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Evolution of the Giant Marcona-Mina Justa Iron

Oxide-Copper-Gold District, South-Central Peru

Article in Economic Geology March 2010

DOI: 10.2113/gsecongeo.105.1.155

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2010 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.
Economic Geology, v. 105, pp. 155185

Evolution of the Giant Marcona-Mina Justa Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold District,

South-Central Peru
HUAYONG CHEN,1,,* ALAN H. CLARK,1 T. KURTIS KYSER,1 THOMAS D. ULLRICH,2 ROBERT BAXTER,3,**
YUMING CHEN 4, AND TIMOTHY C. MOODY 5,
1 Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6
2 Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T 1Z4
3 Chariot Resources Limited, Avenida Benavides N 1180, Miraflores, Lima 18, Per
4 Shougang Hierro Per S.A.A, Avenida Repblica de Chile 262, Jess Maria, Lima 11, Per
5 Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration, Manco Capac 551, Miraflores, Lima 18, Per

Abstract
The Mesozoic iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) subprovince of littoral south-central Per, centered at latitude
1511' S, longitude 756' W, incorporates Marcona, the preeminent central Andean iron oxide deposit (1.9 Gt
@ 55.4% Fe), and Mina Justa, one of the few major Andean IOCG deposits with economic copper grades
(346.6 Mt @ 0.71% Cu). The emplacement of magnetite orebodies with uneconomic Cu grades (avg 0.12%) at
Marcona was controlled by northeast-striking faults transecting an active andesitic-dacitic, shallow-marine
Middle Jurassic (Aalenian to Oxfordian) arc. In contrast, hypogene Cu sulfide (~15 g/t Ag, 0.12 g/t Au) miner-
alization at Mina Justa was emplaced along reactivated listric-normal detachment faults during the mid-Creta-
ceous inversion of the contiguous, plate boundary-parallel, Aptian to Albian Caete basin, accompanied by the
earliest, largely granodioritic-dioritic, stocks of the Coastal batholith. Alteration and mineralization assem-
blages, supported by 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of biotite, phlogopite, actinolite, cummingtonite, and K-feldspars,
reveal a history of magmatic and hydrothermal processes extending episodically for at least 80 m.y., from ca.
177 to 95 Ma, wherein metal-rich mineralization events were preceded and separated by episodes of barren
alteration.
At Marcona, precursor, subocean-floor hydrothermal activity in the Aalenian (177 Ma) and Bajocian (171
Ma) generated, respectively, cummingtonite and phlogopite-magnetite assemblages through high-temperature
Mg-Fe metasomatism of previously metamorphosed Lower Paleozoic Marcona Formation siliciclastic rocks
and minor carbonate units underlying the nascent Ro Grande Formation arc. Subsequent areally widespread,
albite-marialite alteration (Na-Cl metasomatism) largely predated but overlapped with the emplacement of an
en echelon swarm of massive magnetite orebodies, in turn overprinted by subordinate magnetite-sulfide
assemblages. Magnetite and weak Cu and Zn sulfide mineralization coincided with a 156 to 162 Ma episode of
andesitic eruption and dacitic intrusion which terminated the growth of the arc, but was hosted largely by
quartz-rich metaclastic rocks. From 162 to 159 Ma, iron oxide mineralization evolved from magnetite-biotite-
calcic amphibole phlogopite fluorapatite to magnetite-phlogopite-calcic amphibole-pyrrhotite-pyrite
assemblages. These were overprinted at 156 to 159 Ma by chalcopyrite-pyrite-calcite pyrrhotite sphalerite
galena assemblages, locally resulting in grades of 0.45 percent Cu and 0.5 percent Zn.
Hydrothermal activity was thereafter focused in the Mina Justa area, 3 to 4 km to the northeast of Marcona,
where Middle Jurassic andesites experienced intense albite-actinolite alteration at ca. 157 Ma, i.e., contempo-
raneous with sulfide mineralization at Marcona, and magnetite-microcline alteration (K-Fe metasomatism) at
ca. 142 Ma. Development of the Mina Justa Cu (-Ag) deposit proper, however, began much later, with, suc-
cessively, actinolitization at ca. 109 Ma, the deposition of calcite and specular hematite, now entirely pseudo-
morphed by magnetite, and the metasomatic emplacement of bodies of barren, massive magnetite and pyrite
at 101 to 104 Ma. Finally, at 95 to 99 Ma, chalcopyrite-bornite-digenite-chalcocite mineralization, with abun-
dant calcite and hematite, was emplaced as two ~400-m-long, ~200-m-wide, gently dipping, tabular arrays of
breccia and stockwork, cored by preexisting magnetite-pyrite lenses. Supergene oxidation generated a chryso-
colla-atacamite-covellite blanket, hosting ~40 percent of the Cu reserve, prior to the eruption of a 9.13 0.25
Ma rhyodacitic ignimbrite flow.
Although areally contiguous, the major magnetite and copper-rich centers of the Marcona district record
independent metallogenic episodes widely separated in age. Further, whereas the Cu-poor magnetite miner-
alization at Marcona was integral to the terminal eruptions of the Middle Jurassic arc, representing a shallow-
marine analog of the Pliocene El Laco magnetite deposits of northern Chile, the Mina Justa Cu sulfide

Corresponding author: e-mail, huayong.chen@utas.edu.au

*Present address: CODES, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 126, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia.
**Present address: Norsemont Mining, 507-700 West Pender St., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6C 1G8.
Present address: Development & Research Center, China Geological Survey, 45 Fuwai Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, P.R. China, 100037.
Present address: Rio Tinto plc, 6 St. Jamess Square, London, United Kingdom SW1Y 4LD.

Submitted: May 1, 2009

0361-0128/10/3868/155-31 155 Accepted: December 23, 2009
156 CHEN ET AL.

orebodieslike the other economic, mid-Cretaceous, Cu-rich IOCG deposits of the central Andes, e.g., Can-
delaria-Punta del Cobre, Mantoverde, and Rul-Condestablewas the product of brines released during the
inversion of back-arc volcanosedimentary basins. The latter environment recurred episodically in the Mesozoic
Andes, as in comparable orogenic settings elsewhere, and extended histories of hydrothermal alteration and
mineralization, incorporating numerous barren events, may therefore represent a salient feature of the IOCG
deposit clan.

Introduction environment in this region provides an ideal context for clar-

IRON OXIDE-COPPER-GOLD (IOCG) mineralization, first for-
mally defined by Hitzman et al. (1992), has been a major ex-
ploration target since the discovery of the enormous Olympic
Dam Cu-U-Au (-REE) deposit in 1975. Although most early
identified IOCG systems, e.g., those of the Gawler craton of
South Australia, the eastern Mount Isa inlier of Queensland,
and the northern Fennoscandian Shield, are of Proterozoic
age, the central Andean orogen, and especially the vol-
canoplutonic arcs of Jurassic and Cretaceous age exposed in
the Cordillera de la Costa of northern Chile and central and
southern Peru, are now recognized as hosting major IOCG
mineralization (Fig. 1). The well-defined tectonomagmatic
ification of the genesis and metallogenic relationships of this
problematic class of mineralization (Sillitoe, 2003). Marschik
and Fontbot (2001), de Haller et al. (2006), and Sillitoe
(2003) interpreted central Andean IOCG deposits on the
basis of magmatic-hydrothermal models, although Sillitoe
emphasized their distinction from the magnetite-rich por-
phyry Cu-Au group. In contrast, the incursion of exotic, in
part evaporite-sourced, brines has been argued to be essential
to economic Cu (-Au) mineralization, and the involvement of
such nonmagmatic fluids has been confirmed in Ral-Con-
destable (Ripley and Ohmoto, 1977; de Haller and Fontbot,
2009), La Candelaria (Ullrich and Clark, 1999; Ullrich et al.,
2001) and Mantoverde (Benavides et al., 2007). A radically

o
B 70 W
Raul- A B
Condestable N o
Eliana 12
o
12
Monterrosas
Peru Lima 50 km

Mina Justa
Marcona Cobrepampa
Pampa de Pongo Acari

Rosa Maria

Ca
Licona
Santiago Raul-Condestable s
Valpara so
Bolivia
ne
Cerro Pelado Morritos

te
ba
20 S

Pacific
o

si n
Pacific Tocopilla
Guanillo s
Gatico Ocean
Ocean Maguayan
Mantos Blancos Eliana

El Laco
Chile o 14
o
Montecristo-Julia 14 Monterrosas
Santo Domingo
Carrizalillo de Las Bombas
Teresa de Colmo
El Salado Cerro Negro
Las Animas San Domingo Sur IOCG Deposits
Galleguillo s Mantoverde
Dulcinea Neogene to Quaternary
Ojancos Nuevo Candelaria-Punta del Cobre Sediments
Carrizal Alto Farola Amolanas
Boqueron Chanar
s

Quebradita Cenozoic
El Algarrobo Los Colorados Subaerial Volcanics
Productora
Cristales
Chilean iron belt
La Higuera Mesozoic
30 oS

San Antonio
Brilla dor Talcuna Coastal Batholith
El Romeral Argentina Cobrepampa
Tamaya Panulcillo Mesozoic Basinal Volcanics Mina Justa
Los Mantos de Punitaqui and Sediments Marcona Argentina
El Espino Acari
Paleozoic
Large, Cu-rich IOCG Deposits San Nicolas Batholith San Juan
(> 30 Mt; Cu grade> 0. 5% ) El Soldado Pampa de
Fig 2 Pongo
Iron Oxide Deposits Precambrian (includes some Paleozoic)
N
Metamorphic Basement
Small IOCG Deposits
200 km o o
Manto-type Deposits 77 75

FIG. 1. (A) Locations of Cu-rich IOCG deposits, principal iron deposits, and manto-type Cu-Ag deposits in Peru and Chile
(from Clark et al., 1990; Hawkes et al., 2002; Maksaev and Zentilli, 2002; Oyarzn et al., 2003; Sillitoe, 2003; and Benavides
et al., 2007). (B) Simplified geologic map of the IOCG mineralization belt of south-central Peru (modified from Vidal et al.,
1990), illustrating the extent of the mid-Cretaceous Caete intra-arc extensional basin (Atherton and Aguirre, 1992).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 156

 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 157

different perspective on the genesis of cental Andean IOCG 24, 2006, p. 8). The district includes (Figs. 1, 2) several ap-
mineralization is provided by the proposal that the majority of parently less important Cu prospects as well as a second giant
magnetite-dominated, so-called Kiruna-type (Geijer, 1931) magnetite deposit, Pampa de Pongo, located 30 km southeast
deposits are the product of silica-poor, iron oxide-rich melts of Marcona-Mina Justa (Fig. 2; Hawkes et al., 2002) and with
(e.g., Nystrm and Henrquez, 1994; Naslund et al., 2002; an inferred resource of 953 Mt grading 44 percent Fe
Henrquez et al., 2003), although such deposits have been re- (Cardero Resource Corp., news release, September 6, 2005).
cently divorced from Cu-rich IOCG systems (Williams et al., In addition, numerous magnetite and/or hematite-rich de-
2005). posits, some rich in Cu and Au and including the small Acar
Our purpose herein is to contribute to these arguments Hierro magnetite vein and the formerly productive La Ar-
through documentation of the Marcona district of littoral gentina Cu vein swarm, are hosted by dioritic-to-monzo-
south-central Peru, which juxtaposes major IOCG-style ore granitic plutons of the mid-Cretaceous Coastal batholith in
deposits with widely variable proportions of iron oxides and the Acar-Cobrepampa district (Fig. 2; Caldas, 1978; Injoque,
copper sulfides. Marcona itself, representing much the 1985). This paper documents the geology and evolution of the
largest-known concentration of high-grade magnetite ore in Marcona magnetite and Mina Justa Cu (-Ag, Au) deposits.
the central Andes, is centered in Nazca Province, Ica Depart- Complementary studies (Chen, 2008), to be reported else-
ment, at latitude 1512' S, longitude 757' W (Figs. 1, 2), 10 where, assess the evidence for a melt origin for the Marcona
to 15 km from the Pacific coast and below 800 m a.s.l. Hosted magnetite orebodies and apply light stable isotope geochem-
by Paleozoic metasedimentary and Jurassic andesitic and sed- istry and fluid inclusion microthermometry and chemistry to
imentary strata, and with present reserves of 1,551 Mt grad- the identification of fluid sources.
ing 55.4 percent Fe and 0.12 percent Cu (Shougang Hierro
Per SA., Resource Estimate of the Marcona iron mine, Regional and District Geological Setting
unpub. report, 2003, in Chinese). The Mina Justa Cu-(Ag) The subdued coastal cordillera of south-central Per (Fig.
prospect, 3 to 4 km northeast of the Marcona mine (Fig. 2) at 1B) exposes remnants of a succession of volcanoplutonic arcs
latitude 1510' S, longitude 755" W and an altitude of 785 to which regionally range in age from latest Triassic to Holocene,
810 m a.s.l., has an indicated open pit resource of 346.6 Mt at evidence for a protracted but episodic history of suprasub-
an average grade of 0.71 percent Cu, 3.8 g/t Ag and ~ 0.03 g/t duction zone magmatism along the convergent margin of the
Au at a cutoff grade of 0.3 percent Cu, and an inferred re- South American plate. However, the Andean magmatic
source of 127.9 Mt at 0.6 percent Cu (Mining Journal, Nov. record in the immediate Marcona area (Fig. 2) is dominated

75 o,30 W 75 o,00 74 o,30

15 o,00 S

Pampa de Poroma
Tre
5k

i nt
m

aL
ib r
Tu
ng

as

A Rio Grande
Pampa Canyon
Las Galgas
aF

Fa
ult
au
lt

Le Pampa Lagunal
ch
uza
Fa
u lt

Pacific Pampa Lagunal

Grande
Mina Justa
Ocean
B
Pampa Pajayuna
Marcona
Cobrepampa
15 o,15 S

Neogene to Quaternary gravels

San Nicolas
Cenozoic Formations Argent ina
(Pisco, Millo and Sencca)
Pampa El Choclon
Coastal Batholith
(80- < 109 Ma)
Tunga Andesite/ Hierro Acari
Bella Union Volcanics (Albian to Upper Cretaceous)
Mesozoic Formations
(Rio Grande; Jahuay; Yauca; Copara)
San Juan
San Nicolas Batholith Pampa Colorado Pampa de Pongo
(425 4Ma)
C
Marcona Formation Pampa de
Precambrian units Stratigraphic columns Pongo
A in figure 4
(San Juan, Chiquerio Fm. N
and Arequipa Massif)
Main Marcona Orebodies Active mines
inactive mines 5 km
15 o,30 S
Faults Towns (including prospects)

FIG. 2. Geology of the Marcona-Mina Justa district (modified from Caldas, 1978; Hawkes et al., 2002; and Chew et al.,
2007).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 157

158 CHEN ET AL.

by Middle Jurassic volcanosedimentary and hypabyssal units The discontinuous Peruvian IOCG belt (Fig. 1) is under-
and by mid-Cretaceous granitoid plutons. Stratigraphic rela- lain by high-grade metamorphic rocks of the allochthonous
tionships in the wider Marcona area, incorporating data from Paleoproterozoic-to-Mesoproterozoic Arequipa Massif (Waste-
Caldas (1978), Vidal et al. (1990), Hawkes et al. (2002) and neys et al., 1995; Loewy et al., 2004), comprising schists,
this study, are summarized in Figure 3. gneisses, granites, and migmatites cut by basic and pegmatitic

Era Series Form at ion Li th ology Intr usive

Quaternary 1, 2 Widespread marine terraces, aeolian sands; alluvium
Cenozo ic

Sencca White to rose colored tuffs of dacitic to rhyolitic

Formation2 composition
Miocene-
Pliocene Millo Loosely consolidated marine sandstones
2
Formation and conglomerates
Pisco Thick conglomerates, yellow and reddish sandstones,
Miocene
Formation2 shales, bentonite beds, fine-grained volcaniclastics Coastal
unconformity
Aptian to Batholith
Copara Conglomerates, with mainly volcanic fragments, feldspathic (80- < 109 Ma) Tunga
lower Albian sandstones, violet graywackes, red shales, minor tuffs, lava Andesite and
(110-125 Ma)
Formation flows and limestones with chert nodules Bella Union complex
(Fossi l age range) (1000 m) (Albian to Upper Cretaceous)
unconformity
Shales, mudstones and sandstones
Neocomian Yauca
(125-146 Ma) Formation
(Fossi l age range) (1500 m)
Mesozo ic

Kimmeridgian Jahuay Agglomerates, brecciated lava flows,

to Tithonian Formation conglomerates and sandstones, quartzites, shales and
lim estones. Sills with compositions similar to the
(146-155 Ma) (1000 m) lava flows
(Fossi l age range)

Callovian
Rio Grande Formation (4000 m)

Porphyritic, partly pillo wed, K-rich, calc-alkaline andesites. Minor

to Oxfordian Upper intercalations of reddish conglomerates, and brick-red, cross-
Mina Justa laminated, volcanogenic sandstones
(155-164 Ma) Rio Grande
(Fossi l, K-Ar ages) Formation Cu orebodies ?
Dacite
?
unconformity

Lower Red conglomerates, conglomeratic sandstones, and fine- to medium-

Rio Grande grained, red volcanogenic sandstones intercalatic with ignimbrites,
foss ilif erous limestones, calcareous sandstones, and greenish tuffs
Formation
(A meta-volcanic breccia base is present in the Marcona area)
Aalenian to
Bajocian (Cerritos
(166-179 Ma) Formation Marcona
(Fossi l age range) at Marcona) Fe orebodies

unconformity
San Nicolas
Batholith
Lower Marcona Conglomerates, dolomitic marbles, siltstones, sandstones,
(425 4Ma)
Paleozoic Formation
silicified limestones with chert laminations and quartz layers
( > 425 Ma) Hornblende and pyroxene metamorphism
(1500 m)
Marcona
unconformity Fe orebodies

Dolomitic marbles and chloritic schists

Pre-Mesozoic

Top: dolomitic marbles and chloritic schists

Central: Pelitic rocks
Base: calcareous schists, dolomitic marbles, calcareous
San Juan marls and turbidites
Neoproterozoic
Formation
(3000 m)

unconformity

Neoproterozoic
Chiquerio Tillites with dolomites near top
2
Formation
unconformity
Paleo-to-
Mesoproterozoic Gneisses, granites, migmatites and schists cut by multiple-
Arequipa stage basic and pegmatitic dikes
940, 1200 and Massif
1820 Ma
(metamorphism,
U-Pb age)
1 2
- including Miocene and Pliocene sediments; - the estimated thicknesse s for the Quaternary, Sencca, Millo, Pisco and Chiquerio
formations are: 350 m, 50 m, 3m, 500 m, and 100-800 m, respectively (not to scale in this column).
FIG. 3. Summarized stratigraphic column for the Marcona-Mina Justa district (modified after Caldas, 1978; Injoque,
1985; Hawkes et al., 2002, and Loewy et al., 2004).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 158

 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 159

dikes. This basement complex is unconformably overlain by Ro Grande, Jahuay, Yauca, and Copara formations (Caldas,
Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic sedimentary strata and, more 1978). The ages of the three older formations are well estab-
extensively, volcanic and sedimentary rocks of Mesozoic age lished on faunal grounds, but those of the Copara Formation
(Fig. 2; Caldas, 1978; Hawkes et al., 2002). The ~1,500-m- and the dominantly hypabyssal andesitic-dacitic Bella Unin
thick metasedimentary Marcona Formation, which hosts the complex which intrudes it, as well as the post-Yauca Forma-
majority of the economic magnetite orebodies at Marcona, is tion hypabyssal Tunga Andesite, are poorly defined (Caldas,
dominated by quartz-rich siltstones and sandstones, interca- 1978). The Ro Grande Formation hosts the Mina Justa de-
lated with minor quartz arenites and impure limestones and posit and several orebodies of the Marcona mine (Injoque,
dolostones (Atchley, 1956; Injoque, 1985). It is intruded and 1985; Hawkes et al., 2002; Moody et al., 2003). The type sec-
metamorphosed by the post-kinematic, 425 4 Ma (Mukasa tion of this ~ 3,000- to 4,000-m-thick, generally northeast-
and Henry, 1990; Vidal et al., 1990), San Nicols granitoid striking and northwest-dipping (4560) succession is ex-
batholith (Fig. 2), and is therefore at least Early Silurian in posed in the Monte Grande area in the Can Ro Grande,
age. Where unaffected by hydrothermal alteration, metaclas- northwest of Marcona (Fig. 2; Regg, 1956, 1961). It incor-
tic and metacarbonate members in the mine area widely ex- porates (Fig. 4) a 500-m lower member made up of a
hibit, respectively, hornblende hornfels cordierite + biotite polymictic basal conglomerate overlain successively by mud-
muscovite and tremolite quartz assemblages, but diopside stones, sandstones, limestones, rhyolitic to andesitic breccias,
and forsterite porphyroblasts record the local attainment of and rhyolitic to andesitic flows (Romeuf et al., 1993). This as-
the pyroxene hornfels metamorphic facies. sociation is itself overlain by at least 2,000 m of gently folded
The Jurassic and Cretaceous strata of the wider Marcona red sandstones, shales, limestones, and brecciated andesitic
area are subdivided (Figs. 2, 3), in decreasing age, into the flows with high K calc-alkaline-to-shoshonitic compositions

A B C
Canon Rio Grande Marcona area Pampa de Pongo
s

(Aguirre, 1988; Ruegg, 1956) (modified from Injoque, 1985, (Caldas, 1978)
and Atchley, 1956)

Nott os cale in this column

Upper
300 m
200 m

Rio Grande
Formation
?
Upper Rio Grande Formation

Lower Rio Grande Formation

Upper Rio Grande Formation

K-Ar age
164 Ma
Lower Rio Grande Formation

Marcona Formation

Callovian-Oxfordian
151- 161 Ma

Aalenian-Bajocian
166-178 Ma

Lower

?
Rio Grande
Formation
?

Arequipa Massif Marcona Formation Sandstone Conglomerate

Volcanic
Limestone Tuff Andesite
Breccias
Magnetite Inferred
Mina Justa Inferred
orebodies unconformity
(Not to scale) Cu-orebodies boundary

FIG. 4. Schematic stratigraphic columns of the Ro Grande Formation in the Can Ro Grande, Marcona, and Pampa
de Pongo areas (Atchley, 1956; Regg, 1956; Caldas, 1978; Injoque, 1985; Aguirre, 1988).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 159

160
(upper Ro Grande Formation in Fig. 4; Aguirre, 1988;
Romeuf et al., 1993, 1995). The age of the basal units of the
formation is established by Aalenian fauna (W.J. Arkell, in
Regg, 1956; Roperch and Carlier, 1992), indicating that
shallow-marine sedimentation was underway by 174.0+1.0 7.9 Ma
and after 178.0+1.0
1.5 Ma (Plfy et al., 2000). Roperch and Car-
lier (1992) report a quasi-plateau 40Ar/39Ar whole-rock age of
177.1 2.2 Ma for a basal basalt of the correlative Chala For-
mation 120 km to the southeast. Ro Grande Formation vol-
canism persisted into the Oxfordian, i.e., ca. 156.5+3.1 5.1 to
154.7+3.8
3.3 Ma, but was interrupted between ca. 166 and 164
Ma, which is recorded by the unconformity between lower
and upper Ro Grande Formation. All of the formation
records nondeformational, very low grade, zeolite or prehnite-
pumpellyite facies metamorphism (Aguirre and Offler, 1985;
Aguirre, 1988). However, the accurate deposition ages for the
host rocks of the Marcona magnetite deposit (i.e., Marcona For-
mation and lower Ro Grande Formation) and Mina Justa Cu
deposit (i.e., upper Ro Grande Formation) are still unknown.
Dike swarms, sills, and small plugs assigned to the Tunga
Andesite intrude the Yauca Formation and older units (Cal-
das, 1978; Fig. 3). The most characteristic lithology is a
coarsely porphyritic rock with large (1.5 cm) glomerocrysts
of labradorite and sparse augite phenocrysts, informally
termed ocite (Hawkes et al., 2002) by analogy with the
broadly contemporaneous, strikingly porphyritic andesites of
the Ocoa Formation in the Copiap area of northern Chile
(Thomas, 1958). Essentially identical textures are, however,
shown by several Ro Grande Formation andesitic flows in
the Mina Justa area, a potential source of stratigraphic confu-
sion. Ages for both Tunga andesite and upper Ro Grande
Formation andesite are not well defined.
Granitoid plutons of the Cretaceous Coastal batholith
(Pitcher and Cobbing, 1985) intrude Neocomian and older
strata in the Acar-Cobrepampa area (Fig. 2; Dunin-
Borkowski, 1970; Caldas, 1978). U-Pb zircon age data are
lacking for this part of the Arequipa segment of the batholith,
but K-Ar (Cobbing, 1998) and Rb-Sr (Snchez, 1982) dates
for, respectively, the Acar diorite and Cobrepampa mon-
zonite-monzogranite suggest that granitoid intrusion locally
began at ca. 109 4 Ma, shortly after emplacement of the
Bella Unin complex. Small, undated, dioritic stocks, 7 to 8
km east-southeast and southeast of the Mina Justa prospect
(Caldas, 1978), may be correlative with the larger intrusions
to the east.
TABLE 1. Selected Tonnage-Grade Data for Marcona Orebodies 1
Orebody Minas 2-3-4 Mina 5 Mina 7
Host rock Marcona Fm. Marcona Fm. Marcona Fm.
Reserve (Mt)2 399 190 18
Fe grade (%)3 58.5 60.2 57.3
Cu grade (%)3 0.17 0.06 0.06
S content (%)3 3.55 2.57 3.10
Zn grade (%)3
1 From The Resource Estimate of the Marcona Iron Mine, Shougang Hierro Per, unpub. report, 2003 (in Chinese)
2 2003
3Fe, Cu, Zn, and S grades of hypogene ore; Pb grade is not available
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
CHEN ET AL.
The Marcona Magnetite Deposit
The Marcona mine now exploits eight open pits in a ~25
km2 area elongated from west-northwest to east-southeast
(Fig. 2). A crudely en echelon array of 12 major magnetite
orebodies (minas) and 55 smaller cuerpos is recognized
(Fig. 5). However, the three zones exploited by the largest, 3-
km-long pit, i.e., Mina 2, Mina 3, and Mina 4, represent in-
terconnected segments of a single orebody (Table 1). Approx-
imately 60 percent of the reserve, making up the so-called
E-grid orebodies, is hosted by the Marcona Formation, and
the remainder, the N-13 type orebodies, by the lower mem-
bers of the Ro Grande Formation (Figs. 5, 6). The immedi-
ate host rock for E-grid is dominantly metasandstone and
siltstone with minor limestone. The hypogene grades (Table
1) of the larger orebodies hosted by the Paleozoic metasedi-
ments average 57 to 58 percent Fe, significantly exceeding
those of 41 to 48 percent for the orebodies in Jurassic strata.
Whereas the total sulfur content of the orebodies is consistent
at ~3 wt percent, the copper content is more variable, aver-
aging 0.06 to 0.18 percent, but attaining 0.4 wt percent in
Mina 1 and 0.9 percent in the upper part of the easternmost,
Mina 11, orebody (Fig. 5). Pyrrhotite occurs mainly in the
lower, and chalcopyrite in the upper levels of the orebodies.
As exemplified by the schematic cross section of the Mina 4
orebody (Fig. 7A), most orebodies at Marcona yield higher
Cu grades as well as elevated total sulfide contents in their
upper parts, although sulfides are locally enriched in the
lower parts of some orebodies. Sphalerite and galena, nor-
mally subordinate to chalcopyrite, are abundant in the Mina
14 orebody. The clearly epigenetic orebodies are dominated
by essentially massive magnetite, and most original contacts
with both Paleozoic and Jurassic host rocks are abrupt, only
locally complicated by disseminated mineralization, stock-
work veining, or hydrothermal breccias.
The mineralized area is intruded by a swarm of hypabyssal
bodies (Fig. 7). These range from apparently syn- to clearly
postmineralization and, in composition, from silicic to,
rarely, ultramafic (hornblende pyroxenite: Atchley, 1956),
but magmatic chemistry and mineralogy are almost every-
where disguised by alteration. Whereas andesine-phyric, in
part ocitic, andesite dikes are largely postmineralization
(Fig. 7A), dacitic porphyry bodies have complex, amoeboid
relationships with massive magnetite orebodies, possibly ev-
idence for the comingling of silicate and oxide melts (Chen,
2008).
Minas 9-10 Mina 14 Mina 11 Mancha N-13
Marcona Fm. Marcona Fm. Marcona Fm. Ro Grande Fm.
110 110 35 224
58.1 57.0 54.4 41.9
0.11 0.08 0.45 0.04
2.51 2.97 3.51 2.86
0.5 -
160
 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 161

o,
Neogene to Quarternary sediments 75 05 W
Cenozoic Pisco Fm (sandstones, shales, bentonite beds) N
and Sencca Fm (rhyolitic to dacitic tuffs) 1 Km
Copara Fm Coastal Batholith
(conglomerates, sandstones, some tuffs) Tunga Andesites
Yauca Fm Ocoite
(Shales, mudstones, sandstones)
Jahuay Fm Porphyritic andesite
Mesozoic (mixed calcareous sediments and volcanics) dikes
(J-K) Sandstones/sillstones
Rio Grande Fm

Fine and Hornblende Andesite

Dacite
Amygdaloidal Andesite
Tuff
Lower Marcona Fm San Nicolas granitoids

Tun
Paleozoic (metasediments)

Tre
Arequipa Massif

g
Precambrian

i
nt
aF
(Gneisses, K-rich Granite, migmatites)

a
au

Lib
ra
lt

s Fa
u
lt
Figure 10

Mina 20
Mina Justa
15 o,10 S
5
ina
M

a8
Min Figure 7A Marcona
Mina 9- 10 1 4
na
Mi
7

4)
a

3-
in

2-
M

Mina 1 in a Mina 11
(M

Figure 7B
Figure 6
A
FIG. 5. Geology of the area surrounding the Marcona deposit and Mina Justa prospect. Line A-A' illustrates the cross sec-
tion (see Fig. 6) through the Marcona mine (modified from Rio Tinto, Marcona JV exploration report, June 2003). Insert
shows area of Figure 10.

Three principal fault systems were documented in the Mar- Mina Justa faults, have strike directions similar to those of the
cona mine by Atchley (1956) and Hawkes et al. (2002), but Repeticin faults at Marcona, but they dip shallowly southeast
new observations show that at least four are represented. The rather than northwest, and show normal displacement. Recog-
oldest, Pista normal faults, strike 295 and dip 60 to the north. nized herein in the Marcona mine, where they segment the
Together with the coeval or younger Repeticin faults, they orebodies (Fig. 7), these faults may record a change to dextral
are inferred to record east-southeast-west-northwest contrac- transtension on the Treinta Libras fault. The youngest, Huaca,
tion during the Jurassic, perhaps linked to sinistral shear along normal faults strike 335 and dip 60 to the east. They are
the regionally important, northwest-trending, Treinta Libras postmineralization at both Marcona and Mina Justa, but are
fault zone northeast of Marcona (Figs. 2, 5). Emplacement of commonly followed by porphyritic andesitic (ocite) dikes.
the majority of the Marcona magnetite orebodies was con-
trolled by the multiple-stage Repeticon fault system (Fig. 7), Paragenetic relationships
striking N 45 E and dipping 30 to 60 NW. The Repeticon Numerous stages of hydrothermal alteration and hypogene
fault system may include a series of faults that formed before mineralization, M-I through M-VII, are recognized, largely
mineralization and persisted after magnetite emplacement, on the basis of megascopic and microscopic textural relation-
and varied from reverse movement in the early stages to nor- ships and mineral assemblages (Fig. 8). Representative elec-
mal movement in later stages. The younger faults which con- tron microprobe analyses of alteration minerals are recorded
trolled the Cu mineralization at Mina Justa, herein termed in Table 2, complementing the data of Injoque (1985).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 161

162 CHEN ET AL.

) 20
(E-g r
id Mina ype)
A Mina
3
Mina
5
(N -13
t A

1000 m

FIG. 6. Schematic cross section of Marcona mine area (A-A' in Fig. 5). Ornaments as in Figure 5. The magnetite ore-
bodies are extensively dislocated by faults (modified from Hawkes et al., 2002).

Elevation(m) 650

0. 10

0. 20

0. 30
0. 00
SE NW
Neogene Sediments

DDM4-7 A Cu(% )
in the hypogene ore

Mina 4
DDM4-6

600
550
500
450
400
Legend
Marcona Formation
metasediments
porphyritic andesite 350
dykes
Repeticion
Diabase dikes Faults
cutting orebodies
300

Mina Justa
Fault
Hypogene
magnetite orebody Huaca
Fault
Transitional ore Pit outline (2004 )
250

Leached ore
DDM4-6

Sampled drillc ores ?

SE NW
Elevation(m) 750

Mina 1 B
700

Legend
Marcona Formation
metasediments
porphyritic andesite
dykes
650

Dacite
magnetite Repeticion Fault
orebody (early)
Repeticion Fault
(late)
600

Pit outline (2004) Mina Justa Fault

FIG. 7. (A) Cross section of the Mina 4 orebody, Marcona. Copper grade distribution on the right is for >50 percent Fe
orebody. Porphyritic andesite and basaltic dikes are common. The main and subsidiary orebodies are controlled by north-
east-striking and northwest-dipping Repeticin faults, and displaced by later Mina Justa and Huaca system faults. (B) Cross
section of the Mina 1 orebody, Marcona. Two sets of Repeticin faults are recognized: postmineralization and displacing the
orebody, in turn cut by Mina Justa system faults; and controlling the emplacement of the orebody and dacite porphyry in-
trusions. Porphyritic andesite dikes are displaced by late Repeticin and Huaca faults. Locations of sections are shown in Fig-
ure 5 (modified after Shougang Hierro Per cross sections of Mina 4 and Mina 1, 2004).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 162

 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 163

Early Mg-silicate alteration Albite -scapolite Polymetallic sulfide Chlorite-talc-serpentine

Minerals alteration Magnetite stage Magnetite-sulfide stage alteration Late veins
mineralization
Stage M-I-A Stage M-I-B Stage M-II Stage M-III Stage M-IV Stage M-VI Stage M-VI I
Stage M-V
Cummingtonite
Phlogopite
Magnetite
Albite*
Scapolite*
K-feldspar *
Biotite
Quartz
Diopside*
Actinolite
Tr emolite
Pyrite
Pyrrhotite
Chalcopyrite
Sphalerite ? ?

Calcite
Apatite
Prehnite
Sericite
Greenalite
Chlorite
Talc
Serpentine
Anhydrite
Tourmaline
Hematite
Rhodochrosite

Abundant Local Trace * only in host rocks

FIG. 8. Alteration and mineralization paragenesis of the Marcona magnetite deposit.

Stage M-IEarly Mg-silicate alteration: Felted aggregates
of fine-grained cummingtonite (Table 2; Fig. 9A, B) occur in
feldspathic metasiltstones of the Marcona Formation, origi-
nally ~300 m vertically below the base of the Ro Grande For-
mation, and are assigned to paragenetic stage M-IA (Fig. 8).
The cummingtonite is locally replaced by biotite and mag-
netite (Fig. 9B), and has an Mg/Mg + Fe ratio of 0.74 (Table
2), exceeding those of most metamorphic and all igneous ex-
amples (Deer et al., 1997). Cummingtonite alteration, mega-
scopically indistinguishable from the more widespread acti-
nolitic facies and not previously recorded, is apparently
restricted to the upper Marcona Formation. Coarse-grained
phlogopite, in part intergrown with magnetite but also re-
placed by magnetite and pyrite (Fig. 9C), talc and chlorite,
also developed at an early stage in the alteration envelopes of
Mina 5 and other orebodies hosted by the Marcona Forma-
tion. This magnesian mica alteration is assigned to stage M-IB
(Fig. 8).
Stage M-IIalbite-scapolite alteration: At Marcona, Na-Cl
metasomatism widely generated albite and subordinate Na-
rich scapolite, particularly in Marcona Formation siliciclastic
rocks and lower Ro Grande Formation sedimentary units
and andesites. Patches of coarse, white albite with clusters of
bladed white scapolite are widely developed along the folia-
tion of metaclastic host rocks, in places adjacent to bodies of
massive magnetite (Fig. 9D). In such zones, scapolite is re-
stricted to within 1 to 1.5 m of the magnetite bodies. Albite
and scapolite do not occur within the latter, however, and this
stage M-II alteration is inferred to have largely predated mag-
netite mineralization. Nonetheless, replacive pink albite man-
tles plagioclase phenocrysts both in andesites and in the
dacite porphyries which are interpreted as contemporaneous
with stage M-III magnetite mineralization (Fig. 8). Rock
staining and X-ray study are commonly required to distin-
guish this pink albite alteration from the widespread K-
feldspathization. Albitization everywhere predated K-
feldspar development which was, in turn, overprinted by
actinolite-sulfide alteration (Fig. 9E). Na-rich scapolite lo-
cally replaced original feldspars in andesite in contact with
the orebodies and, with a composition of meionite2938 and 2.8
to 3.3 wt percent Cl, has been identified in the lower Ro
Grande Formation north of the Marcona mine (Injoque,
1985), where it was subsequently replaced by amphibole and
magnetite.
Stages M-III and M-IVMain magnetite and magnetite-
sulfide mineralization: Magnetite in the massive orebodies
and local stockwork breccia mineralization is associated with
varying proportions of calcic amphibole, phlogopite, biotite,
K-feldspar, apatite, calcite, diopside, and sulfides. The major
mineral associations in the main magnetite orebodies are
magnetite-actinolite (or tremolite) phlogopite and mag-
netite-biotite ( actinolite), both assigned to a sulfide-free
stage M-III, and magnetite-actinolite (or tremolite)-sulfides
( apatite calcite), and magnetite-phlogopite-sulfides (

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 TABLE 2. Representative Electron Microprobe Data for Alteration Minerals, Marcona Iron Deposit
164
Mineral cum cum gre bt bt trm trem act phl phl phl phl phl phl phl act trem trem trem trem trem chl chl tlc

Stage M-I M-I ? M-III M-III M-III M-III M-III M-III M-III M-IV M-IV M-IV M-IV M-IV M-V M-V M-V M-V M-V M-V M-VI M-VI M-VI

Sample MA5-9 MA5-9 MA5-9 MA5-9 MA5-9 MA3-18 MA7-23 DDM3- MA3-18 MA3-18 MA3-19 MA3-19 MA3-19 MA3-19 MA3-19 DDM5 DDM5 DDM3 DDM3 DDM5 MA91 MA3-19 MA3-19 MA3-18
no. II-2 I-1 II-3 II-1 I-2 II-2 II-2 3-1-II II-1 I-1 I-1 I-2 II-2 II-3 II-1 -4-2-2 -4-2-1 -3-8 -3-1-I -4-3 -1 I-4 I-4 I-2

SiO2 57.68 57.64 35.72 39.3 40.19 58.54 58.7 55.39 44.73 43.51 45.41 44.89 44.51 43.35 41.91 55.61 58.63 57.8 59.77 58.19 57.98 36.74 37.59 62.11
TiO2 0.01 0 0.01 1.23 1.44 0 0 0.06 0.03 0.04 0.07 0.05 0.32 0.69 1.62 0.02 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.05 0 0 0.03 0

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Al2O3 0.83 0.8 0.09 12.46 12.32 0.56 0.48 2.43 10.99 12.62 11.2 10.88 11.43 12.73 13.09 0.22 0.33 1.17 0.29 0.73 0.37 10.23 8.83 0.37
FeO* 13.04 14.01 49.98 17.03 15.71 1.44 2.25 7.26 2.08 2.24 2.45 1.91 2.45 2.29 6.58 14.69 3.83 3.6 1.8 2.83 2.55 5.17 5.72 1.11
MnO 0 0.05 0.56 0.02 0.06 0.01 0.08 0.04 0 0 0 0.04 0.01 0.02 0.07 0.11 0.06 0.08 0.08 0.05 0.05 0.08 0.06 0.02
MgO 21.12 20.91 2.84 15.11 16.07 23.51 23.01 19.08 27.25 26.42 27.17 27.44 26.81 26.15 22.03 14.42 22.15 22.33 23.49 22.92 21.59 33.63 33.52 29.68
CaO 0.69 0.13 0.03 0 0 13.66 13.34 13.44 0.01 0 0 0 0 0 0 12.81 13.27 13.9 13.73 12.68 13.45 0.11 0.1 0.04
Na2O 0.13 0.13 0.01 0.07 0.04 0.2 0.12 0.32 0.1 0.18 0.11 0.1 0.05 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.25 0.09 0.22 0.15 0.05 0.13 0.13
K2O 0.09 0.09 0.01 9.45 9.43 0.12 0.13 0.16 9.65 10.24 9.79 9.79 10.11 9.88 9.74 0.03 0.09 0.17 0.06 0.1 0.11 0.14 0.05 0.1
Cl 0.03 0.05 0.92 1.06 0.98 0 0.02 0.05 0.14 0.18 0.14 0.16 0.12 0.12 0.3 0.01 0.03 0.04 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.05 0.03 0.01
F 0.35 0.28 0.01 0.53 0.73 0.47 0.4 0.37 1.97 1.55 1.77 1.8 1.64 1.59 1.14 0.31 0.35 0.54 0.53 0.58 0.58 0.66 0.78 0.71
Total 93.95 94.09 90.19 96.27 96.97 98.5 98.52 98.6 96.94 96.97 98.1 97.05 97.44 96.87 95.67 98.32 98.86 99.89 99.89 98.38 96.85 86.85 86.82 94.28
Si 8.28 8.29 4.20 5.91 5.96 7.96 7.99 7.74 6.24 6.08 6.25 6.25 6.19 6.05 5.97 8.03 8.00 7.85 8.01 7.96 8.05 7.03 7.21 8.02
Al 1 0.00 0.00 2.09 2.04 0.04 0.01 0.26 1.76 1.92 1.75 1.75 1.81 1.95 2.03 0.00 0.00 0.15 0.00 0.04 0.00 0.97 0.79 0.00
Al 2 0.14 0.14 0.01 0.12 0.11 0.05 0.07 0.14 0.05 0.16 0.07 0.03 0.06 0.15 0.17 0.09 0.06 0.04 0.07 0.08 0.16 1.33 1.21 0.10
Ti 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.14 0.16 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.07 0.17 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Fe 1.57 1.68 4.92 2.14 1.95 0.16 0.26 0.85 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.22 0.29 0.27 0.78 1.77 0.44 0.41 0.20 0.32 0.30 0.83 0.92 0.12
Mn 0.00 0.01 0.06 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00
Mg 4.52 4.48 0.50 3.39 3.55 4.76 4.67 3.98 5.67 5.50 5.58 5.69 5.55 5.44 4.68 3.10 4.51 4.52 4.69 4.67 4.47 9.59 9.59 5.72
Ca 0.11 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.99 1.95 2.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.98 1.94 2.02 1.97 1.86 2.00 0.02 0.02 0.01

164
Na 0.04 0.04 0.00 0.02 0.01 0.05 0.03 0.09 0.03 0.05 0.03 0.03 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.07 0.02 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.05 0.03
K 0.02 0.02 0.00 1.81 1.78 0.02 0.02 0.03 1.72 1.82 1.72 1.74 1.79 1.76 1.77 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.01 0.02
CHEN ET AL.

Cl 0.01 0.01 0.18 0.27 0.25 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.03 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.03 0.03 0.07 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.01 0.00
F 0.16 0.13 0.00 0.25 0.34 0.20 0.17 0.16 0.87 0.68 0.77 0.79 0.72 0.70 0.51 0.14 0.15 0.23 0.22 0.25 0.25 0.40 0.47 0.29
R** 0.74 0.73 0.36 0.38 0.97 0.95 0.82 0.04 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.05 0.05 14.3 0.64 0.91 0.92 0.96 0.94 0.94 0.1 0.1

Notes: * = total iron; number of ions calculated on the basis of F, Cl, and 23 O for cummingtonite (cum), tremolite (trem) and actinolite (act); 22 O for biotite (bt) and phlogopite (phl); 28 O for chlo-
rite (chl), 22 O for talc (tlc), and 14 O for greenalite; R**: Mg/Mg + Fe ratio for amphiboles; Fe/Fe + Mg for micas and chlorites
1 Altetrahedral
2 Aloctahedral

Mina 3 open pit, 580 m, south wall).

ized transmitted light). (B) Electron back-

massive magnetite-amphibole-sulfide assem-

with interstitial magnetite and apatite. Chlo-

blage. A hematite vein cuts both (#MA3-35,

(#MA3-11, Mina 3 open pit, 580 m, adjacent

(with erratic calcite and Mn oxides) cuts

m, Mina 3 orebody). (O) Late quartz vein
cite (#DDM3-3-3, drill core DDM3-3, 343
tremolite. Magnetite in veins is commonly
crossed nicols). (N) Late magnetite veins
to a magnetite orebody; transmitted light,
Mina 5 open pit, 670 m, orebody). (M) Fine-
posed on stage M-III magnetite (#MA5-3,
sive magnetite-calcic amphibole aggregate.
600 m, combined reflected and transmitted
bole is common. (#MA3-22, Mina 3 open pit,

fine grained and locally associated with cal-

(Mt-2) cut massive magnetite (Mt-I) and late
and calcite occur as aggregates superim-
body). (L) Stage M-V pyrite, chalcopyrite,
core DDM5-4, 210 m, main Mina 5 ore-
traces in stage M-V veins (#DDM5-4-2, drill
monly coarse-grained. Magnetite occurs as
pyrite. Stage M-V actinolite-tremolite is com-
The major sulfides are chalcopyrite and
tremolite-sulfide veins cut stage M-III mas-
east end of south wall, 620 m). (K) Actinolite-
without minor magnetite) (Mina 3 open pit,
tween magnetite (Mt) orebody and dacite,

feldspathization and albitization (all with or

zoned outward from biotitization to K-
pit, 600 m). (J) Alteration at the contact be-
M-IV phlogopite (#MA3-19, Mina 3 open
(paler, massive aggregates and veins) by stage
the local replacement of stage M-III biotite
(I) Electron backscattered image showing
m, orebody, transmitted light, crossed nicols).
cleavages (#MA3-18, Mina 3 open pit, 600
rite and minor talc replace phlogopite along
(H) Coarse-grained stage M-III phlogopite
combined reflected and transmitted light).
(#MA2-9, Mina 2 open pit, 600 m, orebody,
tacts suggest contemporaneous formation
tremolite and phlogopite. The smooth con-
light). (G) Stage M-IV magnetite, pyrite,
hedral magnetite. Chloritization of amphi-
open pit, 600 m, ~ 30 m from the main mag-

(with actinolite) occurs interstitially to sub-

netite orebody). (F) Stage M-III tremolite
major sulfide is pyrite (#MA3-24, Mina 3
M-V actinolite (+ sulfide, dark-green). The
pink-red) veins, in turn reopened by stage
cut by stage M-III K-feldspar (microcline;
Stage M-II albitized dacite porphyry (white)
(Mina 2 open pit, 700 m, south wall). (E)
scapolite, is concentrated along the foliation
white albite, locally with pockets of bladed
Marcona Formation metasediments. Coarse
polarized reflected light). (D) Albitization of
Mina 5 open pit, 670 m, main orebody; plane-
the cleavage of early phlogopite (#MA5-2,
magnetite (Mt-2). Pyrite was emplaced along
and magnetite (Mt-1) replaced by pyrite and
M-III biotite. (C) Stage M-IB phlogopite
cummingtonite (darker) by fine-grained stage
scatter image illustrating the replacement of
magnetite (stage M-III) (#MA5-9, Mina 5
interstitially to coarse-grained biotite and
M-IA), partially altered to greenalite, occurs
ization stages. (A) Cummingtonite (stage
FIG. 9. Marcona alteration and mineral-

grained talc replaces stage M-IV phlogopite

open pit, 670 m, main orebody; plane-polar-
 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 165

A B C
B Phl
Cum Cum Py
Cum
Mt
Gre Bt Mt
Bt Phl Py
Cum
Mt Mt-1
Cum
Mt Mt-2
Bt
Bt
150 m 150 m

D Marcona E F
Formation Mt
Ab (Stage M-II)
Chl

Amph
Kfs (Stage M-III)
Albite

Albite
Mt Amph
Magnetite
orebody
1 m Act-Sulfide veins (Stage M- V) 150 m

G Mt H I
Phl
Amph Chl
Ap Bt
Phl
Chl
Py Phl
Mt Py
Mt Phl Phl
Mt
150 m 150 m

J K L
Mt
Bt Bt Cal
Py
Mt
Mt Cal
Massi ve Mt-Amph
Cp
Kfs+ Ab alterati on
Cp-Py-Amph veins

Mt
1 cm 0. 5 cm

M N O
Mt
Late tremolit e Hm vein
Cp
Late tremolite
Tlc Tlc Qtz vein
Mt(2) veins
Mt - Amph -
Phl Phl Tlc Sulfide - Cal

Mt(1)
Tlc
Phl Cal 150 m 0. 5 cm

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166 CHEN ET AL.
actinolite or tremolite apatite calcite), assigned to stage
M-IV. In both stages, magnetite forms euhedral to subhedral,
0.3 to 5 mm grains and massive aggregates, commonly inter-
grown (Fig. 9F) with fine-grained (0.10.5 mm), light-green
tremolite or dark-green actinolite (Table 2; the classification
of Leake et al., 1997). However, these amphiboles rarely co-
exist. The major stage M-IV sulfides are pyrite, chalcopyrite,
and both hexagonal and monoclinic pyrrhotite, occurring
largely as subhedral to anhedral crystals interstitial to mag-
netite, calcic amphibole, and phlogopite (Fig. 9G), but locally
showing microscopic replacement textures. Although no un-
ambiguous replacement of pyrrhotite by pyrite and chalcopy-
rite was observed, the common association of pyrrhotite and
magnetite without other sulfides, especially in the lower
parts of the orebodies, and the absence of pyrrhotite in late
sulfide veins suggest that it largely formed prior to pyrite and
chalcopyrite.
Red-brown stage M-III biotite (Ann3638) commonly occurs
as coarse flakes in the main orebodies and their envelopes.
Phlogopite, locally occurring in stage M-III but more abun-
dant in stage M-IV assemblages, has a composition of Ann45
(Table 2) and is widely replaced by chlorite and talc (Fig. 9H).
The locally developed stage M-IV ferroan phlogopite (Ann14)
may record the alteration of stage-III biotite. Replacement of
both massive and vein biotite by phlogopite in Marcona For-
mation metasediments is also observed in electron backscat-
ter images (Fig. 9I). Accessory minerals in the magnetite ore-
bodies include fine-grained stage M-III fluorapatite (Fig. 9H)
and stage M-IV calcite, both widely coexisting with magnetite
and/or sulfides. Stage M-III K-feldspar alteration is dominant
in dacite and fine-grained andesite, generally has the ortho-
clase structure, and commonly occurs within an outer zone to
biotitization (Fig. 9J). Metasomatic magnetite, associated with
secondary K-feldspar, is only locally observed in host rocks.
Although biotite, phlogopite and amphibole are also common
skarn-type alteration minerals, the immediate metasiltstone
host rock for major magnetite orebodies and the absence of
extensive hydrothermal magnetite in the alteration envelope
indicate a carbonate-replacement skarnization (Injoque,
1985) is unlikely for the Marcona main magnetite formation.
Stage M-VPolymetallic sulfide mineralization: The major
sulfides in stage M-V are again pyrite, chalcopyrite, and
pyrrhotite. Sulfide-rich veins, commonly with calcic amphi-
boles, occur in the upper parts of the orebodies and cut mas-
sive stage M-III and M-IV magnetite-amphibole associations
(Fig. 9K). However, the relationships between the sulfides of
stages M-IV and M-V are rarely clear. Stage V sulfides and co-
existing minerals widely occur as aggregates replacing stage
M-III magnetite and amphibole. The characteristic assem-
blages include chalcopyrite-pyrite-calcic amphibole (
pyrrhotite) and less abundant, chalcopyrite-pyrite-calcite
(Fig. 9L). The chalcopyrite-pyrite-calcic amphibole-calcite
assemblage also occurs locally. Stage M-V sulfides are gener-
ally euhedral to subhedral and coarse grained, and commonly
have planar contacts with amphibole and calcite, which may
indicate broadly coeval precipitation. Pyrrhotite mainly oc-
curs as aggregates replacing stage M-III or M-IV magnetite-
amphibole and is subordinate to chalcopyrite and pyrite in
sulfide veins. Accessory stage M-V sulfides include sphalerite,
abundant in the Mina 14 orebody and commonly associated
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 166
with pyrite and chalcopyrite. Calcic amphibole formed exten-
sively in stage M-V as tremolite and actinolite (Table 2), both
coexisting with sulfides. Tremolite, without associated metal-
lic minerals, also developed late in stage M-V, forming veins
cutting massive magnetite orebodies. Hydrothermal breccias,
in which coarse-grained, late-stage M-V tremolite cements
magnetite-sulfide clasts, are widespread in the Cu-poor Mina
5 and Mina 7 orebodies, but are only locally developed else-
where. Tremolite which formed late in stage M-V has a lower
iron content than that associated with sulfides (Table 2).
Stage M-VIChlorite-talc-serpentine alteration: Talc com-
monly occurs as fine-grained aggregates and replaces or cuts
calcite, locally also replacing stage M-IV phlogopite (Fig.
9M). Lizardite and, locally, chrysotile also replace stage M-V
actinolite and tremolite, and talc and serpentine replace
coarse-grained stage M-V apatite. Serpentine veins com-
monly cut magnetite and sulfides in the cores of the orebod-
ies. Whereas the chlorite-talc -serpentine assemblage records
the retrograde alteration of phlogopite, actinolite and tremo-
lite, the replacement of calcite and calcic amphiboles by talc
and serpentine is evidence for Mg metasomatism following
the main stage M-V sulfide precipitation.
Stage M-VIILate veins: Late-stage hydrothermal veins
are abundant at Marcona, but their mutual age relationships
are ambiguous. Fine-grained subhedral magnetite and sul-
fides form narrow veins cutting both late-stage M-V tremolite
and stage M-III magnetite (Fig. 9N). Rare chalcopyrite veins
lacking gangue minerals cut late magnetite veins. Late mag-
netite is widely weathered to powdery hematite, but some
hematite ( gypsum) veins which cut the main magnetite ore-
bodies and late quartz veins (Fig. 9O) are interpreted as hy-
pogene. The major sulfides in hematite veins are pyrite and
chalcopyrite. Although the main mineralization stages at Mar-
cona are almost free of quartz, barren quartz calcite veins
cut magnetite orebodies and host-rock alteration zones (Fig.
9O). Rhodochrosite locally occurs in these veins. Calcite veins
up to 5 cm thick cut the magnetite orebodies and reopen ser-
pentine veins. Tourmaline-quartz-pyrite veins locally cut
Marcona Formation metasediments. In the Mina 11 orebody,
anhydrite veins, commonly replaced by gypsum and bassan-
ite, cut all previous stages. Locally, anhydrite with abundant
pyrite and minor chalcopyrite forms the matrix of hydrother-
mal breccias.
Supergene alteration: Most magnetite orebodies at Mar-
cona were mantled by 10- to 40-m-thick supergene oxidation
profiles, comprising lower, 4 to 6 m horizons of sulfate-rich
transitional ore (Fig. 7A), in which martitized magnetite is
intergrown with jarosite, botyrogen, amarantite and parabut-
lerite, and surficial leached, martite-dominated zones. The
supergene profiles are eroded by a regionally extensive pedi-
ment overlain by a 9.13 0.25 (2) Ma rhyodacitic ash-flow
tuff (Quang et al., 2001).
The Mina Justa Cu (-Ag) Deposit
The Mina Justa Cu oxide and sulfide orebodies are hosted
entirely by the mid-late Jurassic upper Ro Grande Formation
(Fig. 10). This unit dips at 40 to 60 to the northwest and is
dominated by porphyritic andesite flows and medium to fine-
grained andesitic volcaniclastic rocks with minor horizons of
sandstone, siltstone and limestone. Callovian to Oxfordian
 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 167

Main
orebody

,
C

Upper
orebody

,
B
C Neogene to Quaternary Fine-grained andestie

Post-mineraliz ation Tuff

ocoite
Sandy volcaniclastics
Amygdaloidal Andesite
Massive Magnetite bodies
(sandstone/siltstones) N
Faults
with minor Cu-oxides
Alteration 50 m
(Ab+ Kfs+ Act) B B Cross Sections
with Cu-oxide

FIG. 10. Geologic map of Mina Justa Cu deposit, hosted by the upper Ro Grande Formation. B-B' and C-C' show loca-
tions of the Figure 11 cross sections (modified from Rio Tinto 1: 10,000 mapping of Mina Justa prospect, February 2003,
unpub. report). Ab = albite, Act = actinolite, Kfs = K-feldspar.

fauna have been identified in inferred equivalent strata of the
upper Ro Grande Formation in the Pampa de Pongo district,
30 km south of Mina Justa (fig. 4, Caldas, 1978; Hawkes et al.,
2002; Baxter et al., 2005). The volcaniclastic rocks locally in-
corporate rounded plagioclase phenoclasts in a fine-grained
matrix. Subordinate host rocks include plagioclase- and horn-
blende-phyric andesite with vesicles filled by chlorite and car-
bonates. Lensoid marble bodies occur mainly in the southeast
part of the area, but host no economic mineralization. The
abundant secondary hydrothermal biotite and sericite inhibit
definition of magmatic chemistry (Hawkes et al., 2002), but
the correlative andesites at the base of the upper section of
the Ro Grande Formation in Can Ro Grande (40 km
northwest of Mina Justa) are K rich and have high Cu con-
tents (avg 400 ppm: Aguirre, 1988). A swarm of northwest- to
north-striking, 20- to 50-m-wide andesitic dikes, constituting
up to 35 percent of the rock volume in the main mineraliza-
tion center, was emplaced following mineralization. These
plagioclase-phyric, ocitic rocks are texturally and miner-
alogically similar to the Ro Grande Formation flows, but
record only weak K feldspathization and sericitization.
The Mina Justa deposit incorporates two principal orebod-
ies, the Main and Upper (Figs. 10 and 11A). The mineralized
lensoidal bodies characteristically comprise a massive mag-
netite-sulfide core enclosed by hydrothermal breccias with
strongly altered host rock clasts in a magnetite+sulfide matrix,
in turn surrounded by extensive stockwork (Fig. 12). They are
controlled by subparallel, northeast-trending and shallowly
southeast dipping faults and range from 10 m to 200 m in ver-
tical extent (Baxter et al., 2005). The Main mineralized body

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168 CHEN ET AL.

Main orebody Upper orebody

B 100m MA 27 MA 35 MA 17 MA 64 B
Ma Upp 800m
in ore er
ore
bo bod
dy y

mm
006
06
600m

Upp
e r ore
bod
Ma y
in
ore 400m
bo
d y

?
A
200m

Massive Magnetite body

with minor Cu-oxides
Cu-oxide zone Late ocoite
Bornit e+ Chalcopyrite
(+ Magnetite) zone
Bornit e+ Chalcocite Altered volcaniclastics
(+ Magnetit e) zone Chalcopyrite +Pyrit e
C (+ Magnetit e) zone (Rio Grande Format ion)

100m
C
750m

550m

Main orebody

B 350m

FIG. 11. Cross sections through the Mina Justa orebodies. (A) Northwest-southeast section through the Main and Upper
orebodies (from Baxter et al., 2005). (B) Southwest-northeast section through the Main orebody (sulfide zones modified after
Moody et al., 2003).

NW SE
MA-64 MA-17 MA-35 MA-27 MA-45 MA-89
Graphic Mineral- Graphic Mineral- Graphic Mineral- Graphic Mine
Mineral- Graphic Mineral- Graphic Mineral-
logging ization logging ization logging
640m ization logging ization logging ization logging ization
495m 320m 320m 550m 490m

Mt+Bn
Mt+Cp
+Py
Mt+Hm
+Bn + Cc
Mt+Cp Mt+Cp Mt+Cp
560m 445m 290m +Py M-C +Py +Py
M-C 290m 467m 460m

Mt+Cp
+Py

Mt+Cp
Mt+Bn +Py
M-B

480m 395m 260m 260m 380m 430m

Veins+ massive
Veins M-B Massive (Mt + Bn) Pyrite-rich zone* Altered sandy volcanoclastics
Magnetite + sulfide bodies
Hydrothermal Hydrothermal Breccias + massive Massive (Mt + Cp) Pyrite-rich zone*
M-C Late ocoite
Breccias Magnetite + sulfide bodies + hydrothermal Breccias

FIG. 12. Mineralogical and structural zonation of the Mina Justa orebodies, based on logging of selected drill cores. The
locations of holes MA-64, MA-17, MA-35, and MA-27 are shown in Figure 11A. MA-45 and MA-89 are collared 600 to 800
m southeast of the upper zone and out of the map area in Figure 10. *Magnetite either occurs erratically as haloes around
coarse-grained pyrite or is absent in this zone. Bn = bornite, Cc = chalcocite, Cp = chalcopyrite, Mt = magnetite, Py = pyrite.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 168

 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 169

crops out as a 400 m long, discontinuous belt of Cu oxides and
albite-K-feldspar-actinolite alteration (Fig. 10), which dips
10 to 30 to the southeast, i.e., at a high angle to the bedding
of the host andesites. It has been intersected to a depth of 500
m, where it remains open (Fig. 11A). The Upper mineralized
body, cropping out subparallel to and approximately 400 m
southeast of the Main zone (Fig. 10), has a similar concave-
upward, spoon-shaped form in section, and a similar dip of
10 to 30 to the southeast. On surface, this zone has been
identified over a distance of at least 400 m and it has been in-
tersected to a depth of 300 m (Fig. 11A). The similarly north-
east-trending, but northwest-dipping magnetite lenses are
also exposed on surface (Fig. 10). They commonly contain
minor Cu oxides and are locally cut by the southeast-dipping
Mina Justa normal faults (Fig. 11A).
Copper oxide minerals, predominantly chrysocolla with
lesser atacamite, dominate the upper 200 m of the deposit,
giving way gradually to sulfides with depth (Fig. 11A, B). The
oxide zone, with an average grade of 0.54 percent Cu, hosts
approximately 40 to 50 percent of the recoverable Cu in the
measured-plus-indicated reserves. In individual orebodies,
the major sulfides are zoned upward, and locally laterally, but
not strictly concentrically (cf. Moody et al., 2003), from
pyrite-chalcopyrite to bornite-chalcocite ( digenite), with a
concomitant increase in Cu grade (Figs. 11, 12). Around the
magnetite-sulfide orebodies, the alteration is zoned outward
from potassic (K-feldspar dominant), through calcic (actino-
lite) to sodic (albite). Hypogene hematite, in part as specular-
ite, commonly occurs in the upper parts of the zones of Cu
mineralization, particularly in the northeast quadrant of the
orebodies.
Paragenetic relationships
Seven stages of hypogene alteration-mineralization, J-I
through J-VII, are herein recognized at Mina Justa (Fig. 13).
Stage J-Ialbite-actinolite alteration: The earliest hy-
drothermal event at Mina Justa generated widespread albite-
actinolite alteration in andesitic lavas and volcaniclastic in-
terbeds. Light pink albite and green, fine-grained actinolite
(Table 3) replace both plagioclase phenocrysts and the matrix
of andesites (Fig. 14A), recording Na metasomatism.
Stage J-IIK-feldsparmagnetite alteration: Rocks affected
by this event generally appear massive in hand specimen, and
range from pink to black. K-feldspar commonly occurs as ex-
tremely small grains (<0.05 mm) replacing both fresh and
previously albitized plagioclase (Fig. 14A), and the associated
magnetite is mainly fine to medium grained (0.050.1 mm),
locally forming aggregates interstitial to the feldspar (Fig.
14B). Stage J-II alteration, unambiguously the result of K-Fe
metasomatism, was probably contemporaneous with the de-
velopment of lenses of sulfide-free magnetite which strike
northeast and dip northwest, subparallel to stratigraphy, and
are locally crosscut by massive magnetite-pyrite bodies (Fig.
11A). Overprinting of stage J-II alteration by stage J-III acti-
nolite and stage J-V coarse-grained K-feldspar magnetite is
common (Fig. 14C).
Stage J-IIIactinolite ( magnetite diopside) alteration:
Green actinolite (Table 3), associated with minor magnetite,

Albite-actinolite K-feldspar-magnetite Actinolite-diopside Early Magnetite-pyrite- Late

Cu mineralization
Minerals alteration alteration -magnetite alteration hematite K-feldspar alteration hematite
Stage J-I Stage J-II Stage J-III Stage J-IV Stage J-V Stage J-V I Stage J-VII
Albite
Microcline

Diopside
Actinolite
Magnetite
Hematite
Pyrite
Quartz
Calcite
Chlorite
Ti tanite
Apatite
Allanite
Chalcopyrite ?

Bornite
Chalcocite
Sphalerite
Galena
Carrollite
Molybdenite
E pidote
Clinozoisite
Prehnite
Barite

Note: supergene minerals are omitted Abundant Local Trace

FIG. 13. Alteration and mineralization paragenesis of the Mina Justa Cu (-Ag) deposit.

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170 CHEN ET AL.

TABLE 3. Representative Electron Microprobe Data for Hydrothermal Silicates and Sulfides from Mina Justa

Mineral act act chl dg dg bn cc

Stage J-I J-III J-V J-VI J-VI J-VI J-VI

Sample MA64 MA89 MA89 MA64 MA64-4 MA64 MA64

no. 3 4-1 4-2 4-II-1 II-1-A 4-II-2 4-I-1

SiO2 52.88 56.14 32.62 As 0.00 0.12 0.000 0.10

TiO2 0.20 0.02 0.02 S 20.99 21.38 25.18 20.13
Al2O3 3.25 0.95 14.41 Fe 0.14 0.08 11.17 0.04
FeO* 11.76 10.73 20.41 Ni 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
MnO 0.10 0.10 1.06 Zn 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
MgO 15.71 16.88 17.71 Ag 0.24 0.26 0.12 0.14
CaO 12.72 13.16 1.56 Cu 78.40 78.25 63.41 80.46
Na2O 0.44 0.15 0.12 Co 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
K2O 0.23 0.06 0.03
Cl 0.10 0.04 0.04
F 0.33 0.17 0.32
Total 97.70 98.41 88.31 Total 99.773 100.088 99.880 100.865
Si 7.63 7.95 6.67
Al 1 0.37 0.05 1.33
Al 2 0.18 0.10 2.14
Ti 0.02 0.00 0.00
Fe 1.42 1.27 3.49
Mn 0.01 0.01 0.18
Mg 3.38 3.56 5.40
Ca 1.97 2.00 0.34
Na 0.12 0.04 0.05
K 0.04 0.01 0.01
Cl 0.02 0.01 0.01
F 0.15 0.08 0.21
R** 0.70 0.74 0.39

Notes: * = Total iron; number of ions calculated on the basis of F, Cl, and 23 O for actinolite (act); 28 O for chlorite (chl), bn = bornite, cc = chalcocite,
dg = digenite; R**: Mg/Mg + Fe ratio for amphiboles; Fe/Fe+Mg for chlorite; detection limits for sulfides (in wt percent): Fe = 0.02; Ag = 0.04; As = 0.07;
Cu = 0.02; S = 0.02; Ni, Co, and Zn = 0.06
1 Altetrahedral
2 Aloctahedral

FIG. 14. Mina Justa alteration and mineralization stages. (A) Light-pink albite (not stained) and fine-grained actinolite ex-
tensively replace original phenocrystic and groundmass plagioclase (stained pink to red). Stage J-II red microcline (stained
yellow) replaces albite. Stage J-III actinolite is superimposed on albite and microcline (#MA64-7, drill core MA64, 394.4 m,
80 m from main orebody). (B) Fine-grained microcline coexists with magnetite in a clast cemented by stage J-III actinolite.
Subhedral to euhedral actinolite crystals locally replace microcline (#MA64-3, drill core MA64, 220.1 m, plane-polarized
transmitted light). (C) Magnetite-sulfide-calcite veins with K-feldspar haloes (red) cut stage J-III actinolite and stage J-II
fine-grained K-feldspar-magnetite (gray to pink) alteration. Actinolite is extensively chloritized. (#MA17-7, drill core MA17,
364 m). (D) Red-green breccia in which stage J-III actinolite (green) matrix cements clasts of stage J-II fine-grained K-
feldspar - magnetite (Mt-1) (pinkish red to dark gray). Coarse-grained stage J-V magnetite (Mt-2) occurs with actinolite and
locally as veins (# MA64-3, drill core MA64, 220.1 m). (E) Stage J-V magnetite (Mt-2)-bornite-chalcocite assemblage occurs
as a matrix to pinkish-red stage J-II K-feldspar-magnetite (Mt-1) altered clasts cut by stage J-III actinolite (green) veins. The
magnetite-sulfide matrix was reopened and partially replaced by late specularite (#MA64-6, drill core MA64, 276 m). (F)
Platy stage J-V magnetite (after stage J-IV hematite) occurs with calcite, quartz and chalcopyrite. Chalcopyrite extensively
replaces pyrite and locally occurs along fractures in magnetite. Chloritized stage J-III actinolite relics occur between the
magnetite crystals. Stage J-IV calcite has planar contacts with platy magnetite, but is locally replaced by stage J-V granular
magnetite and quartz veins. (#MA17-6 from drill core MA17, 355.1 m, combined reflected and transmitted light). (G) Hy-
drothermal breccia at the margin of the Main orebody. Magnetite (Mt-2)-sulfide occurs as a matrix around angular stage J-
II microcline-magnetite (Mt-1) clasts. Actinolite relics occur in matrix (#MA35-0, drill core MA35, 484.3 m). (H) Replace-
ment of stage J-III actinolite by stage J-V magnetite-pyrite. Strong chloritization of actinolite is locally evident (lower-right)
(#MA27-2, drill core MA27, 366.9 m; transmitted light, crossed nicols). (I) Spotty magnetite-chalcopyrite-quartz mineral-
ization in earlier actinolite and microcline-magnetite (gray to pink) - altered host rocks. Chalcopyrite coexists with magnetite
and quartz (#MJ-38, drill core MA54, 341.8 m). (J) Magnetite-pyrite-quartz alteration. Quartz is coarse grained and euhe-
dral. Stage J-III actinolite crystals occur as relics in quartz grain (#MA17-6, drill core MA17, 355.1 m, combined reflected
and transmitted light). (K) Magnetite alteration and related chloritization. Magnetite coexists with pyrite, quartz, and chlo-
rite. Chlorite (locally with quartz) extensively replaces stage J-III actinolite (#MA89-4, drill core MA89, 360.2 m, plane-po-
larized transmitted light). (L) Chalcopyrite-calcite veins cut altered host rocks. Microcline occurs as haloes around calcite
veins and locally cuts calcite (#MA45-6, drill core MA45, 404.2 m). (M) Chalcopyrite replaces stage J-V pyrite and magnetite
(#MA17-9, drill core MA35, 507.9 m, plane-polarized reflected light). (N) Supergene covellite replaces chalcopyrite (#
MA14-3, drillcore MA14, 394.7 m, plane-polarized reflected light). (O) Fine-grained bladed hematite coexists with bornite,
digenite and chalcocite with vermicular and eutectic-like textures, occurring as patches in a magnetite vein which cuts host
rocks (#MA64-4, drill core MA64, 248.3 m, plane-polarized reflected light).

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 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 171

A B C
Kfs
Ab Kfs halo
Mt - Cal-Sulfid e vein
Kfs Ab Kfs Act Act -(Kfs- Mt)
Act altered host rock
Pl Act Mt
Act
Pl Kfs 0. 5 cm 150 m

D E F
Act Mt

Kfs - Mt-1
Act Cp
Kfs - Mt-1

Mt-2
Cal Qtz
Mt-2-Sul fi de
0. 5 cm 0. 5 cm 150 m

G H I
Kfs - Mt-1 Mt - Py
Act
Kfs - Mt (II) - Sulfid e- Qtz
Mt-1 Mt-2-Sul fide spotty mineraliz ation

Mt Chl
Act - (Kfs-Mt-I) altered
host rock
0. 5 cm 150 m 0. 5 cm

J K L
Qtz Qtz
Cal vein with
Act Kfs halos
Mt
Act Py Act - (Kfs + Mt) altered
Py host rock

Cp
Mt Chl
150 m 150 m 1 cm

M N O

Py Qtz Hm

Cp
Cv Bn
Cp Mt
Cc
Mt Dg
150 m 150 m 150 m

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172 CHEN ET AL.
occurs throughout the deposit, commonly as massive aggre-
gates along the contacts of stage J-V magnetite bodies or as
coarse, acicular crystals in veins cutting stage J-II K-feldspar-
magnetite alteration. More locally, it forms the matrix of
hydrothermal breccias (Fig. 14D) which incorporate clasts of
K-feldspar-magnetitealtered host rocks. Actinolite inter-
growths occur as irregular clasts in a magnetite-sulfide matrix
along the contacts of the stage J-V magnetite bodies with their
actinolitic alteration haloes. A temporal evolution is evident
from K-feldsparmagnetite, through actinolite, to magnetite-
pyrite alteration (Fig. 14E). Actinolite is strongly chloritized
and carbonatized, and locally replaced by quartz. It replaced
both albite and K-feldspar, evidence for Ca metasomatism.
Diopside is spatially associated with and locally replaced by
actinolite in the albitized and K-Femetasomatised host
rocks.
Stage J-IVearly hematite-calcite alteration: Mushke-
tovite, i.e., magnetite unambiguously pseudomorphous after
specular hematite, occurs commonly in the main magnetite
bodies, evidence for a now obliterated hematite-dominant
stage which temporally separated the actinolite alteration and
the main magnetite alteration in andesite. The hematite orig-
inally formed fractured plates (Fig. 14F). Anhedral-to-subhe-
dral, and medium- to coarse-grained calcite is intergrown
with the pseudomorphs, and is locally replaced by quartz and
magnetite. Coarse-grained, subhedral-to-euhedral allanite
(stage J-V) occurs rarely as inclusions in stage J-IV calcite in
contact with stage J-V magnetite and pyrite.
Stage J-Vmagnetite-pyrite-K-feldspar alteration: The
massive, lensoid, and brecciated magnetite-pyrite bodies
which host the highest grade copper sulfide mineralization at
Mina Justa were controlled by the northeast-striking, south-
east-dipping, Mina Justa system faults, but are dislocated by
the northwest-striking, northeast-dipping Huaca faults and
associated ocite dikes. Magnetite-pyrite veins, varying from
0.1 to 5 cm in width, cut alteration assemblages of stages J-II
and J-III adjacent to the massive magnetite bodies. Hy-
drothermal breccias commonly occur at the margins of the
magnetite bodies, and comprise a magnetite-pyritedominant
matrix and angular clasts of andesite altered to microcline
(stage J-II) or actinolite (stage J-III) (Fig. 14G), and mag-
netite-pyrite intergrowths locally replace stage J-III actinolite
(Fig. 14H). Rarely, stage J-V magnetite-rich alteration occurs
as spots in altered host rocks peripheral to the main mag-
netite bodies (Fig. 14I).
Magnetite and pyrite of stage J-V are medium- to coarse-
grained (0.510 mm, with some pyrite exceeding 1 cm) and
subhedral to euhedral. Magnetite commonly occurs intersti-
tially to pyrite and has planar grain boundaries (Fig. 14J).
Abundant quartz is associated with magnetite-pyrite alter-
ation in the main magnetite bodies, occurring as 0.1 to 1 mm,
subhedral to euhedral, crystals interstitial to magnetite and
pyrite and commonly with actinolite inclusions (Fig. 14J). Ac-
cessory calcite is generally anhedral to subhedral and medium-
grained, coexisting with magnetite, pyrite, and quartz. Pink or
red K-feldspar, predominantly microcline, is a common alter-
ation mineral in rocks associated with stage J-V magnetite-
pyrite mineralization, forming haloes to magnetite-pyrite
veins or patches incorporating medium- to fine-grained mag-
netite crystals and superimposed on early alteration (Fig.
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 172
14C). Chlorite, largely diabantite (classification of Hey, 1954;
Table 3), extensively replaces actinolite or diopside (Fig.
14K), and locally occurs in veins with magnetite, pyrite, and
quartz. Titanite commonly forms medium-grained subhedral
crystals or aggregates enclosed by chlorite, as well as euhedral
grains in magnetite-pyrite-quartz-chlorite veins. Fluorapatite
locally occurs in stage J-V veins, but more commonly forms
coarse-grained, subhedral to euhedral grains in stage J-III
actinolite in contact with magnetite bodies. The mutual rela-
tionships of apatite and actinolite are ambiguous.
Stage J-VIcopper sulfide mineralization: Stage J-V mag-
netite alteration zones, although rich in pyrite, lack inherent
Cu sulfides. Copper sulfide-bearing veins, assigned to stage J-
VI, locally cut altered host rocks and stage J-V magnetite-
pyrite-quartz (Fig. 14L), but the Cu sulfides and associated
assemblages more commonly occur in massive magnetite-
pyrite bodies or veins with which they exhibit unambiguous
microscopic replacement textures (Fig. 14M). Locally, stage
J-V magnetite-pyrite aggregates in stage J-III actinolite veins
have been almost completely replaced by chalcopyrite or
bornite, giving rise to the common actinolite-Cu sulfide asso-
ciation, or in some cases, pyrite was intensively replaced by
chalcopyrite and generated the magnetite-chalcopyrite asso-
ciation in hand specimens (e.g., Fig. 14G, I).
The main hypogene Cu sulfides at Mina Justa are, in de-
creasing abundance, chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, and di-
genite. Except for chalcopyrite, these are concentrated above
or in the upper parts of the main magnetite bodies, commonly
forming veins that cut the host rocks and earlier alteration as-
semblages. Covellite, entirely supergene, occurs mainly in the
lower part of the oxide zone, replacing bornite and chalcopy-
rite (Fig. 14N). Chalcocite, digenite, and bornite typically
form large patches with complex vermicular intergrowths
(Fig. 14O), such as are inferred to form through noncoherent
exsolution at low temperature (<250C) and under protracted
cooling (Brett, 1964). Similar hypogene relationships were
documented at the Olympic Dam deposit by Roberts et al.
(1983). Copper sulfides exhibiting vermicular textures are all
rich in silver (Table 3), and represent the major Ag host in the
ores. Chalcocite, bornite, and chalcopyrite locally occur to-
gether, with no unambiguous mutual replacement relation-
ships. Accessory stage J-VI sulfides include sphalerite, galena,
molybdenite, and rare fine-grained (<25 m), carrollite which
generally coexist with chalcopyrite and locally replace pyrite.
The iron oxide associated with both chalcopyrite and bor-
nite-chalcocite mineralization is fine-grained platy hematite,
commonly occurring as aggregates around Cu sulfides (Fig.
14O). Locally, stage J-VI hematite formed with chalcopyrite
along the boundaries of earlier magnetite grains or stage J-IV
coarse-grained hematite (mushketovite). Calcite is the dom-
inant nonmetallic mineral associated with Cu mineralization,
generally occurring in veins which cut the host rocks and mag-
netite mineralization (Fig. 14L). Calcite-Cu sulfide assem-
blages dominate these veins but give way upward to hematite-
bearing assemblages. Albite ( microcline) locally occurs in
chalcopyrite-calcite veins cutting altered andesite host rock.
Sparse epidote veins with chalcopyrite or bornite cut stage
J-V magnetite-pyrite mineralization and associated chloritic
alteration zones. Red microcline and subordinate light-pink
albite occur as narrow haloes around calcite-chalcopyrite
 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 173

veins, and locally cut calcite, evidence that they partially post-
dated Cu mineralization. Epidote and clinozoisite commonly
occur in calcite in contact with K-feldspar. Barite locally oc-
curs in these late K-feldspar veins, but the temporal relation-
ships between K-feldspar veins and specular hematite (stage
J-VII) are ambiguous.
Stage J-VIIspecular hematite: In the upper parts of the
orebodies, a Cu sulfide-barren hematite stage locally devel-
oped. Medium- to coarse-grained (0.10.5 mm), specular
hematite forms veins cutting stage J-III actinolite alteration
age for the main period of magnetite mineralization, these
data provide no evidence of the duration of hydrothermal ac-
tivity in this multistage center. Moreover, the age relation-
ships of the Marcona and Mina Justa deposits have remained
uncertain: only problematic K-Ar whole-rock dates ranging
from 104 3 to 132 5 Ma have been reported for the latter
(N. Hawkes, 2003, Marcona district geochronology and new
age date results: unpub. memo, Rio Tinto Mining and Explo-
ration Ltd., 2 p.). Laser-induced incremental-heating 40Ar/
39Ar techniques were herein applied to high-quality mineral

zones and stage J-V magnetite mineralization. Locally, stage
J-VII hematite replaces stage J-V (magnetite) and stage J-
VI (Cu) mineralization in hydrothermal breccias. The re-
placement and crosscutting relationships between stage J-
VII hematite and Cu sulfides confirm the distinction of
stage J-VII.
40Ar/39Ar
Geochronology
Conventional K-Ar ages of 154 4 (2 ) Ma and 160 4 Ma
for, respectively, sericite and phlogopite from Marcona were re-
ported by Injoque (1985). Although supporting a mid-Jurassic
separates from samples well documented in terms of field re-
lationships and mineralogy. The dated materials include bi-
otite, phlogopite, cummingtonite, tremolite, actinolite and
microcline from Marcona, and actinolite and microcline from
Mina Justa. The age spectra and corresponding Ca/K and
Cl/K ratios and inverse-isochron plots for Marcona and Mina
Justa are illustrated in Figures 15 and 16, respectively; ana-
lytical details are provided in the Appendix. The locations and
descriptions of the dated Marcona and Mina Justa samples
are documented in Table 4. All dates are quoted with an
uncertainty of 2 (95 percent confidence level). An age

TABLE 4. Summary of 40Ar/39Ar Ages from Marcona and Mina Justa

Sample no. Location Sample description Mineral dated Stage Plateau age 2 (Ma)

Marcona
MA5-9A* Marcona, Mina 5 open pit Fine-grained mt occurs interstitially cum M-I-A 177.0 1.5
(670 m a.s.l., NE corner) with cum and bt 175.2 2.3
MA5-2 Marcona, Mina 5 open pit Fine-grained mt occurs with sulfide,
(620 m a.s.l., center) cum and Phl phl M-I-B 171.5 1.11
MA5-9B Marcona, Mina 5 open pit Fine-grained mt occurs interstitially bt M-III 161.4 0.9
(670 m a.s.l., NE corner) with cum and bt
MA3-30 Marcona, Mina 3 open pit Fine-grained mc alteration in dacite mc M-III 109.2 0.6
(580 m a.s.l., south wall)
MA3-24 Marcona, Mina 3 open pit Mc veins cut albitized dacite and are mc M-III 101.0 0.6
(580 m a.s.l., SW corner) refilled by act-sulfide veins
MA3-19 Marcona, Mina 3 open pit Coarse-grained mt-sulfides-phl phl M-IV 159.7 0.8
(580 m a.s.l., SW corner)
DDM3-3-8 Marcona, Mina 3 Trm-sulfide aggregates replacing trm M-V 158.5 1.9
drill core DDM3-3; 418 m massive mt
MA91-2* Marcona, Mina 11, Fine-grained mt occurs interstitially with trm M-V 157.3 3.2
drill core MA91, 92m trm and sulfides 156.8 2.9
DDM5-4-2 Marcona, Mina 5 Act-sulfide veins cutting mt act M-V 156.6 4.2
drill core DDM5-4; 210 m
DDM3-3-1 Marcona, Mina 3 Trm cementing mt-sulfide-act clasts trm M-V 156.2 2.4
drill core DDM3-3; 340 m

Mina Justa
MA45-2* Mina Justa, Act alteration in andesite act J-I 157.3 3.5
drill core MA45, 262m 154.3 5.5
MJ-6 Mina Justa, Hem-cp-ep-ab veins cut stage II mc (+ ab) J-II 142.4 6.7
drill core MA64 mc-altered andesite
MA64-3* Mina Justa, Coarse-grained act ( mt) brecciated act J-III 110.9 0.7
drill core MA64, 220.1m K-Fe metasomatised andesite 109.9 1.0 1)
MA17-7 Mina Justa, Py-mt-mc veins mc J-V 103.7 0.6 1)
drill core MA17; 364 m
MA14-3 Mina Justa, Mt-py-mc aggregates in act-altered mc J-V 101.5 0.7
drill core MA14; 394.7 m andesite
MA45-6 Mina Justa, Cal-cp veins (with ab-mc envelope) mc (+ ab) J-VI 99.1 0.9
drill core MA45; 404.2 m
MA17-9 Mina Justa, Cal-cp veins and late-filling mc veins mc Late-stage J-VI 95.0 0.6
drill core MA17; 408.7 m cut act veins

* Samples with double runs

Mineral abbreviations: ab = albite, act = actinolite, bt = biotite, cal = calcite, cp = chalcopyrite, cum = cummingtonite, ep = epidote, hem = hematite,
mc = microcline, mt = magnetite, phl = phlogopite, py = pyrite, trm = tremolite
1 Plateau represents less than 50% of 39Ar released

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 173

 174

Stage M-I-A Stage M-I-B Stage M-I-B Stage M-III Stage M-III Stage M-III
Stage M-I-A MA3-30. Microcline MA3-24. Microcline
MA5-9A. Cummi ngtonite + Greenalite MA5-9A. Cummi ngtonite + Greenalite MA5-2. Phlogopite + Chlorite-Talc MA5-2. Phlogopite+ Chlorite-Talc MA5-9B. Biotite
240 240 240 240 240 24 0 240
Rerun Mg/Fe = 1. 6 Ann57
Mg/Mg+ Fe = 0. 74 Rerun D E F G
A 200
B 200
C 200 200 200 200
200 175. 2 2. 3
177. 0 1. 5 171. 5 1. 1 No plateau age 161. 4 0. 9
160 160 160 160 160 160 160
MSWD=0 .4 9 MSWD=1 .6
MSWD=1 .0 6 MSWD=0 .7 1
39 35. 5% 39Ar released
61% 39Ar released 73. 8% Ar released 80% 39Ar released 109. 2 0. 6 120
120 120 120 120 120 12 0 101. 0 0. 6
MSWD=1 .6
39 MSWD=1 .0
80 80 80 80 80 80 76% Ar released 80
61. 2% 39Ar released

Age (Ma)

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40 40 40 40 40 40 40
Integrated Age: 162. 05 2. 89 Integrated Age: 155. 24 0. 53 Integrated Age: 160. 21 0. 47 Integrated Age: 107 .8 3 0. 47 Integrated Age: 100. 61 0. 34
Integrated Age: 161. 81 1. 29
0 0 0
0 00 20 60 80 100 00 100 100
00 20 60 40 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
100 40 20 40 60
39
80 0 20 60
40 80 39
0 20 60 80
40 39 Cumulative 39Ar percent
39 Cumulative 39Ar percent Cumulative Ar percent Cumulative Ar percent 1 0. 1 Cumulative Ar percent Cumulative 39Ar percent
Cumulative Ar percent 1 Cl / K
0. 1 Ca / K
1 1 Ca / K Cl / K 0. 1 Cl / K 0. 1 Ca / K Cl / K
Cl / K 0. 01 0. 01
Ca / K Cl / K Ca / K Ca / K Ca / K Cl / K

0. 0015 Inverse isochron Age: 177.1 3. 7 Inverse isochron Age: 175. 3 3. 9 Inverse isochron Age: 175. 3 2. 3 Inverse isochron Age: 171. 0 1. 9
0. 0022 0. 00045 0. 00012 0. 00024 Inverse isochron Age: 160. 6 1. 2 Inverse isochron Age: 110. 2 3. 2 0. 00048 Inverse isochron Age: 102. 8 1. 9
40 36 40 36 0. 00055
Initial 40Ar/36Ar= 292 15 Initial Ar/ Ar= 294 10 Initial Ar/ Ar= 123 89 Initial 40Ar/36Ar =734 13 0 40 36
Initial 40Ar/ 36Ar =328 49 Initial 40Ar/ 36Ar= 279 62 Initial Ar/ Ar= 255 40
0. 0013 MSWD=0 .5 7 MSWD=1 .4 MSWD=0 .2 1 0. 00010 MSWD=0 .2 5 0. 00020
MSWD=0 .4 9 MSWD=1 .7 0. 00044 MSWD=0 .3 7
0. 0018 0. 00035
0. 00045
0. 00008 0. 00016
0. 0011 0. 0004 0

40
0. 0014 0. 00025 0. 00006 0. 00012 0. 00035
0. 0009

Ar/ Ar
0. 00036

36
0. 00004 0. 00008
0. 0010 0. 00015 0. 00025
0. 0007 0. 00032
0. 00002 0. 00004

0. 0005 0. 0006 0. 00005 0. 00000 0. 00000 0. 00015 0. 00028

0. 052 0. 060 0. 064 0. 068 0. 076 0. 084 0. 052 0. 060 0. 064 0. 068 0. 076 0. 084 0. 093 0. 094 0. 09 5 0. 096 0. 097 0. 098 0. 092 0. 094 0. 096 0. 098 0. 100 0. 102 0. 099 0. 101 0. 103 0. 105 0. 107 0. 126 0. 130 0. 134 0. 138 0. 142 0. 146 0. 141 0. 143 0. 145 0. 147 0. 149 0. 151
39 39 39 39 39 40 39
39 Ar/ 40Ar
Ar/40Ar Ar/ 40Ar Ar/ 40Ar Ar/40Ar Ar/40Ar Ar/ Ar

Stage M-V Stage M-V Stage M-V Stage M-V

Stage M-IV Stage M-V MA91- 2 Actinolite
DDM3- 3- 8. Tremolite DDM5-4 -2 . Actinolite DDM3- 3- 1. Tremolite MA91- 2 Actinolite
MA3-19. Phlogopite
240 240 Mg/Fe+ Mg = 0. 92 240 240 Mg/Mg+ Fe = 0. 96 240 240 Rerun
Mg/Fe = 21 .5 Ann4. 5 J Mg/Mg+ Fe = 0. 64 K L M
20 0
H I 200 200 200
200 200

174
158. 5 1. 9
159. 7 0. 8 156.6 4. 2 156. 2 2. 4 157. 3 3. 2 156.8 2. 9
160 160 160 160 160 160
MSWD=1 .0 7
39 MSWD=0 .1 8
CHEN ET AL.

97. 8% Ar released 39
MSWD=0 .3 6 MSWD=1 .0 MSWD=0 .9 1 MSWD=0 .4
120 120 98. 7% Ar released 120 39 120 120 39 120 39
80. 5% Ar released 39 99. 9% Ar released
100% Ar released 99. 9% Ar released
80 80 80 80 80 80

Age (Ma)
40 40 40 40 40 40 Integrated Age: 155. 61 3. 64
Integrated Age: 158. 82 0. 30 Integrated Age: 159. 69 2. 31 Integrated Age: 148. 75 4. 94 Integrated Age: 155. 26 3. 52 Integrated Age: 157. 92 3. 71
0 00 00 60 80 100
0 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 00 20 40 60 80 100 20 40
0 0 20 40 60 80 100 20 40
39 39 39
39 Cumulative 39Ar percent Cumulative Ar percent Cumulative Ar percent Cumulative Ar percent
0. 1 Cumulative 39Ar percent Cumulative Ar percent 100
10 100
Cl / K 100 1 Ca / K
Cl / K 10 Ca / K 10
0. 01 Ca / K
Ca / K ratio is off scale
1 1 1 1
Ca / K Cl / K Cl / K Ca / K ratio is off scale
Cl / K Cl / K
0. 005
Inverse isochron Age: 159. 5 0. 9 Inverse isochron Age: 158. 0 4. 7 Inverse isochron Age: 162 69 0. 00 4 Inverse isochron Age: 156. 1 7. 6 Inverse isochron Age: 15 5 22 Inverse isochron Age: 158 27
0. 004 0. 0018 0. 0045
0. 00003 40 36 40 36
Initial Ar/ Ar= 452 33 0 40 36 40 36 40 36
Initial Ar/ Ar= 295 23 Initial Ar/ Ar= 272 28 0 Initial Ar/ Ar= 293 13 Initial Ar/ Ar= 300 40 Initial 40Ar/ 36Ar= 293 32
MSWD=1 .1 9 0. 004
MSWD=0 .037 MSWD=0 .041 MSWD=0 .103 MSWD=0 .1 3 MSWD=0 .042
0. 003 0. 0014 0. 003 0. 0035
0. 00002
0. 003

40
0. 002 0. 0010 0. 00 2 0. 0025

Ar/ Ar
36
0. 00001 0. 002
0. 001 0. 0006 0. 001 0. 0015

0. 0002 0. 000 0. 001

0. 00000 0. 00 0 0. 0005 0. 00 0. 02 0. 04 0. 06
0. 00 0. 02 0. 04 0. 06 0. 08 0. 10 0. 12 0. 064 0. 06 8 0. 072 0. 076 0. 080 0. 084 0. 00 0. 02 0. 04 0. 06 0. 08 0. 10 0. 12 0. 00 0. 04 0. 06
0. 1068 0. 1072 0. 1096 39 0. 02 39
39 40
Ar/ Ar Ar/40Ar 39 40 Ar/40 Ar
39 40 39 40 Ar/ Ar
Ar/ Ar Ar/ Ar

FIG. 15. Laser-induced 40Ar/39Ar age spectra, with Ca/K and Cl/K ratios for each heating step, and inverse isochron plots, for samples from Marcona alteration and
mineralization stages.
 Stage J-I Stage J-I Stage J-II Stage J-III
MA45-2 Actinolite MA45-2 Actinolite MJ-6 . Microcline + Albite MA64-3. Actinolite
240 240 240 240
B C Rerun D E
200 200 200 142. 4 6. 7 200
A 157. 3 3. 5 154. 3 5. 5
No plateau age
160 160 160 160
The last step
42. 0 120 MSWD=1 .0 7 120 MSWD=0 .7 5 120 120 110. 9 0. 7

e
39 99. 8% 39Ar released MSWD=0 .3 4
95. 2% Ar released 39

in
89. 4% Ar released
80 80 80

cl
80

o
Age (Ma)

se

cr
i
40 40 40 40

la

m
Integrated Age: 156. 0 Integrated Age: 154. 06 8. 51 Integrated Age: 135. 05 12. 35
5. 7

oc
0 0 0 0
0 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100

rth
C 20 40

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O
39
Cumulative 39Ar percent
39 10 Ca / K
I J Cumulative Ar percent

(060)
G 100 Ca / K Cumulative Ar percent
1

ne
H 10 Ca / K ratio is off scale Ca / K
10 Cl / K

di
Cl / K

i
Cl / K 1
1 1

S an
0. 0028 Inverse isochron Age: 163 22 Inverse isochron Age: 161 35 Inverse isochron Age: 140 11 Inverse isochron Age: 99. 4 2. 7
0. 005 0. 0032
40 36 0. 0035
Initial 40Ar/ 36Ar= 284 40 Initial 40Ar/ 36Ar= 288 31 Initial Ar/ Ar= 297. 4 6. 3 (Low T-steps 1- 4)
0. 0024 MSWD=0 .1 5 MSWD=0 .056 MSWD=0 .1 7 Initial 40Ar/ 36Ar= 302 .2 7. 5
0. 004 0. 0028
MSWD=0 .2 1
41. 5 0. 0025

40
0. 0020
0. 0024

Ar/ Ar
50. 5 51. 0 0. 003

36
0. 0016
(204) 0. 0015
0. 002 0. 0020
0. 0012

0. 0008 0. 001 0. 0016 0. 0005

0. 025 0. 035 0. 045 0. 055 0. 065 0. 00 0. 01 0. 02 0. 03 0. 04 0. 05 0. 06 0. 01 0. 02 0. 03 0. 04 0. 05 0. 00 0. 04 0. 08 0. 12
0. 00
39 40 39 40 39 40 39 40
Ar/ Ar Ar/ Ar Ar/ Ar Ar/ Ar

Stage J-III Stage J-V Stage J-V Stage J-VI Stage J-VI
MA64-3. Actinolite MA17-7. Microcline MA14- 3. Microcline MA45-6. Microcline + Albite MA17- 9. Microcline
150

175
150 150 150 150
F Rerun G H I J
103. 7 0. 6
99. 1 1. 0 95. 0 0. 6
101. 5 0. 7
100 100 100 100 100
109. 9 1. 0 MSWD=0 .4 3 MSWD=0 .4 3
39 MSWD=1 .1 3
MSWD=0 .9 1 33. 9% Ar released 83. 3% 39Ar released MSWD=1 .5
84. 9% 39Ar released 72. 6% 39Ar released
28. 2% 39Ar released

50 50 50 50 50

Age( Ma)
Integrated Age: 107. 6 0. 3 Integrated Age: 101. 2 0. 5 Integrated Age: 93. 8 0. 4
Integrated Age: 121. 2 0. 6 Integrated Age: 96. 7 1. 2 0
0 0 0
0 0 20 40 60 80 100
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Cumulative 39Ar percent Cumulative 39Ar percent Cumulative 39Ar percent Cumulative 39Ar percent
Cumulative 39Ar percent
10 Ca / K
0. 01 0. 01 0. 1 Ca / K
1 Ca / K Ca / K 0. 1
Ca / K
Cl / K
0. 00115
0. 00074 Inverse isochron Age: 106 .2 8. 7 Inverse isochron Age: 100. 9 2. 0
Inverse isochron Age: 107. 2 9. 1 0. 0015 0. 0032 Inverse isochron Age: 98. 6 1. 7 Inverse isochron Age: 92 .7 2. 2
0. 00105 40 36
40 36 Initial Ar/ Ar= 267 10 0
Initial 40Ar/ 36Ar= 300 13 40 36 Initial 40Ar/ 36Ar= 317 19
Initial Ar/ Ar= 317 73 0. 00072 Initial Ar/ Ar= 296. 4 2. 9 0. 00105
EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU

MSWD=0 .5 0
MSWD=1 .0 9 MSWD=1 .0 4 MSWD=1 .0
0. 0013 0. 0028 MSWD=1 .2
0. 00095 0. 00070
0. 0009 5

40
0. 00068 0. 0011 0. 0024
0. 00085

Ar/A r
0. 00066 0. 0008 5

36
0. 0009 0. 0020
0. 00064
0. 00075 0. 00075
0. 0007 0. 0016
0. 00062

0. 0006 5 0. 00060 0. 0005 0. 0012 0. 00065

0. 104 0. 108 0. 112 0. 116 0. 133 0. 134 0. 135 0. 136 0. 137 0. 138 0. 139 0. 09 0. 10 0. 11 0. 12 0. 13 0. 14 0. 00 0. 02 0. 04 0. 06 0. 08 0. 10 0. 12 0. 122 0. 126 0. 130 0. 134 0. 138 0. 142 0. 146 0. 150
39 39 39
39 40 39 40 Ar/ 40Ar
Ar/ Ar Ar/ Ar Ar/ 40Ar Ar/ 40Ar

FIG. 16. (A) X-ray powder diffraction data for hydrothermal K-feldspars from Mina Justa (data fall in the microcline fields in the Al/Si ordering diagram of Wright,
1968). (B-J) Laser-induced 40Ar/39Ar age spectra, with Ca/K and/or Cl/K ratios for each heating step, and inverse isochron plots for each sample.
175
176 CHEN ET AL.
plateau is defined as at least three contiguous outgassing steps
with ages that are concordant at 2 errors, that account for at
least 50 percent of the 39Ar released, and show no monotonic
increase or decrease with temperature (Dalrymple and Lan-
phere, 1974).
40Ar/39Ar
spectra and age relationships
Marcona: Two acceptable and concordant plateau ages of
177.0 1.5 Ma and 175.2 2.3 Ma are given by stage M-IA
cummingtonite. The cummingtonite is locally replaced by
stage M-III biotite (Fig. 9B), which gave a significantly
younger plateau age of 161.4 0.9 Ma (Fig. 15E; Table 4).
The 175 to 177 Ma age for the cummingtonite hosted by the
upper Marcona Formation demonstrates that it represents a
precursor alteration event during the initial deposition of the
overlying Ro Grande Formation in the Aalenian, i.e., prior to
174.0+1.0 +1.0
7.9 Ma and after 178.0 1.5 Ma (Plfy et al., 2000). Stage
M-IB phlogopite gives a quasiplateau age of 171.5 1.1 Ma
(Fig. 15C), but the inverse-isochron age (171.0 1.9 Ma) ob-
tained for a duplicate sample (Fig. 15D) indicates that the
plateau age is probably acceptable. In the latter sample, the
age spectrum exhibits a configuration suggestive of reactor-
induced 39Ar recoil, and therefore the apparent age of the
highest-temperature step, i.e., 172.6 1.8 Ma, may represent
a maximum for the age of crystallization.
Coarse-grained stage M-III biotite gives a good plateau age
of 161.4 0.9 Ma (Fig. 15E). Two stage M-III K-feldspars
(maximum microcline) from potassic alteration zones in
dacite porphyry give acceptable plateau ages of 109.2 0.6
Ma and 101.0 0.6 Ma (Figs. 15F and G), which are
markedly younger than those for M-III biotite. Microcline
has a low closure temperature of 130 to 160C (Harrison and
McDougall, 1982), and the two age plateaus are therefore in-
terpreted as recording resetting by late thermal events. The
Marcona deposit area was therefore probably heated, albeit
non-pervasively, to over ~130C in the mid-Cretaceous. The
lowest-temperature step in the spectrum for MA3-30 may
record a second, ca. 90 Ma resetting (Fig. 15F). A stage M-IV
phlogopite gave a good plateau age of 159.7 0.8 Ma (Fig.
15H). This age, slightly younger than that for stage M-III bi-
otite, is in conformity with the textural evidence for replace-
ment of biotite by phlogopite (Fig. 9I).
Stage M-V tremolite and actinolite, both associated with
chalcopyrite and pyrite, gave acceptable and similar plateau
ages of 158.5 1.9 and 156.6 4.2 Ma (Figs. 15I and J). A
second stage M-V tremolite, unassociated with sulfides, gives
a plateau age of 156.2 2.4 Ma (Fig. 15K). An actinolite from
the Mina 11 orebody, probably corresponding to either stage
M-V or stage M-IV in the more westerly Marcona orebodies,
gave a good plateau age of 157.3 3.2 Ma (Fig. 15L). An
identical plateau age of 156.8 2.9 Ma (Fig. 15M) was ob-
tained for a duplicate sample. These actinolite ages are con-
cordant with those for stages M-IV and M-V actinolite from
Minas 3 and 5, demonstrating that, although mineralogically
distinctive, the Cu-rich Mina 11 orebody represents an inte-
gral part of the Marcona deposit.
Despite the possibility of resetting of biotite due to its rel-
atively low closure temperature (ca. 310C: Harrison et al.,
1985), the plateau ages for the alteration minerals of stages
M-III, M-IV, and M-V at Marcona are in conformity with
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
paragenetic relationships (Fig. 8; Table 4), and imply that the
main episode of base-metal mineralization shortly followed
the emplacement of the economic magnetite bodies.
Mina Justa: Two actinolite and five alkali feldspar separates
were dated from Mina Justa (Table 4). X-ray powder diffrac-
tion study shows that all of the feldspars are strongly ordered,
with the microcline structure (Fig. 16A).
Two heating runs for a fine-grained, stage J-I actinolite
(MA45-2) gave good plateau ages of 157.3 3.5 and 154.3
5.5 Ma (Figs. 16B and C). The stage J-I actinolite ages are,
within error, concordant with those for the magnetite and
polymetallic sulfide mineralization at Marcona (Table 4).
An alkali feldspar separate (Fig. 16D) from the envelope of
a stage J-VI hematite-chalcopyrite (-epidote) vein-cutting al-
tered Ro Grande Formation andesite yields a significantly
younger plateau age of 142.4 6.7 Ma (Table 4). The low K
content is responsible for the large error (Fig. 16D). Feldspar
staining of this sample reveals intergrown albite, and the rel-
atively high Ca/K ratio may record the presence of albitic pla-
gioclase or minor epidote in the separates. The Berriasian age
is therefore interpreted as that of stage J-II (Fig. 13), imply-
ing that the hematite, chalcopyrite, and epidote in the sample
were emplaced during stage J-VI through reopening of a frac-
ture with previously feldspathized margins.
A stage J-III coarse-grained actinolite gives a disturbed ap-
parent age spectrum (Fig. 16E), with a configuration sugges-
tive of Cl-derived excess argon (McDougall and Harrison,
1999) in the low-temperature steps. The age of the highest-
temperature step, 110.9 0.7 Ma, may therefore approach
the true age. The disturbed spectrum of a duplicate sample
incorporates a trough at 109.9 1.0 Ma (Fig. 16F), which is
concordant within 2 error with the inverse-isochron age
(107.2 9.1 Ma) given by the three steps constituting a mini
plateau.
Microcline associated with the main Mina Justa magnetite
stage (Table 4) has a quasi-plateau age of 103.7 0.6 Ma (Fig.
16G). In contrast, a second stage J-V microcline (MA14-3)
gave a good plateau age of 101.5 0.7 Ma (Fig. 16H). Micro-
cline (+ albite) from the stage J-VI Cu mineralization (MA45-
6) associated with calcite and chalcopyrite, but not with mag-
netite, similarly yields an acceptable plateau age of 99.1 0.9
Ma (Fig. 16I), which is slightly younger than those of the two
dated stage J-V microclines. A microcline vein (MA17-9)
which reopened a calcite-chalcopyrite vein gives an age of
95.0 0.6 (Fig 16J).
Microcline has a low argon closure temperature and the
five apparent age plateaus determined for this mineral at
Mina Justa could therefore be interpreted as recording reset-
ting by postmineralization thermal events, ascribable to the
numerous postmineralization ocitic andesite dikes assigned
to the Upper Cretaceous Tunga andesite (Caldas, 1978).
However, the considerably older plateau age (142.4 6.7 Ma)
yielded by the stage J-II microcline indicates that Ar resetting
of triclinic feldspar was not pervasive within the deposit,
which was possibly due to fast cooling of andesitic dikes. Con-
sidering the errors, two stage J-V microclines give an age
range of 100.8 to 104.3 Ma, at least 0.8 m.y. older than those
of two stage J-VI microclines (94.4100.0 Ma), which per-
fectly conforms to the defined paragenesis (Table 4). Partially
or complete resetting of K-feldspar Ar-Ar ages by Tunga
176
 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU
andesite in the same district can not reasonably explain these
internally consistent results. In addition, regarding the high
closure temperature of amphibole (~550C; McDougall and
Harrison, 1999), the age data for stage J-III actinolite may
imply a maximum age of ca. 110 Ma for stages J-V and VI al-
teration and mineralization and the younger feldspar dates
are therefore interpreted as representing crystallization ages.
We conclude that the main hydrothermal events (stages J-
IVJ-VI) at Mina Justa, i.e., those responsible for the forma-
tion of hematite and magnetite as well as the Cu mineraliza-
tion, occurred at ca. 100 Ma, in the Albian, which is generally
concordant with the major IOCG epoch in the central Andes
(Fig. 17). Stages J-I (albitization) and J-II (K-feldspathiza-
tion), however, were much older and were not directly related
to the development of the orebodies, but probably were tem-
porally associated with the Marcona mineralization system
and subsequent hydrothermal events. Two young ages (109.2
0.6 Ma and 101.0 0.6 Ma) from stage M-III K-feldspar at
Marcona may record the resetting by later Mina Justa hy-
drothermal events or Tunga andesite. Nonetheless, the possi-
bility of resetting of Mina Justa K-feldspar and actinolite by
Tunga andesite can not be entirely excluded and the Mina
Justa mineralization and alteration system may have devel-
oped prior to the Albian, or coincided with the Upper Creta-
ceous Tunga andesite event.
Evolution of the Marcona-Mina Justa District
The Mesozoic magnetite-rich mineralization of the Mar-
cona-Mina Justa district, extending over an area exceeding 75
km2 and encompassing numerous dispersed orebodies, oc-
curred episodically over a period of ca. 80 m.y., extending
from 176 Ma to, at least, 95 Ma, with the uncertainities of
possible Ar-Ar resetting. Moreover, Cu mineralization at
Mina Justa is shown to have been emplaced at least 60 m.y.
after that in the Marcona deposit and therefore cannot be ge-
netically related to it. Figures 18 and 19 illustrate the major
events in the district recorded by the newly defined parage-
netic and age data.
(1) Precursor alteration, ca. 176 Ma (Fig. 18A)
Cummingtonite-dominated alteration (stage M-IA, Fig. 8)
in metasedimentary units of the Marcona Formation ~300
m below the unconformity with the Ro Grande Formation,
was apparently unassociated with either magnetite or Cu
sulfide mineralization. Development of an alkali-poor Mg-
Fe amphibole implies either that the metaclastic, in part cal-
careous, host rocks had earlier suffered feldspar destruction
without the formation of muscovite, possibly as a result of
chloritization, or, more probably, were directly affected by
Mg-Fe metasomatism and concomitant Si, Ca, and alkali de-
pletion. Similar early development of Mg-Fe clinoamphi-
bole has been documented from several other IOCG de-
posits, including Vhjoki, Finland (Liipo and Laajoki,
1991); Osborne, Cloncurry (Adshead, 1995); La Candelaria,
Chile (Ullrich and Clark, 1997, 1999); Salobo, Carajs (Re-
quia and Fontbot, 1999; Requia et al., 2003); and Guelb
Moghrein, Mauritania (Kolb et al., 2006). At Osborne, am-
phibole alteration, in part magnesian, may have occurred ca.
55 m.y. prior to the main Cu mineralization event (Gauthier
et al., 2001).
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177
The two Ar/Ar age spectra for cummingtonite confirm that
this precursor alteration took place in the Aalenian, contem-
poraneously with the initial sediment-dominated, shallow-
marine, accumulation of the overlying Ro Grande Forma-
tion. Hydrothermal activity is therefore inferred to have
occurred at very low pressure and at temperatures consider-
ably below 760C (Evans and Ghiorso, 1995). A plausible en-
vironment would be the southwest margin of an arc-parallel
rift delimited by segments of the northeast-dipping Pista fault
system (Fig. 18A), recording northeast-southwest extension
within the West Peruvian trough at the outset of the Middle
Jurassic (Benavides-Cceres, 1999).
(2) Precursor phlogopite-magnetite mineralization,
171 Ma (Fig. 18B)
40Ar/39Ar age spectra for hydrothermal phlogopite coexist-
ing with magnetite in the upper Marcona Formation are in-
terpreted as evidence either for a discrete alteration-mineral-
ization event (M-IB) in the Bajocian or, less probably, for a
continuation of the hydrothermal activity recorded by the 177
Ma cummingtonite. The mineral assemblage records intense
K-Fe metasomatism. At this stage, intermediate to silicic py-
roclastic activity was well underway and a significant thick-
ness of the lower Ro Grande Formation had locally accumu-
lated, in permissive agreement with a magmatic contribution
to this apparently minor magnetite mineralization, the first of
at least four such episodes in the district. Localization by con-
tinued displacement on the Pista fault system is favored (Fig.
18B).
(3) Albite-scapolite alteration
No age data are available for the Na-Cl metasomatism re-
sponsible for the widespread stage M-II albite marialitic
scapolite alteration predating stage M-III: this can only be
bracketed between ca. 171 and 162 Ma. Albitization at Mar-
cona is markedly less intense than in most other IOCG cen-
ters, e.g., the La Candelaria deposit (Ullrich and Clark, 1999),
but is similarly unassociated with either magnetite or sulfide
deposition. Albite (-scapolite) alteration is also developed in
both dacite porphyry and Marcona Formation rocks in im-
mediate contact with the Minas 24 magnetite orebody, and
therefore persisted into stage M-III.
(4) Main magnetite and magnetite-sulfide mineralization,
159162 Ma (Figs. 18C-D)
The excellent 40Ar/39Ar age plateaus determined for stage
M-III biotite (161.4 Ma) and stage M-IV phlogopite (159.7
Ma) directly associated with, respectively, the major Mina 5
and Mina 3 magnetite orebodies, indicate that the most im-
portant magnetite mineralization at Marcona took place close
to the Bathonian-Callovian boundary (Plfy et al., 2000).
They are also in agreement with the development of biotite
largely prior to the phlogopite. The initial deposition of chal-
copyrite occurred at ca. 160 Ma. Iron oxide and sulfide min-
eralization at Marcona therefore shortly followed the ca. 164
to 166 m.y. hiatus in andesitic volcanism documented in the
upper Ro Grande Formation (Fig. 18C). This erosional event
records a regional, terminal-Bajocian (ca. 166 Ma), uplift
event which interrupted the protracted subsidence of the
Western Peruvian trough (Hosmer, 1959). In the Marcona
 178

90 Ma Turonian Main Albite- K-Fe Actinolite Magnetite- Cu 90 Ma

Early Alteration Main magnetite Magnetite-sulfide Raul- La Candelaria-
Coastal stage stage polymetaalic actinolite metasomatism alteration sulfide mineraliz ation Mantoverde
Condestable Punta del Cobre
Batholith sulfide stage alteration alteration

Late
Mc
Cenomanian (80- < 109 Ma) Marcona Mina Justa Other Andean IOCG Deposits

Mc
100 Ma 100 Ma

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Mc

Mc
Mc
Albian

Tunga
110 Ma 110 Ma

Act

Andesi te
reseta ges
Act
Amph
3 5

Mc
Zr-2

Bt
3 4 5
Ser

1
Bella Union Ttn 7
120 Ma Aptian complex 120 Ma

Copara
7
Ser

Formation
2

Early
Cretaceous
Zr-1
unconformity

Barremian 6
130 Ma Ttn 130 Ma

Hauterivian

Yauca
Formation
Valanginian
140 Ma 140 Ma

Berriasian

Mc(+ Ab)
Tithonian

178
150 Ma 150 Ma

Jahuay

Late
Kimme ridgian
CHEN ET AL.

Act

Trm

Act
Oxfordian
Zr-1 : from postore dacite
Zr-2 : from quartz-monzonite, monzonite

Act
Callovian and tonalite

Trm
160 Ma 160 Ma
Other minerals are from hydrothermal stages

Phl

Formation Grande
Bt

Upper Rio

Formation
Bathonian
unconformity

Jurassi c
U-Pb 1- de Haller et al., 2006
2- Pop et al., 2000
170 Ma Bajocian 3- Ullrich and Clark, 1999 170 Ma

Middle
Ar/Ar
4- Mathur et al., 2002

Phl
5- Marschik and Sollner, 2006

Grande
K-Ar

Lower Rio
6- Gelcich et al., 2002

Formation
Aalenian

Cum
7- Vila et al., 1996

Cum
Re-Os 180 Ma
180 Ma
Stage M-I Stage M-III Stage M-IV Stage M-V Stage J-I Stage J-II Stage J-III Stage J-V Stage J-VI
Age Period Epoch Stratigraphy Intrusiions
Marcona deposit Mina Justa sub-district

FIG. 17. Laser-induced 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages for Marcona and Mina Justa alteration and mineralization stages. Isotopic ages for other major Andean IOCG deposits
are shown for comparison.
 ca. 17 7 Ma Vertical Section Plan View N 171 Ma Vertical Section Plan View
N

on
on
Precursor magnetite-phlogopite

s ti

s ti
Precursor alteration

ten

te n
mineraliz ation NE con

ex
co n

ex
NE trac trac
t io n tio n

r?
?
Sea floor ?

r
Se

ate
aw

ate

Not to Scale
at Se

aw
er aw

aw
?

Se
? Pist
a at

Se
er
Fau
lt ? ?
Pista
Fa ult

Not to Scale
Pista Faults
Pista Faults Marcona

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Marcona
Pista
Pista Fault
Fault

Arequipa Massi f and Lower

Magma San Nicolas Batholith Rio Grande Formation Initial small
0 1 2 Km 0 1 2 Km
A Marcona Formation
B magma magnetite orebodies
Hydrothermal alteration

164- 166 Ma Vertical Section Plan View 159- 162 Ma Vertical Section Plan View
N Con
N Tre
Con Tre tr s in
he t
uplift and erosion tr sh i nt Marcona magnetite and (we actio n
ak) ar a Li
(stro actio n ea a
nge zo bra
r) r z Lib ne s
)

o n ra sulfide mineralliz ation

SE e s
er
ng n

SE
ro io

)
Ex

Erosion surface
(st tens

Seawater ?

ak n
Erosio ?

Ext
Unconfor
m

(we ens io
n surfa
ce ity? Mina Justa
Unconformity

Pist
a

Not toS cale

Pist
F au a
lt F au
lt

t
t

Not to Scale

ul
ul

Fa
Fa

n
Marcona Marcona

io
on

ic
ci

179
i

et
et

p
p

Re
Repeticion faults
Re

Pista
Fault Dacite sills Pista
F ault
Upper
Rio Grande Formation
Arequipa Massi f and
Magnetite-sulfide K alteration Magnetite
San Nicolas Batholith
Lower 0 1 2 Km orebodies Na alteration orebodies 0 1 2 Km
C Marcona Formation
D magma
Rio Grande Formation (pre- or syn- Stage M-III)

154- 159 Ma Vertical Section Plan View Con N Tr

e
(we tractio sh i nt
a k) n ea a
Marcona polymetallic sulfide mineraliz ation r z Li b
o n ra
e s

)
Mina Justa albite-actinolite alteration Mina Justa

er
ng n
SE

x
Seawater

ro io
E
(st tens
Unconformity

on
cti ck
at
Pista

w
rea er/ro
F au
lt
EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU

t
ul

reacti
Fa
n

wate on
r/rock
io
t

ti c
ul
?

pe
Marcona

Fa
n

Re
io

Not to Scale
tic
pe
Re
Repeticion faults
Pista
F au
lt

andesitic or
basaltic
Marcona Mina Justa
andesitic orebodies albite-actinolite 0 1 2 Km
E magma? with sulfides alteration

FIG. 18. Graphic depicting of the evolution of the Marcona deposit.

179
 ca. 14 2 Ma Vertical Section Plan View
180
Mina Justa
Tr
early K-metasomatism SE Mina Justa
sh ei n
ea ta
r z Lib
on r a
e s

Pist
a
F au
lt

u lt
Fa
n
Unconformity

o
t

ci
ul

ti

Not to Scale
Fa

pe
n

Re
io
Marcona

ti c

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Repeticion faults

pe
Re
Pista
F ault

magma Berriasian alteration Jahuay

0 1 2 Km
A in Mina Justa Formation

110 Ma Vertical Section Plan View Copara Formation 101- 104 Ma Vertical Section Plan View Copara Formation
(Aptian to Albian; (Aptian to Albian;
s

s
Mina Justa Canete Basin) Mina Justa Canete Basi n)
12 km ? Erosional surface ? Mina Justa 12 km
? Erosional surface ? Mina Justa
actinolite-magnetite alteration magnetite-pyrite alteration
E E
e? ? Erosi e?
ts

? Er os io

ts
Su rf ac onal Su rf ac
ul

nal

ul
Fa

Fa
a

a
st

st
Ju

Ju
Tr
a

Tr

a
in

in
Pist
Pist a Fa ei n
M

a Fa ei n

M
M F au F au ul ta
lt
ul ta
lt t S Li t S Li
in ?
a ? ys b ra
te s
ys b ra
te s
Ju m m

Not to Scale

Not to Scale
? s ta ? M
fa i na
t

Small stocks of 3 km

t
Small stocks of 3 km
ul

ul

ul
Ju Marcona
t? Marcona Coastal Batholith Coastal Batholith
Fa

Fa
Det s ta
n

n
ach
(80 - 109 Ma) (80 - 10 9 Ma)
io

fa

io
me

180
nt
tic

tic
fa u u lt
lt
pe

pe
Re

Re
N N
CHEN ET AL.

Pista Actinolite alteration Pista

Fault Fa ult
(109 Ma)
Actinolite alteration Mina Justa magnetite-pyrite
(110 Ma) bodies and potassic alteration
Inferred intrusions below Inferred intrusions below
Mina Justa mine Mina Justa mine
B Coastal Batholith Upper Rio Grande 0 1 2 Km C Coastal Batholith Upper Rio Grande 0 1 2 Km
Formation andesi te Formation andesite

95- 99M a Vertical Section Plan View

Meteoric Basi n brine from
s

Mina Justa East ? Erosional surface ? Mina Justa Canete Basi n

water
Cu mineraliz ation
1 0 1km
ts
ul
Fa
sta

Tr
Ju

Pist
a

Mina Justa a Fa ei n
in

Canete Basin F au
M

lt ul ta
t S Li
y s b ra
te s
m
Detac
t

h me
ul

nt fau
lt
Fa

Marcona
n

unconformi ty
io

Detachmen
t Fa ult
ic
et
n

p
io

N
Re
ct
ra
nt

Basi nal brine

co

Pista
(connate water) Fault
Coastal Batholith Yauca Formation Mina Justa magnetite-pyrite
( 10 9 Ma) (125- 145 Ma) bodies and potassic alteration
D Copara Formation Jahuay Formation 0 1 2 Km
(110- 125 Ma) (146- 155 Ma)

FIG. 19. Graphic depicting of the evolution of the Mina Justa deposit (Mareona orebodies omitted).
 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU
area, uplift was accommodated by the predominantly reverse,
east-northeasttrending Repeticin faults, which developed
along the main linear array of the earlier Pista faults as a re-
sult of east-southeastwest-northwest contraction, probably
as a response to major sinistral transcurrent displacement on
the Treinta Libras fault system to the northeast (Figs. 2, 18C).
Following the uplift and erosion, the late Bathonian-Oxfor-
dian (ca. 155164 Ma) submarine upper Ro Grande Forma-
tion volcanic and volcanosedimentary units accumulated
within a newly developed rift contiguous with the continental
margin. Magnetite and the subsequent sulfide mineralization
at Marcona were emplaced along the Repeticin faults during
accumulation of the upper Ro Grande Formation from ca.
162 Ma (Fig. 18D).
(5) Polymetallic sulfide mineralization at
Marcona and early albite-actinolite alteration
at Mina Justa, 154159 Ma (Fig. 18E)
During the main base-metal sulfide stage in the Marcona
deposit there was a decreased deposition of pyrrhotite and a
marked increase in pyrite and chalcopyrite, particularly in the
Mina 11 orebody. Sphalerite is abundant in the Mina 14 ore-
body, where it is associated with minor galena. Polymetallic
sulfide mineralization accompanied continued crystallization
of calcic amphiboles, both as pervasive alteration zones and as
veins, but there was also a major increase in calcite deposi-
tion, commonly in cavities in vuggy magnetite. The mag-
netite-free and sulfide-dominated stage M-V assemblages
formed in a relatively reduced (pyrite-pyrrhotite fO2 buffer)
and possibly cooler environment.
Stage M-V calcic amphiboles from the Mina 3 and Mina 5
orebodies yield acceptable Ar/Ar age plateaus in the range of
156.2 to 158.5 Ma, which implies that intense hydrothermal
activity at Marcona, initiated following the ca. 164 to 166 Ma
uplift event at the Bajocian-Bathonian boundary, persisted for
ca. 5 m.y., until the termination of andesitic volcanism in the
extensional marginal rift (Fig. 18E). The ages of 154.3 and
157.3 Ma for two stage J-I actinolites from Mina Justa indi-
cate that stage J-I hydrothermal alteration of andesitic host
rocks, the albite-actinolite (Na-Ca) assemblage recording Na
metasomatism, was here initiated in the upper Ro Grande
Formation simultaneously with the polymetallic sulfide and/
or magnetite mineralization in the lower Ro Grande Forma-
tion and the Marcona Formation at Marcona (Fig. 18E).
(6) Potassic metasomatism in the Mina Justa area,
142 Ma (Fig. 19A)
This probably weak Tithonian-Berriasian alteration event is
recorded by a microcline from an andesite of the upper Ro
Grande Formation. The structural context of the potassic al-
teration is uncertain, but it is likely that it was focused by fault-
ing related to renewed movement on the Treinta Libras fault
system to the northeast (Figs. 2, 19A). By ca. 142 Ma, Jahuay
Formation volcanic activity had apparently terminated (Cal-
das, 1978) and no potentially parental intrusive bodies have
been recognized in the immediate area. Injoque (1985), how-
ever, reports whole-rock K-Ar dates of 137.4 3 and 136.4
3 Ma for two basic dykes in the Marcona mine area, evi-
dence for an otherwise undocumented Neocomian magmatic
event. The barren K metasomatism may have been a response
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181
either to fluid expulsion resulting from continued or renewed
detachment faulting along the southwest margin of the evolv-
ing Jahuay basin, comparable to that documented by Chapin
and Lindley (1986) and Roddy et al. (1988), or to latest-
Tithonian inversion of the basin.
(7) Actinolite-diopside-magnetite alteration at Mina Justa,
ca. 110 Ma (Fig. 19B)
This early Albian Ca-metasomatism with minor magnetite
development is recorded by stage J-III coarse-grained actino-
lite which cements clasts of the 142 Ma K-feldspar-magnetite
alteration assemblage. This age coincides with the early stages
of emplacement of the Coastal batholith in the Acar area to
the east (Fig. 2), i.e., 109 4 Ma, and is contemporaneous
with biotitic alteration at the Jahuay Formation-hosted
Pampa del Pongo magnetite prospect (Hawkes et al., 2002; G.
Lester, pers. commun., 2007). By the late Albian, accumula-
tion of the probably Aptian to early Albian, dominantly clastic
Copara Formation had probably ceased in the Caete basin
(Caldas, 1978); the closest outcrop of this unit is ~12 to 15 km
east of Mina Justa (Fig. 19B). Further, the hypabyssal intru-
sion of the andesitic Bella Unin Complex (Caldas, 1978), ex-
tensively exposed north and east of Mina Justa, probably sig-
nificantly antedated mineralization.
(8) Hematite-calcite mineralization at Mina Justa
This now covert, undated, stage, not illustrated in Figure
19, records the incursion of oxidized, CO2-rich fluids separat-
ing the relatively reduced, magnetite-rich stages J-III (110
Ma) and J-V (104 Ma). Comparable oscillations in fO2 are
characteristic of the IOCG environment (e.g., Pop et al.,
2000), evidence for the involvement of multiple hydrother-
mal fluids. This represents the initial deposition of calcite at
Mina Justa. No sulfides were precipitated in stage IV, al-
though the hematite-calcite assemblage is identical to that of
the ore-forming stage J-VI. Because depositional conditions
in these stages were probably similar, we infer that reduced
sulfur was not present in significant abundance at stage J-IV.
(9) Magnetite and Cu sulfide mineralization at
Mina Justa, 95104 Ma (Fig. 19C, D)
Four Ar/Ar dates for microcline record the major events
which generated the Mina Justa orebodies, defining a pro-
tracted Albian-to-Cenomanian history of hydrothermal activ-
ity. Thus, magnetite-pyrite-quartzdominated assemblages
assigned to stage J-V give ages of 103.7 and 101.5 Ma, signif-
icantly postdating the ca. 110 Ma stage J-III actinolitic alter-
ation. These thermal events apparently also affected the Mar-
cona deposit, in which stage M-III microclines were locally
reset at 101109 Ma. Feldspathic alteration envelopes to
chalcopyrite-calcite veins representing the main, stage J-VI
Cu mineralization formed at 99.1 Ma, and terminal, late-stage
J-VI microcline veins associated with minor chalcopyrite-cal-
cite veins record the apparent termination of sulfide deposi-
tion at ca. 95 Ma (Table 4).
Numerous authors (e.g., Jaillard et al., 2000; Oyarzun et
al., 2003) have emphasized the geodynamic impact of the re-
organization of plate interactions in late-Neocomian time,
probably triggered by development of a mid-Pacific super-
plume (Larson, 1991). Coupling of the converging plates,
181
182 CHEN ET AL.
with a northeast vector, ended a long period of orthogonal ex-
tension and sinistral transtension along the central South
American littoral, and gave rise to dextral transtension and
the formation of mid-Cretaceous basins (Polliand et al.,
2005). The subsequent increasing plate coupling resulted in
uplift and basin inversion, accompanied by emplacement of
the earliest, ca. 109 Ma, plutons of the Arequipa segment of
the Coastal batholith (Vidal et al., 1990; Atherton, 1990) and
the associated magnetite-actinolite (-biotite) alteration at
Pampa de Pongo and Mina Justa. In the Marcona area, dex-
tral transtension on the Treinta Libras fault system (Pope,
2003) generated the east-northeaststriking Mina Justa nor-
mal faults which controlled the emplacement of both mag-
netite lenses and Cu orebodies (Fig. 19C, D). However, Cu
mineralization at Mina Justa significantly postdated mag-
netite-pyrite alteration. The Upper Cretaceous Tunga an-
desite developed during or after Mina Justa mineralization
and was emplaced mainly along the younger Huaca faults.
It is unlikely that exotic, basin-derived fluids contributed to
the early high-temperature (~600C: Chen, 2008) magnetite-
pyrite alteration stage at Mina Justa, despite the proximity of
the Caete basin to a well-developed fault system cutting the
Ro Grande Formation (Fig. 19C) which could have served as
a pathway for fluid circulation. The high-T, Cu-barren, mag-
netite-pyrite assemblage may be evidence for either a Cu-
poor magmatic fluid or, less probably, the suppression of Cu
sulfide deposition by high temperatures (Hezarkhani et al.,
1999). During further compression and basin inversion, ex-
otic, possibly basinal fluids (Chen, 2008), are inferred to have
invaded the Jurassic andesite succession along the deep de-
tachment fault depicted in Figure 19C and D. However,
these exotic fluids were plausibly driven by heat from deep-
seated intrusions, represented by the dioritic stocks in the
Mina Justa area, and the possibility of mixing with magmatic
fluids cannot be excluded. Ore-forming fluids rose along the
Mina Justa fault system and replaced the stage J-V magnetite-
pyrite bodies (Fig. 19D). The coexistence of hematite with
bornite-chalcocite-chalcopyrite assemblages indicates a rela-
tively low T and P (i.e., <500C and <1 kbar: Hemley et al.,
1992) and a medium to high pH (calcite stable) environment
for Cu mineralization. This mineralization event is un-
recorded in the Marcona deposit, and the stage J-VI hy-
drothermal system was therefore restricted areally to the
margin of the Caete basin.
Conclusions
The Middle Jurassic Marcona Fe and mid-Cretaceous
Mina Justa Cu deposits, although both controlled by major
fault systems transecting the Mesozoic, dominantly andesitic
arcs of the Cordillera de la Costa, developed in contrasted
tectonomagmatic environments. Thus, the swarm of major
magnetite orebodies at Marcona formed within an exten-
sional rift during the eruption of the upper-Ro Grande For-
mation arc, following a brief episode of uplift and erosion,
whereas the weak superimposed Cu-Zn (Pb) sulfide assem-
blages were emplaced during the terminal stage of arc devel-
opment. Mineralization was focused both within the shallow-
marine volcanic pile and in the underlying Paleozoic
metaclastic basement, and was associated directly with small
hypabyssal dacite porphyry plugs rather than with granitoid
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
plutons. Early hydrothermal alteration (stage M-IA: Mg-Fe
metasomatism) and weak magnetite mineralization (stage M-
IB) developed up to 300 m beneath the ocean floor, 9 to 15
m.y. prior to the main magnetite emplacement, precisely con-
temporaneous with the intial development of the arc. No
other central Andean IOCG deposit displays a comparably in-
timate relationship with shallow marine volcanism, although
the large El Laco cluster of magnetite orebodies (Park, 1961;
Naslund et al., 2002) may be regarded as a Pliocene analog,
similarly associated with andesitic volcanism and shallow
dacitic intrusion, albeit in an entirely subaerial setting.
The Mina Justa Cu (-Ag, Au) prospect is, however, repre-
sentative of the small number of large Cu-rich IOCG centers
in the central Andes. Salient features include the following:
emplacement in significantly older, largely volcanic strata
rather than in broadly synmineralization granitoids; the local-
ization of sulfide mineralization, dominated by hydrothermal
breccia and stockwork, by older, sulfide-deficient and tenu-
ously related, magnetite bodies; and the channeling of brines
by regionally extensive fault systems accommodating the con-
tractional inversion of arc-parallel volcano-sedimentary basins.
The pre-cordilleran Late Triassic through mid-Cretaceous
central Andean orogen repeatedly generated tectonomag-
matic and shallow marine stratigraphic environments, foster-
ing both magnetite-dominant, Kiruna-type, and Cu-rich
IOCG mineralization. Hydrothermal activity in the Marcona-
Mina Justa district occurred episodically over a period of ca.
80 m.y. and Cu mineralization at Mina Justa is shown to have
been emplaced at least 60 m.y. after magnetite deposition at
Marcona. Moreover, at Mina Justa, the Cu mineralization oc-
curred betweem 5 and 10 m.y. after magnetite-pyrite forma-
tion. The protracted history of hydrothermal activity in the
Marcona district is matched by those of other major IOCG
centers in the Andes. In the La Candelaria-Punta del Cobre
district, a U-Pb zircon age for intramineralization dacite indi-
cates that Cu (-Au) mineralization had commenced by 125
Ma (Pop et al., 2000), whereas the major Cu-Au orebodies
were emplaced between ca. 115 (Ullrich and Clark, 1999;
Mathur et al., 2002) and 112 Ma (Ullrich and Clark, 1999;
Marschik and Fontbot, 2001). In the wider Mantoverde dis-
trict, mineralization was initiated at 131 to 126 Ma, defined
by a U-Pb isochron age for apatite-magnetite from the Car-
men iron deposit and a U-Pb age for titanite from Man-
toverde (Gelcich et al., 2002, 2005), but K-Ar ages of sericite
from Mantoverde (Vila et al., 1996) and 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages
of actinolite from the Todos Los Santos Cu-Au veins and the
Jerusalem magnetite-apatite deposit may indicate that IOCG
activity persisted at least to 117 Ma.
Acknowledgments
Field and laboratory research was funded by Natural Sci-
ences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grants to
A.H.C and T.K.K. Chariot Resources, Shougang Hierro Per
SA, and Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration Ltd. generously
provided unstinting logistical support for the field work.
Kerry Klassen was particularly helpful in the laboratories of
the Queens University Facility for Isotope Research (QFIR).
Peter Jones, Carleton University, is thanked for the electron
microprobe analyses. Joan Charbonneau uncomplainingly
prepared numerous versions of the manuscript. The authors
182
 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU
greatly appreciate the comments from two Economic Geology
reviewers, Antoine de Haller and Roger Skirrow, which con-
siderably improved the quality of this paper.
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 EVOLUTION OF THE GIANT MARCONA-MINA JUSTA IOCG DISTRICT, PERU 185

APPENDIX
Analytical Techniques
40Ar/ 39Artechniques
Mineral separates were hand picked, washed in acetone,
dried, wrapped in aluminum foil and stacked in an irradiation
capsule with similar-aged samples and neutron flux monitors
(Fish Canyon Tuff sanidine, 28.02 Ma (Renne et al., 1998)).
The samples were irradiated on July 4 through July 6, 2006,
at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor in Hamilton, Ontario, for
90 MWH, with a neutron flux of approx. 3 1016 neu-
trons/cm2. Analyses (n = 57) of 19 neutron flux monitor posi-
tions produced errors of <0.5 percent in the J value. The sam-
ples were analyzed on July 25August 1 and August 1314,
2006, at the Noble Gas Laboratory, Pacific Centre for Iso-
topic and Geochemical Research, University of British Co-
lumbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. The mineral separates were
step-heated at incrementally higher powers in the defocused
beam of a 10W CO2 laser (New Wave Research MIR10) until
fused. The gas evolved from each step was analyzed by a
VG5400 mass spectrometer equipped with an ion-counting
electron multiplier. All measurements were corrected for
total system blank, mass spectrometer sensitivity, mass dis-
crimination, radioactive decay during and subsequent to irra-
diation, as well as interfering Ar from atmospheric contami-
nation and the irradiation of Ca, Cl, and K.
The plateau and correlation ages were calculated using Iso-
plot ver. 3.09 (Ludwig, 2003). Errors are quoted at the 2-
sigma (95% confidence) level and are propagated from all
sources except mass spectrometer sensitivity and age of the
flux monitor. The best statistically justified plateau and
plateau age were picked based on the following criteria: (1)
three or more contiguous steps making up more than 50 per-
cent of the 39Ar; (2) probability of fit of the weighted mean
age greater than 5 percent; (3) slope of the error-weighted
line through the plateau ages equals zero at 5 percent confi-
dence; (4) ages of the two outermost steps on a plateau are
not significantly different from the weighted-mean plateau
age (at 1.8 six or more steps only); (5) Outermost two steps
on either side of a plateau must not have nonzero slopes with
the same sign (at 1.8 nine or more steps only).

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