene porphyry deposits in response to
uplift and erosion, initiated as early as 45 to 36 Ma at Cerro Verde
343
(Peru), Cerro Colorado, Spence and El Salvador (Bissig and Riquelme,
2010; Bouzari and Clark, 2002; Gustafson and Hunt, 1975; Quang
et al., 2003, 2005). The late Eocene climate was probably semi-arid
and considerably wetter than the present day since sufficient water is
necessary for economically significant supergene enrichment and
erosion.
6.1. El Hueso
Arguably, nowhere in the Andes is the interrelationship between
major orogenic episodes and porphyry and epithermal mineralization
better demonstrated than in the Potrerillos–El Hueso district (Cornejo
et al., 1993; Marsh et al., 1997; Niemeyer and Munizaga, 2008;
Thompson et al., 2004). At El Hueso, epithermal mineralization is locat-
ed about 3 km E of the Potrerillos porphyry Cu deposit, in the
hangingwall of the SE-verging Potrerillos Mine thrust fault which was
active during and immediately after porphyry and epithermal mineral-
ization (Marsh et al., 1997; Niemeyer and Munizaga, 2008). The district
also hosts the Jerónimo carbonate-hosted epithermal gold deposit
(Thompson et al., 2004), located some 1.5 km to the east of El Hueso,
in the footwall of the Potrerillos Mine Thrust fault.
Epithermal alteration and mineralization at El Hueso are hosted in
calcareous silt and sandstones of the Upper Jurassic Asientos formation,
as well as the uncomformably-overlying andesitic-to-rhyolitic lavas and
volcaniclastic rocks of the Paleocene Hornitos Formation (Marsh, 1997).
Hydothermal activity occurred in two stages. An early mineralization
stage spatially associated with a 40.8 Ma porphyry stock was dated at
ca. 40.2 Ma by hydrothermal sericite and alteration at this time was
dominated by sericite and illite, but incorporated only minor advanced
argillic alteration. A second stage of barren quartz–alunite alteration
and silicification occurred at ca. 36.2 Ma (King, 1992; Marsh et al.,
1997; Olson, 1984). The early stage deposited gold, accompanied by
1–2% pyrite, stibnite, chalcopyrite, galena and arsenopyrite, all hosted
in quartz veinlets (Marsh et al., 1997). The principal porphyry Cu–Au
mineralization centered on the Cobre porphyry was emplaced about
3 km west of El Hueso and immediately after the epithermal mineraliza-
tion and alteration at 35.5–35.9 Ma (Marsh et al., 1997). Structural anal-
ysis of the district suggests that the emplacement depth of porphyry
Cu–Au mineralization at the Cobre porphyry was shallow, as little as
1 km below the paleosurface (Niemeyer and Munizaga, 2008). Although
a number of Eocene porphyry stocks intrude the Jurassic and Paleocene
rocks in the district, no age-equivalent volcanic rocks are recognized
(Marsh et al., 1997). In the El Salvador porphyry Cu district, located
some 20 km NW of Potrerillos, hypogene mineralization occurred at
43–41 Ma (Gustafson et al., 2001), but the deposit was exposed to oxi-
dation and supergene modification at ca. 36 Ma (Bissig and Riquelme,
2010; Gustafson and Hunt, 1975; Mote et al., 2001). Thus, uplift and ero-
sion exhumed porphyry style mineraliztion at El Salvador about 6 Ma
after hypogene mineralization, i.e. at the time of hydrothermal activity
at el Hueso and Potrerillos. The Precordillera (a.k.a. Cordillera Domeyko)
at the latitude of the present day southern Atacama Desert is located at
the southewestern boundary of the Puna Plateau and probably formed
part of the Andean crest from late Eocene until the late Oligocene, before
late Oligocene thrusting in the Cordillera Claudio Gay, some 70 km east
of the Precordillera, established the main Andean range as known today
(Bissig and Riquelme, 2010).
The geomorphology of the area around El Hueso is dominated by a
subplanar erosion surface, now situated at 3900–4000 m elevation
which has been cut into the Paleocene Hornitos formation (Fig. 9).
This erosion surface is interpreted as a pediplain and its age is uncertain
but probably represents a somewhat erosion-degraded relic of a
pediplain that formed in response to uplift related to the late Eocene
to early Oligocene Incaic orogeny (Fig. 9). In a broad context, El Hueso
is located below a topographic high, near a scarp that separates it
from topographically lower areas to the west and may have been
emplaced in a physiographic setting comparable, albeit less well
344 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
Cerro El Hueso
Late Eocene to Oligocene paleosurface
>18 Ma Asientos pediplain with gravel cover
Fig. 9. Panoramic view of the physiographic setting of the El Hueso epithermal Au deposit. Photograph taken from the East looking West. The Potrerillos porphyry Cu (–Au) deposit is
located behind the Horizon West of El Hueso and is not visible in this view. See Bissig and Riquelme (2009).
preserved, to e.g., Pascua–Lama or El Indio. Given the widespread pres-
ervation of late Eocene to early Oligocene epithermal alteration and
mineralization styles at most about 200–300 m of erosion occurred
since hydrothermal activity in the El Hueso area. Erosion modification
of the original Incaic erosion surface probably occurred after 33 Ma as
it affects the granodiorite stock of Cerro El Hueso dated at ca. 33 Ma
(Cornejo et al., 1993), but prior to 18 Ma, which is the age of the
~100–200 m lower Asientos pediplain cutting into the high level post
Incaic surface at El Hueso (Bissig and Riquelme, 2009). The base level
of the Asientos pediplain is the Salar de Pedernales which was
established in the late Oligocene (Bissig and Riquelme, 2009). The
Oligocene to early Miocene landscape elements and underlying shallow
level epithermal mineralization in the El Hueso area are preserved due
to the arid climate. Erosion since the early Miocene was mostly concen-
trated in canyons and average denudation rates were low (~14 m/Ma:
Riquelme et al., 2008).
6.2. El Guanaco
El Guanaco is a second example of a high-sulfidation epithermal de-
posit spatially associated with the Domeyko fault system. It is located
30 km W of the crest of the Precordillera at 25.1° Lat. S. Mineralization
is hosted in roughly E to ENE-trending quartz replacement veins with
a narrow advanced argillic and argillic alteration halo. Sulfides include
enargite, pyrite and subordinate chalcopyrite. Veins were emplaced
in andesite lavas and overlying dacite tuffs of Paleocene age (ca.
54–60 Ma; Puig et al., 1988). The veins are well-defined, subvertical,
tabular structures when hosted in the andesite, but assume an irregular
behavior in the overlying, more permeable felsic pyroclastic rocks.
Supergene oxidation affected the deposit up to 300 m depth and gave
rise to a large variety of arsenate minerals, El Guanaco being the type-
locality for some of these (Witzke et al., 2006).
At El Guanaco, hydrothermal alunite yields K/Ar ages between ~48
and 42 Ma (Puig et al., 1988). No age-equivalent intrusive or volcanic
rock or porphyry-style mineralization has been documented in the dis-
trict. El Guanaco is the oldest-known high-sulfidation epithermal de-
posit of the Andes, but overlaps in age with the El Salvador and
Esperanza porphyry Cu (–Au) districts (Gustafson et al., 2001; Perelló
et al., 2004), similarly located west of the main Domeyko fault system.
Mineralization at El Guanaco is located below Cerro Estrella, a local
topographic high at ~ 2900 m a.s.l., and extends to depths of at least
2500 m a.s.l. Cerro Estrella rises about 300 m above surrounding relict
pediment surfaces of unknown age. However, El Guanaco's physio-
graphic setting is consistent with a position below a high-level Incaic
or pre-Incaic erosion surface being incised by pediments either during
or after hydrothermal activity.
El Hueso epi-
thermal Au Deposit
7. Late Miocene high-sulfidation epithermal Au deposits of the
western Cordillera of northern Chile and southern Peru
High-sulfidation epithermal deposits are rare in the Central Volcanic
zone, between ~25° Lat S in northern Chile and 15° Lat S in Central Peru,
an area that coincides with the major Chile–Peru orogenic bend. Here,
the subduction angle is at ~ 30° steeper than in the present flat-slab seg-
ments of northern Chile and central and northern Peru (Cahill and
Isacks, 1992). The current slab geometry resulted from steepening of
an Eocene shallow angle slab (Sandeman et al., 1995). The Andes at
the Chile–Peru oroclinal bend are metallogenetically diverse and in-
clude W, Sn, Ag, Pb, Zn and U deposits in the Inner Arc (partly coinciding
with the Cordillera Oriental) ranging from Jurassic to Pleistocene age, as
well as porphyry and skarn type mineralization of Paleocene and
Eocene ages (Clark et al., 1990; Perelló et al., 2003). However, a few
Miocene epithermal gold deposits occur in the Cordillera Occidental of
northern Chile and southern Peru, all of which are located at local topo-
graphic highs with mineralization exposed at elevations of 4800 to
5200 m a.s.l. Significant deposits include the 6.6 Ma Choquelimpie
high-sulfidation deposit in Chile (Groepper et al., 1991) and the Santa
Rosa and Tucarí high-sulfidation deposits of the Aruntani district in
southern Peru (Barreda et al., 2004; Morche et al., 2008). Hypogene
alunites from Santa Rosa and Tucari have been dated at 6.4 and
4.6 Ma, respectively (Morche et al., 2008).
Mineralization at Choquelimpie is hosted in the core of a stratovolca-
no interpreted as broadly cogenetic with epithermal mineralization
(Groepper et al., 1991). At Aruntani, multiple episodes of volcanism,
represented by dacitic plugs and subvolcanic intrusions as well as an-
desitic lavas both pre-dated and overlapped with epithermal minerali-
zation (Barreda et al., 2004). Thus, the volcanologic setting of these
deposits is distinct from the deposits farther south in that mineraliza-
tion is temporally more closely associated with voluminous volcanism
and does not post-date the age of their host rocks by 5 or more Ma.
The geodynamic setting of late Miocene high-sulfidation deposits of
the Cordillera Occidental also differs from the current flat slab segments
in that magmatism is associated with contraction of the arc due to
slab steepening rather than arc-broadening and cessation related to
shallowing subuduction angles as observed in the Pampean and
Peruvian flat slab segments (cf. Bissig et al., 2003, 2008; Kay and
Mpodozis, 2001; Sandeman et al., 1995).
The landscape evolution documented on the western Andean slope
indicates that multiple stages of pediment bevelling due to uplift of
the Incaic paleosurface occurred between ca. 24 Ma and 8 Ma (Quang
et al., 2005; Tosdal et al., 1984) followed by a major pulse of Altiplano
uplift and incision of deep Canyons (Thouret et al., 2007). The majority
of workers agree that most of the Altiplano uplift to average elevations
of 3800 m, occurred during the Miocene. Evidence from both
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
geomorphology (Hoke et al., 2007; Jordan et al., 2010; Schildgen et al.,
2007) and paleoaltimetry (based on stable isotope and paleobotany;
Garzione et al., 2008) suggest that at least 1000 m or more of this eleva-
tion gain occurred after 10 Ma, but prior to about 5 Ma. Thus, epithermal
gold deposits of the Central Volcanic zone formed during a major uplift
pulse.
8. Central to northern Peruvian flat slab segment
The Andean segment extending from ~15° Lat S in Peru, to 2° Lat S in
southern Ecuador, lacks recent arc volcanism, which, as in Chile, has
been attributed to flat-slab subduction spatially coinciding with subduc-
tion of aseismic ridges and oceanic plateaus (e.g., Gutscher et al., 1999a;
Martinod et al., 2010; Skinner and Clayton, 2013). The high-sulfidation
epithermal deposits of this region occur in two distinct belts (Noble
and McKee, 1999). The southeastern belt, located east of the Cordillera
Occidental, which forms the Continental divide, and extends from
Julcani (~13° Lat S) to the latitude of Antamina (~9.5° Lat S). It coincides
with the central Peruvian polymetallic province and contains a variety
of porphyry-related and carbonate hosted deposits emplaced at differ-
ent paleodepths (Bissig and Tosdal, 2009; Escalante, 2008; Escalante
et al., 2010; Love et al., 2004). This segment includes the cordilleran
base metal lode deposits (i.e. sulfide rich polymetallic deposits:
Bendezú et al., 2003) of Marcapunta–Colquijirca and Cerro de Pasco
which are centered on high-sulfidation epithermal deposits emplaced
in reactive host rocks (Bendezú and Fontboté, 2009; Bendezú et al.,
2008). The northwestern metallogenetic belt has its southern terminus
at Pierina at 9.5° Lat S, west of the Cordillera Blanca and is dominated by
high-sulfidation epithermal and porphyry Cu–Au deposits but also
includes a number of smaller vein hosted Ag–Au deposits such as
Quiruvilca (Gustafson et al., 2004; Noble and McKee, 1999). It includes,
from south to north, Pierina, Lagunas Norte and Yanacocha, the latter of
which contains upwards of 70 Moz contained Au (Longo et al., 2010;
Teal and Benavides, 2010) and which is by far the largest epithermal
deposit cluster of the Andes.
Subduction of the Nazca aseismic ridge in Peru commenced in the
middle Miocene at 14–10 Ma (Hampel, 2002) and is the inferred
cause of flat subduction (e.g., Martinod et al., 2010). However, estimates
on the timing of crustal thickening and uplift of the Cordillera Occiden-
tal in central and northern Peru vary from the early to the middle Mio-
cene and do not coincide everywhere with the onset of aseismic ridge
subduction and flat subduction. Thus, Noble et al. (1990) on the basis
of the age of tuff deposits in deeply incised paleovalleys in northern
Peru, suggested that uplift and erosion occurred in the early–late
Miocene. Crustal thickening inferred from whole rock geochemical
data of volcanic rocks in the central Peruvian polymetallic province is
inferred to have occurred around 12–15 Ma (Bissig and Tosdal, 2009).
In contrast, Montgomery (2012) proposed that a major episode of uplift
commenced at about 17 Ma, i.e., before the inferred onset of ridge sub-
duction, but coincident with high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization
at Lagunas Norte (Cerpa et al., 2013; Montgomery, 2012).
9. High-sulfidation epithermal deposits of the central Peruvian
polymetallic belt
The central Peruvian polymetallic belt contains a number of late
Miocene silver and base metal-rich vein deposits that were emplaced
in the epithermal environment. These include: San Cristóbal (Beuchat
et al., 2004), Morococha (Catchpole et al., 2011) and Uchucchacua
(Bussell et al., 1990; Escalante, 2008). At Morococha an evolution from
the porphyry to the epithermal environment occurred concurrently
with erosion, and late Miocene epithermal Ag mineralization probably
occurred only a few 100 m below the paleosurface (Catchpole et al.,
2011). All of these epithermal deposits have sulfide assemblages of in-
termediate sulfidation state and veins are largely hosted in Mesozoic
carbonaceous rocks as well as Triassic volcanosedimentary rocks.
345
However, the polymetallic belt also contains a number of epithermal
deposits with important high-sulfidation characteristics; these are
described in the following.
9.1. Julcani
The Julcani district, mined since colonial times, consists of several-
vein hosted deposits from which Ag and base metals, as well as subordi-
nate Au, have been produced. The mineralization is hosted in coalescing
domes of andesitic-to-dacitic composition and postdates a large zone of
vuggy quartz and quartz alunite alteration in the center of the district, as
well as quartz–tourmaline–pyrite breccia bodies (Deen et al., 1994;
Petersen et al., 1977). Veins are zoned along strike from higher
sulfidation state enargite–tennantite bearing assemblages near the cen-
ter of the district to lower-sulfidation assemblages containing galena
and tennantite–tetrahedrite more distally (Petersen et al., 1977).
Magmatism largely predated the epithermal mineralization but a
9.7 Ma syn-mineral dyke and small, 7 Ma, post-mineral rhyolite
domes have been recognized (Deen et al., 1994; Petersen et al., 1977).
Julcani is hosted below a sub-planar, slightly east-inclined, land surface
situated at elevations of 4000–4500 m a.s.l.
9.2. The Marcapunta–Colquijirca district
Marcapunta is a high-sulfidation epithermal Au (–Ag, Cu) deposit.
The district also contains cordilleran base metal mineralization at the
Smelter deposit, northward contiguous to Marcapunta, and more distal-
ly the Colquijirca Ag–Pb–Zn deposit, some 5 km north of Marcapunta.
The San Gregorio deposit is another cordilleran base metal deposit
southerly adjacent to Marcapunta (Bendezú et al., 2008). Vuggy quartz
alteration, phreatomagmatic breccias and disseminated gold minerali-
zation occur in the central Marcapunta dome, whereas stratabound
base metal and silver rich mineralization at Smelter and Colquijirca,
extending as far as 5 km north from Marcapunta, are hosted in Eocene
limestones and marls (Bendezú et al., 2008). There is a district-scale
lateral zoning from proximal high-sulfidation mineralization containing
enargite and pyrite to intermediate pyrite, chalcopyrite and tennantite-
bearing ore, to a distal pyrite, sphalerite and galena dominated sulfide
assemblage, the later reflecting an intermediate sulfidation state
(Bendezú et al., 2008; Vidal and Ligarda, 2004). Alunite associated
with the central high-sulfidation gold mineralization yielded ages of
11.9 to 11.1 Ma, whereas that associated with the base metal minerali-
zation yielded slightly younger ages of 10.8 to 10.5 Ma (Bendezú et al.,
2008). The dacitic dome complex hosting some of the epithermal
mineralization was emplaced at 12.9 to 12.1 Ma (40Ar/39Ar biotite
ages). No syn- or post mineral volcanic or intrusive rocks are exposed
in the district.
Colquijirca is located near the eastern margin of a regionally exten-
sive low-relief plain situated at an elevation of 4200 to 4300 m a.s.l.
whereas the Cerro Marcapunta summit at 4450 m a.s.l. constitutes the
highest feature in the deposit area. Vuggy quartz hosted gold minerali-
zation extends from 4450 m to about 4000 m a.s.l. or 450 m below sur-
face, whereas distal base metal mineralization occurs at depths less than
~400 m below surface. Proximal enargite-rich mineralization adjacent
to the dome complex, however, has been drilled to a depth of N600 m
below surface and attains thickness of up to 100 m (Bendezú et al.,
2008; Vidal and Ligarda, 2004).
9.3. Cerro de Pasco
Cerro de Pasco is located about 11 km N of Marcapunta and shares
many similarities to the geologic setting and mineralization style of
Colquijirca. The deposit is spatially related to a 15.4 to 15.2 Ma dacitic
diatreme dome complex which was emplaced at the boundary of Devo-
nian phyllites to the west and Triassic-to-Jurassic limestones to the east
(Baumgartner et al., 2008, 2009). Mineralization occurred in two stages
346 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
(Baumgartner et al., 2008; Einaudi, 1977). Stage 1 was focused at the
eastern margin of the diatreme dome complex and is characterized
by a low-sulfidation sulfide assemblage consisting of a massive
quartz–pyrite ± pyrrhotite body with associated distal carbonate re-
placement ore containing galena and Fe-rich sphalerite. Alteration relat-
ed to stage 1 is quartz–sericite. The second mineralizing stage reflects
high-sulfidation states and has proximal E–W trending enargite–pyrite
veins, hosted in part by the diatreme breccia body, and distal carbonate-
hosted Pb–Zn–Ag veins and replacement bodies containing Fe-poor
sphalerite (Baumgartner et al., 2008). Alunite is part of the alteration as-
semblage of stage 2 and gives 40Ar/39Ar ages of 14.5 to 14.2 Ma, whereas
stage 1 is bracketed between 15.4 and 14.5 Ma (Baumgartner et al., 2009).
Like the nearby Marcapunta and Colquijirca deposits, Cerro de Pasco
is associated with a dome complex which forms a local topographic high
above the regionally-extensive, low-relief surface to the west of it. The
pre-mining land surface was situated at about 4350 m a.s.l. and miner-
alization extends about 450 m below this original land surface
(Baumgartner et al., 2008).
9.4. Quicay
Quicay is a high-sulfidation epithermal center located 14 km W of
Cerro de Pasco. It is being mined by the Peruvian private company
Chancadora Centauro SAC and little information on its geology and
resources is publically available. According to information obtained
through the INGEMMET website Peru (Rossell et al., 2006) gold miner-
alization is hosted in a diatreme–dome complex and the highest gold
grades are found in the central vuggy quartz zones (average 3 ppm).
The ore is oxidized. A mineralization age of 37.5 Ma based on a K/Ar al-
unite age is suggested by Noble and McKee, (1999) which is significant-
ly older than Cerro de Pasco, despite the similar inferred shallow level of
formation. Quicay mineralization is centered on a small hill that con-
tains outcrops of vuggy residual quartz. It has a summit elevation of
4350 m, which is roughly 100 m above the same low-relief land surface
described for Cerro de Pasco. If the age constraint is reliable, it can be
inferred that no significant erosion affected the area since the Eocene.
10. The high-sulfidation epithermal Au (–Cu, Ag) deposits
of northwestern Peru
10.1. Pierina
Pierina is located in the Cordillera Negra, Ancash, west of the Cordil-
lera Blanca. The coeval, dominantly intermediate sulfidation, Santo
Toribio Ag-base metal vein systems occur ~ 5 km south of Pierina
(Rainbow, 2009), and both deposits are located beneath the shoulder
of an erosional surface overlooking the Callejón de Huaylas valley
(Figs. 10, 11). At Pierina, disseminated mineralization forms a sub-
horizontal body, and is largely hosted in a lithologically-controlled
vuggy quartz alteration zone, focused in a ca. 16.9 ± 0.6 Ma
(40Ar/39Ar, weakly chlorite-altered biotite total gas age) pumice tuff
and an underlying dacitic flow dome complex (Rainbow, 2009); both
members of the Oligocene to mid-Miocene Huaraz Group (Rainbow
et al., 2005; Strusievicz et al., 2000), the upper succession of the Calipuy
Supergroup subaerial volcanic arc. Hydrothermal breccias and small
dacitic domes cut these rocks but appear to pre-date mineralization
(Rainbow et al., 2005). Gold–silver mineralization was introduced
after initial acidic alteration, and is associated with enargite, pyrite,
bismuthinite–stibnite, galena and low-Fe sphalerite (Rainbow et al.,
2005). However, sulfides have largely been oxidized. Sub-microscopic
Au and Ag are now hosted in a goethite–hematite dominated oxide as-
semblage (Rainbow et al., 2005), the formation of which was facilitated
by microbial activity during supergene oxidation. During this process,
the local reduction of supergene fluids led to the formation of Au-
bearing acanthite (Rainbow et al., 2006). Supergene minerals at Pierina
do not include jarosite.
Hydrothermal alunite 40Ar/39Ar ages range from 15.08 ± 0.09 to
13.89 ± 0.13 Ma (n = 19), clustering in two pulses around 15 Ma and
14.4 Ma (Rainbow, 2009), whereas an age of rare, vug filling porcellane-
ous alunite from the oxide zone, yielded a large-error 14.12 ± 1.59 Ma
plateau age and may be of supergene origin (Rainbow, 2009). This
suggests that oxidation closely followed hypogene mineralization. The
host rocks of the Huaraz group range in age from 29.3 to 14.8 Ma
(Rainbow et al., 2005; Strusievicz et al., 2000).
The mineralized part of Pierina is located between about 4000 and
3800 m a.s.l., starting about 100 below the nearest topographic highs.
A horizontally extensive steam-heated alteration blanket has not been
documented at Pierina, and the presence of any steam-heated alunite
remains controversial (Fifarek and Rye, 2005; Rainbow et al., 2005,
2006). However, paragenetic relationships and stable-isotope geo-
chemistry demonstrate that meteoric waters played an increasingly im-
portant role in deposit formation, from early alteration to subsequent
oxidation, and that these fluids became progressively less isotopically
exchanged over time (Rainbow et al., 2006). This suggests that the
water table was progressively lowered during the lifetime of the hydro-
thermal system (Fifarek and Rye, 2005; Rainbow et al., 2005, 2006).
In the Pierina–Santo Toribio area, components of middle Miocene
planar erosional landforms both preceding and broadly contemporane-
ous with mineralization at Pierina can be recognized (Fig. 11). The de-
posit formed at the crest of the Cordillera Occidental and Calipuy arc
facing the Amazonian low-lands to the east, the latter not yet separated
hydrographically from the Cordillera Negra as the intervening Cordillera
Blanca was only uplifted in the late Miocene (González and Pfiffner,
2012; Petford and Atherton, 1992). An erosion surface, marked by an
angular unconformity, now tilted and dipping at ~ 20° to the ENE, un-
derlies the andesites below the Pierina deposit. The andesites have
been dated at ca. 21 Ma, suggesting that this angular unconformity re-
cords uplift and erosion in the late Oligocene to early Miocene, probably
representing the Aymará orogenic event (Sébrier et al., 1988).
The upper slope of the Cordillera Negra, immediately south of the
Santo Toribio deposit is faceted by four erosional surfaces, one of
which is constrained by the overlying 14.10 ± 1.33–14.99 ± 0.50 Ma
(40Ar/39Ar hornblende plateau ages) lava flows of the unaltered Santo
Toribio Formation andesite package. This constrained surface also
intersects the extensive area of phyllic alteration surrounding the
Santo Toribio vein system. This shows that hydrothermal activity (at
both Santo Toribio and Pierina, dated at ca. 15 to 14.4 Ma) was
penecontemporaneous with both andesite eruption and the incision of
the pediment. Volcanism terminated after 14 Ma in the area. The miner-
alization at Pierina (and Lagunas Norte—see below), the cessation of
volcanism and onset of uplift around 14 Ma pre-dated the arrival of
the Nazca ridge at the subduction zone by at least 2 Ma (Hampel,
2002). Uplift in response to crustal thickening in central and northern
Peru has, instead, been linked to increased mid Miocene plate conver-
gence and may not be directly related to initiation of flat subuduction
(Montgomery, 2012; Pardo‐Casas and Molnar, 1987).
10.2. Lagunas Norte
Lagunas Norte, La Libertad, is located about 200 km NNW of Pierina
and 100 km SSE of Yanacocha in the northeastern mineral belt of north-
ern Peru. Mineralization is largely hosted in quartzites with scarce inter-
spersed coal beds of the Lower Cretaceous Chimú Formation and, to a
lesser degree, in overlying dacitic pyroclastic and volcaniclastic rocks
of the Lagunas Norte Formation (Fig. 12) Montgomery, 2012; Cerpa
et al., 2013). Lagunas Norte Formation volcanic units are volumetrically
minor and are restricted in distribution to the immediate Lagunas Norte
deposit area (Fig. 12) Mineralization is centered on at least 2 diatremes
which are also considered the source of the pyroclasitc rocks overlying
the quartzites (Cerpa et al., 2013; Montgomery, 2012). Hydrothermal
alunite 40Ar/39Ar data constrain the age of mineralization at Lagunas
Norte to between 17.4 and 16.5 Ma (Cerpa et al., 2013; Montgomery,
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364 347

Pierina Area, Peru

77°40'0"W 77°35'0"W 77°30'0"W 77°25'0"W

Pierina

Co
rd
ille

8940000
Santo Toribio
ra
Bl
9°30'0"S

an
ca
no
rm
al
fa
ul
t
Huaraz
Cordillera N

8930000
9°35'0"S

egra
9°40'0"S

8920000
0 2.5 5 7.5 10 km

-450000 -440000 -430000 -420000

Elevation (m) Slope (Degrees)

High : 6280
0 - 10

Low : 1565

Fig. 10. Topographic map flat landscape elements and main physiographic features of the Pierina area. The approximate trace of the Cordillera Blanca normal fault is shown. Note that this
fault was not active prior to the late Miocene and areas to the east of it have been uplifting relative to the Cordillera Negra since the Late Miocene to the present (González and Pfiffner,
2012; Petford and Atherton, 1992). UTM Zone 18S, WGS84.

2012), whereas a minimum age of 16.5 Ma and maximum age of
17.2 Ma for volcanic units of the Lagunas Norte Formation have been de-
termined (Montgomery, 2012). Extensive lower Miocene (21.1 Ma to
16.4 Ma; Montgomery, 2012) andesitic-to-dacitic volcanic rocks of the
Sauco Volcanic Complex (age- and compositional-equivalent to Huaraz
Group strata of the Pierina district; Strusievicz et al., 2000; Montgomery,
2012) were deposited east of Lagunas Norte. These rocks largely pre-
date hydrothermal activity at Lagunas Norte (Fig. 12) but mapping
together with geomorphology and geochronology suggests that the
Sauco volcanic complex is the result of sector collapse contemporane-
ous with mineralization at Lagunas Norte. At Lagunas Norte a reduction
of erupted magma volumes and increased SiO2 content over time is
348 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
Santo Toribio
Callejón de Huaylas
15.59 ± 0.23
14.81 ± 1.27
Surface IV (~3970 m) andesite
Surface III (~4040 m) hydrothermal alteration
Surface II (~4260 m)
Surface I (~4500 m)
Fig. 11. Field photograph of the landscape and physical setting of the Pierina area. A) Panorama photographs taken at Pierina looking south across Santo Toribio. B) Line drawing of
principal landscape elements and locations. See text for further detail.
documented leading up to the main period of high-sulfidation
epithermal activity, with restricted, dacitic eruptions overlapping tem-
porally and spatially with mineralization (Montgomery, 2012). The vol-
canic rocks at Lagunas Norte exhibit alteration zonation typical of high-
sulfidation epithermal deposits with a vuggy quartz core surrounded by
quartz–alunite and kaolinite–dickite alteration zones. The quartzites, in
contrast, are non-reactive, and display only subtle alteration that in-
cludes kaolinite, minor pyrophyllite and traces of alunite (Cerpa et al.,
2013; Montgomery, 2012). Mineralization in the quartzites is fracture-
controlled, and hypogene ore minerals include digenite, enargite and
pyrite, the latter hosting some of the gold. Locally, within coal beds,
low-sulfidation sulfide assemblages are present (Cerpa et al., 2013).
The ore is oxidized to a depth of over 80 m.
The orebody forms a tabular body between ~4250 to 4000 m a.s.l.,
although sulfide mineralization extends to greater depths. It occurs
below relics of the extensive ca. 26–25 Ma subplanar erosional Pampa
La Julia surface (Montgomery, 2012) into which the ca. 18–16 Ma Río
Chicama surface, consisting of steep-walled, but flat-bottomed valley-
pediment was cut. The Pampa La Julia surface may be correlative with
the upper Oligocene to lower Miocene angular unconformity recog-
nized 200 km to the SSE at Pierina in the Huaraz District (see above), at-
tributed to the regional Aymará orogenic event (Sébrier et al., 1988).
The eastern Sauco Volcanic Complex in the Lagunas Norte district
erupted onto the older Pampa La Julia surface, whereas the Lagunas
Norte deposit is laterally contiguous with pronounced scarp between
this older surface and the younger Rio Chicama valley pediment
(Figs. 13, 14). Active erosion and scarp retreat during hydrothermal ac-
tivity are constrained in age by truncated a 17.05 Ma alunite veins of at
the western margin of the Lagunas Norte deposit and 16.75 Ma volcanic
rocks emplaced on the Rio Chicama surface immediately west of the de-
posit (Figs. 13, 14; Montgomery, 2012). Incision of the Rio Chicama
Quebrada Pacchac
Quebrada Huellap (with heap leach facility)
14.10 ± 1.33
15.21 ± 0.23
14.60 ± 0.08
Looking S from Pierina
hornblende Ar-Ar plateau age
sericite Ar-Ar plateau age
sericite Ar-Ar total fusion age
alunite Ar-Ar plateau age
surface at Lagunas Norte occurred during, and was likely a response
to, the initial stages of an episode of major, mid- to late Miocene
(ca. 17–5 Ma) regional uplift (e.g., Montario et al., 2005a, 2005b) and
crustal thickening, during which, as much as 2–3 km of surface uplift
may have occurred (Montgomery, 2012).
Hydrothermal activity and ore deposition at Lagunas Norte occurred
during the latter stages of development of the Sauco Volcanic Complex,
centered 4 km east of the deposit, during waning volcanism, and imme-
diately post-dated collapse of the volcanic edifice. Regional contractile
tectonism and uplift may have ultimately triggered the collapse of this
volcanic edifice, and may also have led to marked decrease in magmatic
activity which set the stage for development of the Lagunas Norte
ore body (Montgomery, 2012). Inferred emplacement of a shallow
intrusion subjacent to Lagunas Norte within this evolving tectono-
magmatic setting, and its subsequent cooling, downward contraction
and associated fluid release, is envisaged to have resulted in early acid
leaching and subsequent ore deposition at Lagunas Norte. Incision of
the Rio Chicama pediment at the margin of the Lagunas Norte deposit
at this time, would have favored decompression and fluid release, and
subsequent fluid mixing and/or boiling at the site of ore deposition.
10.3. Yanacocha
Gold mineralization occurs in about 10 individual centers within
broad NE-trending zones of residual quartz, massive quartz, quartz–
alunite–pyrophyllite and distal kaolinite alteration (Longo et al., 2010;
Teal and Benavides, 2010). Early pervasive alteration also includes
quartz–pyrophyllite featuring the wormy or gusano texture characteris-
tic of the lower portion of the lithocap environment (Sillitoe, 2010;
Teal and Benavides, 2010). Gold was introduced in several pulses and
is largely associated with permeable pyroclastic rocks, subvertical
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364 349

78° 15' W

810000 E
795000 E

805000 E
9130000 N
N
5 km

Unmapped

Lagunas Norte
CSVC

9120000 N
Shulcahuanga dome

9115000 N
Quiruvilca mine
8° S

Quaternary Quiruvilca-Tres Cruces Volcanic Complex (> 25 -18.4 Ma)

Undifferenated glacial deposits Andesite domes and lavas
Middle Miocene Cretaceous
Las Princesas volcanic domes. 16.3-15.2 Ma Undifferenated sedimentary rocks
Lagunas Norte Formaon, dacite to andesite, Structures
domes lavas and tuffs. 17.3-16.4 Ma
Sauco Volcanic Complex (21.1-17.1 Ma) Reverse fault (observed/inferred)
Dacite to andesite lavas and domes Normal fault (observed/inferred)
(CSVC - Central Sauco Vent complex) Fault (observed/inferred)
Andesite volcaniclasc rocks Syncline
Ancline
Early Andesite Dome/Lava

Fig. 12. Simplified geological map of the Lagunas Norte area. Geology and age constraints from Montgomery (2012). Coordinates in UTM Zone 18S, Provisional South American Datum 56.

fractures or breccia zones as well as margins of domes (Teal and
Benavides, 2010). The highest gold grades are associated with replacive
cream-colored chalcedony veins containing barite and fine grained rutile
and Fe oxides. These are interpreted as representing precipitation under
intermediate-sulfidation conditions (Teal and Benavides, 2010). Much of
the ore mined to date came from the oxidized portion of the deposit
where gold is associated with supergene Fe oxides. Sulfide assemblages
associated with precursor hypogene epithermal mineralization include
enargite and covellite and, at depth, chalcopyrite (Teal and Benavides,
2010). Late-stage veins of base metal sulfides associated with rhodochro-
site have locally been reported from the Cerro Yanacocha deposit and
reflect higher pH and intermediate-sulfidation state fluids (Teal and
Benavides, 2010). Besides high-sulfidation and intermediate-sulfidation
epithermal mineralization, porphyry style Cu–Au ore has been described
from Kupfertal, an area exposed at ~3800 m a.s.l., 300 m below the sum-
mit of Cerro Yanacocha (Gustafson et al., 2004; Teal and Benavides,
2010).
The rocks hosting the epithermal mineralization largely belong to
the 14.5–11.2 Yanacocha Volcanics (Longo et al., 2010) which consist
of andesitic-to-dacitic lavas and pyoclastics and associated subvolcanic
rocks. As at Lagunas Norte, the volcanic pile records a reduction of
erupted magma volumes and increased SiO2 content over time, with
over 90% of the volcanic rocks erupted prior to 11 Ma (Longo et al.,
2010). Hydrothermal alunite ages (13.6 to 8.2 Ma) temporally overlap
with the Yanacocha Volcanics, but less than 20% of the gold is associated
with hydrothermal activity older than 11 Ma. The bulk of the gold
was introduced after 10.9 Ma and temporally overlaps with the
volumetrically-minor Coriwachay dacite domes dated at 10.9 to
8.4 Ma (Longo et al., 2010). Thus, high-sulfidation epithermal gold min-
eralization clearly post-dated much of the volcanism and occurred in
multiple pulses over a period of 2–3 Ma. Additionally, hydrothermal bi-
otite associated with porphyry Cu–Au mineralization at Kupfertal
yielded an 40Ar–39Ar age of 10.7 Ma. Although both porphyry and
high-sulifdation epithermal style mineralization are present and
350 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

Lagunas Norte Area, Peru

78°15’0”W

RCh surface
7°55’0”S

18-16 Ma

Sauco volcanic complex

PLJ surface
26-25 Ma

9120000
Lagunas Norte

Q Constructional
surface
PLJ surface
26-25 Ma
8°0’0”S

0 1 2 3 4 5 km

800000 810000

Elevation (m) Slope (Degrees)

High : 4254
0-8

Low : 2275

Fig. 13. Topographic map, flat landscape elements and main physiographic features of the Lagunas Norte area. PLJ: Pampa La Julia 26–25 Ma paleosurface, RCh: Río Chicama 18–16 Ma
paleosurface, Q: Quesquenda constructional surface composed of lower Miocene volcanic rocks, including those of the Sauco volcanic complex which is indicated. Surfaces and location
of Sauco Volcanic complex from Montgomery (2012). UTM Zone 18S, WGS84.

spatially overlapping, they are probably formed in distinct magmatic-
hydrothermal settings (cf. La Pepa, Muntean and Einaudi, 2001).
The Yanacocha deposits underlie a 3900 to 4000 m a.s.l. subplanar
land surface (Fig. 15) evident in digital elevation models, with local to-
pographic highs, such as Cerro Yanacocha, reaching 4150 m. The high
planation surface has a similar elevation to the Pampa la Julia surface
in the Lagunas Norte district (Montgomery, 2012) and could conceiv-
ably be age-equivalent. The area hosting mineralization is incised by
flat bottomed valleys of ~ 3500 m elevation to the west and south
which themselves have been incised up to 250 m by deep canyons. No
detailed documentation and direct age constraints on erosional surfaces
are available. However, steam-heated alteration is locally preserved
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
A view looking southwest
Lower Miocene
Sauco volcanic
complex
~ 16-18 Ma Río Chicama valley-pediment network
~ 25-26 Ma Pampa La Julia pediplain
B Alexa Zone
17.05 Ma alunite Shulcahuanga dome 16.95 Ma
Lagunas Norte orebody
Lagunas Norte Fm.
Pampa La Julia surface
Chimú Fm.
Fig. 14. Field photographs of the landscape and physical setting of the Lagunas Norte area.
above mineralization (Teal and Benavides, 2010), suggesting that only
limited erosion has occurred since the late Miocene. Although glaciation
affected parts of the district above 3900 m a.s.l., glacial erosion was only
locally significant and led to the formation of the detrital La Quinua gold
deposit hosted in glacial till (Mallette et al., 2004).
10.4. Tantahuatay, Sipan and La Zanja
Besides Yanacocha, northern Peru hosts a number of porphyry
Cu–Au and high-sulfidation epithermal deposits of late–middle to late
Miocene age (Gustafson et al., 2004; Noble and McKee, 1999; Noble
et al., 2004). Most of these occur within 50 km of Yanacocha (Fig. 15).
The high-sulfidation epithermal deposits include Tantahuatay, Sipan
and La Zanja, whereas Cu ± Au ± Mo porphyry style mineralization
includes El Galeno and Cerro Corona (Gustafson et al., 2004). At
Tantahuatay, mineralization is hosted in an intensely vuggy to, locally,
massive quartz and quartz–pyrophyllite–alunite alteration zone, hosted
in andesitic domes and underlying pyroclastic rocks (Gustafson et al.,
2004). The andesites constitute the local topographic highs at
4050 m a.s.l. Gold is associated with pyrite and enargite and is concen-
trated in areas of secondary permeability (vuggy quartz or fracture
351
Lagunas Norte
(early stages of open pit)
Looking south
4200 m a.s.l. Tres Amigos dome 16.75 Ma
4000 m a.s.l. Tres Amigos
lava flows
Chimú Fm.
Río Chicama valley-pediment
zones). The deposit has been affected to a more significant degree
by glaciation than Yanacocha, and it is thought that a significant
part of the mineralization has been eroded (Gustafson et al., 2004).
Little detailed geological information has been published for La Zanja,
operated by Compañia Minera Buenaventura and for Sipán. However,
Tantahuatay as well as Sipán and La Zanja lie beneath a high-elevation
planar landform similar to- and apparently contiguous with the one at
Yanacocha (Fig. 15). This surface is slightly inclined to the west and
Sipan and La Zanja are exposed at about 400 m lower elevation than
Tantahuatay and Yanacocha, the latter being located about 30–40 km
to the E of Sipan and La Zanja.
11. The northern Andes
A major break in the basement architecture in southern Ecuador
separates the Northern Andes (3.5° Lat S. to 11° Lat N.) from the Central
Andes (Cediel et al., 2003; Gansser, 1973) and is reflected in the differ-
ing metallogeny of the two regions. The western Cordillera of the north-
ern Andes of Ecuador and Colombia is comprised of terranes accreted
during the Cretaceous and Miocene, whereas the basement of the
352 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

Yanacocha/Sipan/Tantahuatay/La Zanja Area, Peru

78°55'0"W 78°50'0"W 78°45'0"W 78°40'0"W 78°35'0"W

9260000
Tantahuatay
6°45'0"S

Cerro Corona P. Cu-Au

9250000
6°50'0"S

La Zanja

9240000
Sipan
6°55'0"S

9230000
Yanacocha District
7°0'0"S

9220000
0 1 2 4 6 8 10 km

730000 740000 750000 760000 770000

Elevation (m) Slope (Degrees)

High : 4203
0-8
Porphyry Cu-Au deposit

Low : 1041

Fig. 15. Topographic map, flat landscape elements and geomorphologic setting of Yanacocha and other epithermal deposits of northern Peru. UTM Zone 18S, WGS84.

Central Andes was assembled during the Paleozoic and earlier (Cediel
et al., 2003; Ramos, 2009). In the northern Andes, in contrast to the
Central Andes, high-sulfidation epithermal deposits are scarce, although
numerous other gold-rich deposits are known. The latter occur along
the eastern margin of the western Cordillera in northern Ecuador and
particularly throughout Colombia (Leal Mejía, 2011; Leal Mejía et al.,
2011; Schuette, 2010) and include the late Miocene gold-only La Colosa
porphyry deposit (Lodder et al., 2010) as well as the Marmato (Tassinari
et al., 2008) and Buriticá (Lesage, 2011) low-sulfidation epithermal de-
posits. Large high-sulfidation epithermal deposits include Quimsacocha
in Ecuador and the California–Vetas district in the eastern Cordillera of
Colombia. The northern Andes are now dominated by humid tropical
climate and thus are wetter than the western cordillera of the Central
Andes. Areas at high elevations record 1–2 m annual rainfall, but some
of the adjacent low-lying areas record even higher precipitation rates
of up to 10 m/yr (Alvarez Villa et al., 2011).
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
The uplift history and landscape evolution of the Northern Andes is
less well established than in the Central Andes and the geomorphology
is influenced by the terrane architecture. However, extensive planation
surfaces have been documented in the Ecuadorian Andes (Coltorti and
Ollier, 2000) and for the central Cordillera in Colombia (Restrepo-
Moreno et al., 2009). In Ecuador, relict planation surfaces are commonly
exposed at 3500–3800 m a.s.l. The nature of these and the timing of up-
lift are controversial. Coltorti and Ollier (2000) interpret them have
formed as planation surfaces near sea-level as recently as early Pliocene
and having been uplifted rapidly since the Pliocene. Conversely,
Steinmann et al. (1999) documented the onset of major uplift in the
early–late Miocene on the basis of stratigraphic relationships in
intramontane basins. A major tectonic change and increased uplift and
contractile deformation in the Andes has been associated with the arriv-
al of the Carnegie Ridge at the subduction trench but age estimates for
this event vary widely between 15 Ma (Spikings et al., 2001) and
2 Ma (e.g., Gutscher et al., 1999b). The Colombian Andes, comprise
three separate ranges, the Cordilleras Occidental, Central and Oriental,
each of which experienced differing geomorphologic histories. Planar
surfaces have been described from the Central Cordillera and the East-
ern Cordillera. A high plateau, the Antioqueño Plateau, is located at
the northern limit of the central Cordillera (6° ± 1° Lat. N). It consists
of an extensive upper Oligocene to lower Miocene planar erosion sur-
face which was cut from the NE into an older, uplifted early Eocene
landscape (Restrepo-Moreno et al., 2009; Villagomez and Spikings,
2013). The Antioqueño plateau is separated from higher landscape ele-
ments by a relict back-scarp and may have formed originally as a
pediplain. A renewed late Miocene to early Pliocene uplift pulse and as-
sociated incision of deep canyons is identified on the basis of apatite
U–Th/He data (Villagómez and Spikings, 2013). The magnitude of late
Miocene uplift and exhumation increases south of the Antioqueño Pla-
teau and contiguous central Cordillera (Villagómez and Spikings,
2013) but there the planar nature of the uplifted surface is obscured
by recent voluminous volcanic deposits and presumably by more
intense landscape dissection in response to uplift. In contrast to the
central Cordillera, the Eastern Cordillera was established in the late
Oligocene when the tectonic regime changed from extensional to con-
tractile and the frontal thrust separating it from the Llanos Foreland
was established (Horton et al., 2010). However, based on paleobotanical
evidence, much of the uplift to the present day elevations of around
2600–3600 m a.s.l. probably took place in the late Miocene-to-
Pliocene (Gregory-Wodzicky, 2000). The northern extension of the
eastern Cordillera which hosts the California Vetas Mining District,
may have experienced uplift pulses in the Paleocene and early Miocene
but, most importantly, in the late Miocene-to-Pleistocene (Villagómez
et al., 2011).
11.1. Quimsacocha
Quimsacocha is located in the northern Andean block (sensu Gansser,
1973), about 20 km NW of the NE-trending Girón fault which constitutes
an important terrane boundary separating the Upper Cretaceous Piñón
terrane to the northwest, from the Lower Creteaceous Anaime terrane
to the southeast (Ramos, 2009; Schuette et al., 2012). The Quimsacocha
deposit adheres closely to the model for high-sulfidation epithermal de-
posits (MacDonald et al., 2011). Mineralization is hosted within a large
vuggy quartz, massive quartz and quartz–alunite ± pyrophyllite alter-
ation zone which is centered on the N-striking Río Falso fault zone. The
ore is confined in pyroclastic strata between subhorizontal andesite
lava flows of the 9 Ma Quimsacocha Formation (all age dates are
40
Ar/39Ar plateau ages: MacDonald et al., 2011, 2012). The host rocks
underwent intense acid leaching resulting in vuggy quartz alteration,
prior to the deposition of pyrite, enargite and associated gold and
minor quartz (MacDonald et al., 2011). Alunite associated with the
vuggy quartz and advanced argillic alteration is dated at 7.6 to 7.3 Ma
and biotite from a post-mineral dacite dome yielded an age of 6.7 Ma
353
(MacDonald et al., 2012). Steam-heated alteration zones of limited thick-
ness have locally been preserved in the highest parts of the deposit. The
ore-controlling Rio Falso fault is located along the eastern margin of a
caldera in which the post mineral dacitic domes lie but is a district-
scale feature and does not constitute the caldera margin (Fig. 16).
Mineralization at Quimsacocha is located between 3500 and
3700 m a.s.l. The paleosurface delimited by the steam-heated alteration
zone is located at 3800–3900 m a.s.l. The deposit is located near the
eastern margin of a large plateau at 3800 ± 100 m elevation with
steep margins relative to the adjacent valleys (Fig. 16; Coltorti and
Ollier, 2000). Based on sedimentological evidence and zircon fission-
track age data for tuff layers (Hungerbuehler et al., 2002; Steinmann
et al., 1999), the area was at sea-level as recently as 15–11 Ma, with up-
lift to almost 4000 m a.s.l. occurring in the Late Miocene, broadly coeval
with mineralization. Quimsacocha also overlies the subducting Carnegie
ridge and no recent volcanism has been documented from the area
(Chiaradia et al., 2004; Schuette et al., 2010).
11.2. California Vetas
The California Vetas Mining District is located in the northeastern
Cordillera of Colombia, some 30 km N of the city of Bucaramanga. The
modern climate in the area is tropical and has two pronounced rainy
seasons per year, with annual rainfall of around 2000 mm. The location
corresponds to the southern tip of the triangular Maracaibo block which
is bounded by the NNW-striking sinistral Santa Marta–Bucaramanga
fault and the NE-striking dextral Boconó fault. Mineralization is hosted
by Grenvillia-aged Bucaramanga gneisses as well as upper Triassic
to lower Jurassic peraluminous granites (Mantilla Figueroa et al.,
2013). Locally, at the El Cuatro prospect (Fig. 17), small volumes of
metaluminous, coarsely-porphyritic granodiorite dykes of late Miocene
age (10.9–8.4 Ma: Mantilla F. et al., 2009, 2011; Mantilla Figueroa et al.,
2013; Bissig et al., 2014) are associated with porphyry Mo mineraliza-
tion (Bissig et al., 2012).
Gold mineralization is mainly vein-hosted and is largely of high-
sulfidation epithermal type, overprinting earlier porphyry-style Mo
mineralization (Rodriguez, 2014). Numerous artisanal mines have been
operating since colonial times, but most current resources are contained
in the La Bodega/La Mascota and contiguous Angostura deposits. Miner-
alization was largely controlled by the NE-trending La Baja fault trend,
Angostura focused in a dextral strike-slip sigmoidal loop (Fig. 17;
Rodriguez, 2014). Several hydrothermal stages can be distinguished.
Early quartz–pyrite ± chalcopyrite veins associated with pervasive
sericitic alteration represent precipitation in the porphyry environment
and are associated with low-grade Au mineralization (b1 g/t). These
are overprinted by several stages of veins and fault-controlled breccias
which introduced the bulk of the gold mineralization (Rodriguez,
2014). Ore minerals of the epithermal stages include covellite, bornite,
chalcopyrite, hubnerite, enargite and pyrite, all of which are associated
with native gold and gold–silver tellurides, as well as late Fe-poor sphal-
erite. Epithermal veins and breccias have quartz and alunite gangue that
form banded, colloform and cockade textures (Rodriguez, 2014), such
as are more typically associated with low-sulfidation type deposits
(Simmons et al., 2005). Conversely, vuggy residual quartz and aerially-
extensive, pervasive, quartz–alunite–kaolinite alteration typical of
high-sulfidation deposits is largely absent in the California–Vetas district.
Both fluid inclusion and textural evidence indicates that boiling was an
important ore depositional mechanism, occurring at 200–250° C
(Rodriguez, 2014). Early muscovite alteration associated with quartz–
pyrite veins at Angostura and La Bodega gives 40Ar/39Ar ages of ca. 4 to
3.5 Ma and one alunite sample from Los Laches, at ~ 3500 m a.s.l.,
some 800 m above the muscovite sample locations, was dated at
4.02 ± 0.06 Ma and likely was deposited close to the paleosurface
(Fig. 17, Rodriguez, 2014). The age of mineralization inferred from
alunite in mineralized veins and breccias ranges from 2.6 to 2 Ma at La
Bodega and Angostura, but alunite the La Plata, San Celestino and El
354 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

Quimsacocha Area, Ecuador

79°15’0”W 79°10’0”W

9670000
3°0’0”S

Río Falso fault zone

Quimsacocha
caldera
Quimsacocha Deposit

9660000
3°5’0”S

0 1 2 3 4 5 km

690000 700000

Elevation (m) Slope (Degrees)

High : 4079
0-8

Low : 2925

Fig. 16. Topographic map of the Quimsaochca area. The approximate trace and orientation of the Río Falso fault is indicated.

Cuatro prospects downstream from La Bodega (Fig. 17) yielded ages of
3.5 to 3.2 Ma. Post-mineralization alunite associated with sphalerite
yielded ages from 1.9 to 1.6 with Ma (Rodriguez, 2014). Paragenetically
late U mineralization has been reported from San Celestino (Polania,
1980) 2 km SW of La Bodega, along the same mineralized trend. No
igneous rocks similar in age to the epithermal mineralization have
been documented, but stable-isotope data indicate a magmatic source
for the mineralizing fluid (Rodriguez, 2014).
The geomorphology in the La Bodega and Angostura area is charac-
terized by a deeply-incised, steep-walled valley paralleling the NE-
trending dextral La Baja fault zone (Figs. 18, 19). Angostura is located
at the upper termination of this valley, La Bodega/La Mascota at 2800
to 2350 m, and Angostura between 3500 and 2700 m a.s.l. More
subdued topography characterizes the topographically-high areas
from ~ 3400 to 4000 m a.s.l. (Figs. 18, 19) representing the highest
parts of the northeastern cordillera of Colombia. This suggests that,
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364 355

72°56'0"W 72°54'0"W 72°52'0"W

Fault
lt
ult

fau
fa

la
ra

a
t
tu Veta de Barro

Rio Cucutil
aul

illt
s

cu
go
ja f
ura

Cu
ost

An
Ba
Ang

e ral-
Los Laches 4.02 +/- 0.06 Ma

La
3.4 +/- 0.06 Ma La Picota 2.77 +/- 0.15 Ma

m
o R
La Bodega
3.91 +/- 0.15 Ma

La Mascota PaLa
ez f
Perezosa 2.1- 1.8 Ma (n=2)
ault

2.5 - 1.6 Ma (n=9)

El Cuatro
Pie de Gallo 3.26+/- 0.30 Ma
7°22'0"N

San Celestino
3.23+/- 0.06 Ma

La Plata

1305000
3.43 +/- 0.07 Ma

Violetal Geologic Units

Faults & Contacts
Pliocene
California Hydrothermal breccia/veins Normal fault

Late Miocene Normal fault, inferred

Hydrothermal breccia Thrust fault

Strike-slip, dextral
7°20'0"N

Porphyry Non conformity

Late Cretaceous
Rosablanca Formation Town
California Vetas
Mining District Prospect/Artisanal Mine
Bolivar Tambor Formation

Bucaramanga Late Triassic to Early Jurassic 40Ar/39Ar ages

Diorite to Granodiorite
Antioquia Alunite
Santander
Arauca Leucogranite Sericite
Proterozoic

1300000
Casanare
Boyaca Bucaramanga Gneiss

1125000 1130000 1135000

Fig. 17. Geological map of the La Baja Trend, California Vetas Mining District, Santander Colombia. Prospect locations as well as alunite and sericite ages are shown. Modified from
Rodriguez (2014). Coordinates given are geographic and Colombian Gauss with Bogota Observatory datum.

despite the wet climate, the topographically high areas are not in ero-
sional equilibrium with the present day base-level, as in northern
Chile and Peru. This high elevation surface is interpreted as a relict
lower to middle Miocene paleosurface.
Based on apatite fission track data, uplift and valley incision com-
menced around 17 Ma (Van Der Lelij, 2013) but the most important up-
lift pulse probably occurred in the Pliocene (Gregory-Wodzicky, 2000;
Shagam et al., 1984; Villagomez et al., 2011). Thus, uplift, erosion and
epithermal mineralization overlapping in age and the fact that the alu-
nite ages along the La Baja trend become younger upstream strongly
suggests that erosion is directly stimulating epithermal mineralization.
12. Summary and comparison to low-sulfidation deposits
High-sulfidation epithermal deposits of the Andes occur over a geo-
graphically wide area, yet were emplaced in remarkably predictable
geologic and geomorphologic settings. Virtually all high-sulfidation
epithermal deposits formed during episodes of major uplift in the re-
spective Andean segment in which they are hosted. The uplifted land-
forms hosting epithermal mineralization are mostly extensive low
relief surfaces, in many cases demonstrably pediplains, located at the
crest of the Andes at the time of mineralization. The low-relief surfaces
were commonly subject to erosion and valley pediments or valleys were
being incised during mineralization. A direct temporal and spatial
relationship of erosion and mineralization has been documented for a
number of epithermal districts including the El Indio belt deposits,
Pierina, Lagunas Norte and California–Vetas.
Most high-sulfidation epithermal deposits were emplaced above
segments of flat subduction where no volcanism is presently observed.
The few exceptions to the latter occur in the western Cordillera near the
Andean orocline in southern Peru and northern Chile. The vast majority
of deposits are 17 Ma or younger, but exceptions include the Eocene El
Hueso, and Guanaco deposits in the southern Atacama Desert near the
Domeyko fault system, and possibly the poorly documented Quicay
deposit as well as the late Oligocene to early Miocene La Coipa deposit
for which age constraints are ambiguous. Large volcanic edifices are un-
common hosts to ore. Host rocks to high-sulfidation systems commonly
pre-date mineralization by several Ma to as much as 1 Ga, as at
La Bodega and Angostura in Colombia. However, examples exist
where the ages of ore-hosting volcanic rocks overlap with those of
356 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

California Vetas Mining District, Colombia

72°55’0”W 72°50’0”W
7°25’0”N

Angostura

La Bodega/La Mascota
El Cuatro
San Celestino

La Plata

California
7°20’0”N

Vetas

0 1 2 3 4 5 km

Elevation (m) Slope (Degrees)

High : 4272
High elevation low relief paleosurface
0 - 16

Town
Low : 1358 Prospect

Fig. 18. Topographic map of the California–Vetas Mining District, showing steep valleys incised into a high-elevation relatively low relief landscape. WGS84.

alteration and mineralization (e.g., Yanacocha, Lagunas Norte, Aruntani)
but where this temporal overlap exists, the volcanic rocks contempora-
neous with mineralization are, with exception of Aruntani, of low
volume and volcanism ceased shortly after mineralization. Volcanic
rocks of significant volume covering and/or post-dating mineralization
are reported from La Pepa and La Coipa.
Andean low-sulfidation epithermal deposits are commonly smaller
and many occur in geologic settings distinct from those of their high-
sulfidation counterparts. Some of the larger examples include the Juras-
sic Fruta del Norte deposit in Ecuador (Henderson, 2009), the Paleocene
El Peñón deposit of northern Chile (Warren et al., 2004, 2007). The Late
Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits of the Deseado and Patagonian
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
California
San Celestino
El Cuatro
La Mascota
La Bodega
Fig. 19. Photograph looking SW from Angostura, showing the approximate locations of
prospects. Note the steeply incised La Baja valley and the less rugged higher elevation
terrain.
Massifs (Dietrich et al., 2011; Echavarria et al., 2005; Fernández et al.,
2008) are, strictly speaking, located outside the Andes but the Cerro
Bayo low-sulfidation deposit considered the westernmost deposit of
this low sulfidation epithermal province is located in the Chilean
Patagonian Andes (Poblete et al., 2014). Mineralization here took
place in several pulses between 144 and 113 Ma and partly overlaps
in age with the slightly older low-sulfidation epithermal deposits of
the Deseado and north Patagonian massifs (Poblete et al., 2014).
The low-sulfidation deposits mentioned above occur at elevations
below 2400 m a.s.l., are hosted by dominantly rhyolitic volcanic and
volcaniclastic rocks, lack a spatial or temporal association with porphyry
systems (as defined by Sillitoe, 2010) and occur in extensional tectonic
settings without documented contractile deformation and surface uplift
during mineralization. However, there are also examples of epithermal
deposits containing low-sulfidation mineralization that occur within
larger magmatic-hydrothermal systems in arc segments also containing
porphyry style or high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization. Examples
of these include Cerro de Pasco (Peru: Baumgartner et al., 2008),
Marmato and Buriticá (Colombia: Tassinari et al., 2008; Lesage, 2011)
which are all mid to late Miocene in age. The low-sulfidation nature of
epithermal deposits of some contractile arc settings may be attributed
to more reactive, locally-reducing host or basement rock characteristics
(e.g., Marmato: Tassinari et al., 2008). Thus, as proposed earlier (Sillitoe
and Hedenquist, 2003) low-sulfidation deposits may be associated with
both, overall contractile arc as well as rift settings. Those associated with
rift settings and rhyolitic magmatism evidently are more likely to be
preserved over longer time intervals than epithermal deposits in
contractile settings.
13. Controls of geomorphic processes and climate on mineralization
Epithermal deposits are emplaced at shallow crustal levels, in the
case of high-sulfidation epithermal deposits at depths commonly less
than 500 m (see above). Such shallow hydrothermal environments
are directly influenced by surface processes and climatic conditions.
Precious metals in the epithermal environment are typically precipitat-
ed by processes of boiling or fluid mixing (Simmons et al., 2005). The
depth of boiling in the epithermal environment is controlled by the
hydrostatic pressure which depends on the elevation of the water
table. A lowering of the water table during hydrothermal activity such
as would occur during catastrophic erosion or volcanic sector collapse
would enhance boiling and can be important for the efficiency of pre-
cious metal deposition (Bissig et al., 2002a; Simmons, 1991). This can
357
lead to the superposition of epithermal mineralization on the porphyry
environment during the life-span of a single magmatic-hydrothermal
system, a process commonly referred to as “telescoping” (Sillitoe,
1994). At the giant Ladolam deposit in Papua New Guinea, volcanic sec-
tor collapse eliminated more than 500 m of rock cover very rapidly, and
is thought to be integral to epithermal ore formation (Blackwell et al.,
2014; Carman, 2003; Sillitoe, 1994). While Ladolam has a low-
sulfidation sulfide assemblage and is associated with alkalic magmatism
and has, thus, fluid chemistry differing from that of Andean high-
sulfidation epithermal systems, the gold transport and precipitation
processes are still comparable, Au bisulfide complexes being probably
important in both (e.g., Heinrich et al., 2004). Sector collapse and
“telescoping” have also been proposed for Marte and other porphyry
Au deposits in the Maricunga belt (Muntean and Einaudi, 2001;
Sillitoe, 1994), indicating that catastrophic erosion during hydrothermal
activity is not unique to Ladolam. However, in the absence of large
volcanic landforms which are prone to rapid degradation, erosion in re-
sponse to uplift events can enhance mineralizing processes (Bissig et al.,
2002a) and may exert a first-order control on exsolution of fluids from
magmas. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that Eocene and Mio-
cene porphyry and high-sulfidation epithermal deposits in the Central
Andes were emplaced during contractile deformation, uplift and large-
scale erosion on the western Andean slope, which occurred during the
Eocene Incaic, late Oligocene–early Miocene Aymará and Miocene Que-
chua orogenic phases. On a more local scale, valley or pediment incision
during hydrothermal activity can lead to lowering of the water-table
near the head of the incising valleys and, by generating local topogra-
phy, may lead to increased lateral groundwater flow and enhanced
mixing of magmatic with meteoric fluids. This process can enhance boil-
ing and fluid mixing especially near the shoulders or back-scarps of in-
cising pediments (e.g. El Indio belt: Bissig et al., 2002a, Lagunas Norte:
Montgomery, 2012) or fault induced steep topographic gradients (po-
tentially the case in the Famatina district: Losada-Calderón et al.,
1994; Pudack et al., 2009). The time scale of valley incision is well within
the proposed duration of hydrothermal activity of individual hydrother-
mal systems, which is in the order of 10 to 100 k.y. (e.g., Simmons, 2002;
Simmons and Brown, 2006). Erosion can in part influence the locus of
mineralization over time. The example of Veladero and Pascua as well
as the deposits along the La Baja trend in the California Vetas district il-
lustrate this relationship (Figs. 20, 21). In both cases, older mineraliza-
tion occurs downstream from younger mineralization. Perhaps the
best temporal control is available for the La Baja trend where at
3.5 Ma, alunite and associated Au mineralization formed to the west
and downstream of contemporaneous higher temperature phyllic alter-
ation, which formed under 500 m or more of cover rock (Rodriguez,
2014; Fig. 20). At a later stage, the La Baja valley incised northeastward
and subsequent epithermal hydrothermal alteration and mineralization
overprinted the phyllic alteration at La Bodega and Angostura (Fig. 20).
In the case of Veladero and Pascua, no constraints for phyllic alteration
overprinted by high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization are available.
However, mineralization at the Filo Federico zone at Veladero is at
11–10.3 Ma distinctly older than 9.5 Ma mineralization at the Penelope
ore zone and 9.1–8.1 Ma mineralization at Pascua which occur upstream
from Filo Federico (Fig. 21). At the time of mineralization at Pascua,
Veladero was already subject to oxidation, as suggested by the jarosite
ages of Veladero, roughly contemporaneous with hypogene alunite for-
mation at Pascua (Deyell et al., 2005b; Holley, 2012).
Andean high-sulfidation epithermal deposits occur over a wide
range of climatic zones from humid tropical to hyper-arid climate. The
Miocene climate of the Central Andes was probably slightly more
humid than at present but probably not fundamentally different as
South America was located at similar latitudes as at present (Clarke,
2006). Thus, the availability of meteoric fluids during hydrothermal ac-
tivity does not seem to be the principal controlling factor for mineraliza-
tion. This is in agreement with the growing number of stable-isotope
studies, all of which propose a dominantly magmatic source for the
358 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

La Bodega Angostura
10 Ma Paleosurface
NE
A

Los Laches
SW

La Bodega

Perezosa
San Celestino

La Mascota
California

El Cuatro
La Plata
3,500

ce
rfa
su
ay
Elevation (m)

td
3,000

en
es
Pr
2,500

Mo Mo
Cu?
2,000 Cu?
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 6,500 7,000 7,500
Distance (m)
B
3,500
4 - 3.25 Ma 4 Ma
e
f ac ce
ur rfa
al
e os
os
u Au
p le
pa
Elevation (m)

3,000 a
M a
5 M
3. 2 5
~ 3.
~ Au
3.9 Ma Cu
2,500 3.25 Ma Au
3.25 Ma 3.4 Ma
Cu
3.5 Ma Au Au ?
Au Ag Ag
2,000 Ag
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 6,500 7,000 7,500
C Distance (m)

3,500 ~ 2.5 - 2 Ma 2.7 Ma

Advanced argillic
Sericite/illite quartz
Potassic, K-feldspar, biotite
3,000
Elevation (m)

Porphyries
Ar/Ar on alunite age Alunite < 2 Ma 2.1 Ma
2.2 Ma Au
Ar/Ar on sericite
2.6-2.3 Ma 1.8 Ma Ag
Re/Os molybdenite
2,500 U/Pb zircon (Cu)
Au
U Au 1.6 Ma
Ag
Ag 1.9 Ma (Cu)
2,000
Zn
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000 6,500 7,000 7,500
Distance (m)

Fig. 20. Schematic relationships between erosion, tectonics and mineralization along the La Baja trend, California–Vetas Mining District, Colombia. Based on data from Rodriguez (2014);
Refer to Figs. 17 and 18 for context. A) snap-shot of the landscape configuration in relation to hydrothermal systems at ~10 Ma, at the time of porphyry intrusion and Mo (–Cu) miner-
alization. B) Distribution of hydrothermal alteration in relation to the eroding La Baja valley at ~3.5 to 3.25 Ma. Note that at La Bodega and Angostura sericite forms at a depth of
700–1000 m below surface, whereas further downstream at alunite, spatially associated with Au mineralization forms at only a few 100 m depth at the same time. Alunite also forms
near the paleosurface at Los Laches which is the topographically highest prospect of the area. C) At 2.5–2 Ma, during the main stage of epithermal Au (–Ag, Cu) mineralization at La Bodega,
La Mascota and Angostura, erosion is further advanced and overprints 3.5–3.9 Ma sericite. Note, Los Laches has not been affected by significant erosion since the early Pliocene and 4 Ma
and 2.7 Ma alunite formed at the same place.
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364 359

A NW SE
Pascua
9.1-8 Ma Penelope Río de las Taguas
9.5 Ma N-S valley
5000
4750 Lama Central Filo Federico
barren alteration 11.1-10.3 Ma
4500
13.3 Ma
4250
4000

Frontera-Deidad surface Steam-heated alteration Present day Río Turbio profile

Azufreras-Torta surface
16-~12.5 Ma volcaniclastic rocks
Los Ríos surface
Mineralized zones Future mineralized zones
Jarosite formation

B
5000
4750
4500
4250
4000 Valley profile at 9.5 Ma

Present day Río Turbio profile

C
5000
4750
4500
4250
4000 Valley profile at 10.5 Ma

Present day Río Turbio profile

Fig. 21. Schematic relationship between erosion, tectonics and mineralization at Veladero and Pascua–Lama, Argentina, Chile. The cartoon is based on data from Bissig et al. (2002a),
Charchaflié et al. (2007) and Holley (2012). A) Present-day configuration of landscape elements, faults, mineralized zones. B) Snap-shot of the landscape configuration at 9.5 Ma, i.e., at
the initiation of hydrothermal activity at Penelope. At that time, Veladero was already subject to oxidation and jarosite formation. C) Snap-shot of the landscape configuration at
10.5 Ma, during hypogene mineralization at Filo Federico.

precious metal-bearing fluids (e.g., Cerpa et al., 2013; Deyell et al., 2004;
Rainbow et al., 2005; Rye, 2005). However, the hydrothermal systems
overall are influenced by the climate. Thus, the position of the water
table is influenced by the climate and the extent of near surface
steam-heated alteration formed in the vadose zone varies. Up to several
100 m thick steam-heated blankets overlying and overprinting mineral-
ization are observed in the El Indio belt and La Coipa. These are
interpreted as evidence for dry climate at the time of mineralization
and general water table lowering during hydrothermal activity
(e.g., Bissig et al., 2002a; Holley, 2012), but short term water table fluc-
tuations due to episodic incursion of magmatic fluid or periods of more
humid climate has been inferred from hypogene alunite or barite
overprinting jarosite (Chouinard et al., 2005; Deyell et al., 2005b;
Holley, 2012). In contrast to deposits of northern Chile, in the more
humid Miocene climates of Peru, Ecuador or Colombia where the
water-table was probably much closer to the land-surface, steam-
heated alteration blankets tend to be less well developed or even lack-
ing (McDonald et al., 2011; Rainbow et al., 2005; Rodriguez, 2014;
Teal and Benavides, 2010). Although this difference may be due to
better preservation under dry climatic conditions, the persistence of
high-elevation paleosurfaces in northern Peru and Ecuador that pre-
date hydrothermal activity suggests that steam-heated blankets should
have been forming but were probably never as extensive in those areas
as in dryer climatic zones, and could therefore have been removed by
modest erosion.
Most high-sulfidation epithermal deposits were emplaced between
17 and 6 Ma, irrespective of the climatic zone in which they are located.
There is no clearcut overall correlation of younger age with better pres-
ervation within this age range. The location and age of currently ex-
posed Miocene high-sulfidation epithermal deposits is, thus, not only
a function of the preservation potential but also due to tectono-
magmatic factors. However, the Eocene deposits of El Guanaco and El
Hueso are located in one of the most arid climatic zone of the planet,
whereas the youngest deposits La Bodega and Angostura in Colombia
are located in the wettest climatic zone in which high-sulfidation
epithermal deposits are known in the Andes. This indicates that a
longer-term control on preservation potential does exist. The fact that
no high-sulfidation epithermal deposits older than Eocene are known,
together with the fact that they generally were emplaced near surface
during uplift indicates that the preservation of high-sulfidation
epithermal deposits older than the Eocene is unlikely except in the dri-
est climatic zones. Oxidation of primary sulfide assemblages is an im-
portant factor for the economic viability of high-sulfidation epithermal
deposits, as it may liberate encapsulated gold. Oxidation occurs where
sulfides are exposed to atmospheric oxygen and water and is favored
by decreasing water table as well as sufficient rock permeability. Some
examples of high-sulfidation epithermal deposits of Northern Peru as
well as the Pampean flat slab are oxidized to considerable depth
(e.g., Yanacocha, Lagunas Norte, Pierina, Veladero), whereas others
(e.g., Pascua–Lama, Cerro de Pasco) have undergone considerably less
360 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364

extensive supergene oxidation. In the case of Pascua–Lama and
Veladero as well as the La Coipa district, oxidized and non-oxidized
deposits occur within b 15 km from each other, which indicates that
the degree of oxidation cannot simply ascribed to climatic factors.
Rock-permeability or physiographic setting as well as the post-
hydrothermal history influence the oxidation and hence economic
viability of epithermal deposits as well.
14. Igneous rocks, volcanology and magmatic fluids related
to high-sulfidation epithermal deposits
Although magmas are the primary contributors of metals and vola-
tiles in porphyry systems (e.g., Audétat and Simon, 2012), extrusive
magmatism is commonly waning, of low volume or absent during the
formation of high-sulfidation epithermal Au–Ag deposits in the Andes.
Conversely, Au-rich porphyry deposits in the Maricunga belt and
in northern Peru are typically emplaced in volcanic centers or associated
with shallowly emplaced magmatic bodies (e.g. Cerro Casale: Muntean
and Einaudi, 2001). Murakami et al. (2010) showed that Cu/Au ratios in-
crease with greater depth of emplacement of porphyry systems and
suggested that high-sulfidation epithermal Au mineralization occurs
where significant amounts of Au has been physically separated from
Cu, a process which is apparently favored where the depth of intrusion
of the magma providing the magmatic volatiles is N 3 km (Murakami
et al., 2010). A compelling explanation for this is that precious metals
are better transported in high-density magmatic vapors released from
magmas emplaced at more than 3–4 km depth than in low-density va-
pors exsolved at depths of less than 2 km (Heinrich, 2005, 2007; Fig. 22).
Fluid evolution at depth can lead to porphyry Cu mineralization but
allows for efficient Au transport in contracted magmatic vapor. If
condensed magmatic vapors are efficiently transported and focused, a
high-sulfidation epithermal Au deposit may form several km above.
Although low-density magmatic vapor may be responsible for early
vuggy quartz alteration, later high-sulfidation epithermal mineraliza-
tion hosted in vuggy quartz likely precipitated from contracted mag-
matic vapor exsolved from a deeper porphyry intrusion (Heinrich
et al., 2004; Pudack et al., 2009). This evolution from shallow toward
deeper locus of fluid exsolution is consistent with waning magmatism
and increasing SiO2 content of magmas; as is evident for the majority
of Andean high-sulfidation epithermal districts. Large-scale tectonic
changes such as the onset of flat subduction, increased plate coupling,
contractile deformation and uplift result in decreasing volumes of
eruptive magmatism and increasing depth of porphyry emplacement
and may favor high-sulfidation epithermal Au and associated deeper
porphyry Cu over porphyry Cu–Au mineralization.
15. Conclusions
High-sulfidation epithermal deposits of the Andes formed in pre-
dictable geological and geomorphological settings. They are located at
high elevation and largely near the crest of the Andean cordillera in seg-
ments where volcanism is currently absent or subdued and where sub-
duction angles are shallow. All were emplaced during major periods of
contractile deformation and uplift and most coincided with the terminal
stages of local arc magmatism. The vast majority of deposits are be-
tween ca. 17 and 5 Ma old. Although the tectonic setting in which
these deposits form makes them prone to erosion, their restricted age
range is not only a function of preservation potential but also attributed
to favorable tectonomagmatic settings at the time of hydrothermal ac-
tivity. Eocene high-sulfidation epithermal deposits are only known
from the driest regions of the Atacama Desert but they plausibly formed
under similar tectonomagmatic conditions as the Miocene ones. Con-
versely, the youngest deposits, La Bodega and Angostura, Colombia,

A B C vvvv

vvvv v v Au vvvv
Au v v v
v v
v Au
1 km v v v v v
v v
Au Cu

2 km

3 km
Cu
Cu
Mo Mo

4 km Cu
Mo

Steam-heated alteration Diatreme breccia

High-sulfidation epithermal Au Water table

Porphyry Cu-Au
vvvv
Volcanic rock
Porphyry Cu-Mo

Fig. 22. Schematic relationships between depth of intrusion volcanic setting and mineralizatiion style, inspired by Murakami et al. (2010) and relationships observed in the Andes. Three
scenarios are shown. A) Porphyry Au–Cu hosted in a volcanic edifice such as observed in the Maricunga belt (e.g. Cerro Casale). Depth of intrusion and fluid exsolution is b2 km, magmatic
vapor cannot dissolve significant Au and temperature gradient to surrounding rocks is steep, leading to bulk co-precipitation of Cu and Au. B) High-sulfidation epithermal deposit forms
N3–4 km above porphyry intrusion. At that depth, magmatic vapor has a higher density and is, after contraction, capable of transporting significant Au as bisulfide complexes at low fluid
temperatures (Heinrich et al., 2004), whereas Cu and Mo precipitate in the higher-T porphyry environment. Erosion at surface stimulates precipitation of precious metals but through
reduction of lithostatic load may enhance fluid release from the magma and the structural pathways permitting efficient separation of magmatic vapor derived fluids from the
porphyry Cu environment (this scenario reflects the situation at La Bodega and Angostura, Colombia as well as El Indio and Pascua–Lama). C) A scenario where multiple pulses of
both, porphyry Cu–Au and high-sulfidation epithermal mineralization occurred. This scenario reflects the situation at Yanacocha. Volcanism in the form of flow-domes and pyroclastic
flow deposits occurred intermittedly as well.
 T. Bissig et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 65 (2015) 327–364
were emplaced in the late Pliocene in an area with pluvial tropical
climate with low preservation potential.
High-sulfidation epithermal Au–Ag deposits can be emplaced in a
range of host rocks, and volcanic rocks both pre- or syn-hydrothermal
activities, are not a pre-requisite for epithermal mineralization. Howev-
er, a magma from which the mineralizing magmatic fluids are derived
must have present, albeit fluid exsolution typically occurred N3–4 km
below the surface at the time of hydrothermal activity.
Significant erosion during hydrothermal activity is documented for a
number of districts (e.g., Lagunas Norte, Pierina, El Indio belt, California
Vetas Mining District) and mineralization ages generally become youn-
ger upstream in both, the El Indio belt and the California Vetas Mining
District. Fluid boiling and mixing with meteoric water are enhanced
near topographic breaks such as the heads of incising valleys or back-
scarps of pediments, ultimately stimulating mineralization in those
locations.
Acknowledgments
This paper reviews and summarizes many years of work on Andean
epithermal systems, much of it carried out at Queen's University. The
authors would like to express their special thanks to Barrick Gold
Corp. and former chief geologist Jay Hodgson for the continued support
and funding of TB's, AM's and AR's PhD theses at Queen's University.
Barrick also funded projects at MDRU and Universidad Católica del
Norte, Chile in which the senior author continues to be involved. With-
out Barrick's support, our understanding of Andean high-sulfidation
epithermal deposits would be far less advanced.
We also acknowledge the contributions and student support from
NSERC in the form of grants to AHC and to Kurt Kyser, as well as from
many other companies who supported research at Queen's University
and MDRU, including (but not limited to) IamGold, Ventana Gold, Eco
Oro minerals and Kinross.
Sara Jenkins is acknowledged for help with the figures and we thank
the OGR editors Franco Piranjo and Tim Horscroft for the invitation of
this review article. Comments provided by reviewers Stuart Simmons
and Dick Tosdal helped improve clarity of the paper.
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