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Tantahuatay
Peru
Main commodities: Au Ag
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The Tantahuatay 2 high sulphidation epithermal gold-silver deposit is exploited as an open pit mine, Click on image for details.
located in the Cajamarca Mineral Belt in the high Andes of northern Peru, at an altitude of between 3200
and 3800 m, ~35 km NNW of the Yanacocha mine, 6.5 km NW of Cerro Corona, 50 km NNW of
Cajamarca and 650 km north of Lima (#Location: 6° 44' 21"S, 78° 41' 48"W).
Silver was discovered in the Hualgayoc-Tantahuatay district in 1771, during Spanish Colonial times,
and became one of the most important silver producers in Peru. The majority of the historic production
came from silver-rich veins in the Miocene Cerro Jesus and Cerro San Jose flow domes, whilst most of
the more recent production has been from veins and replacement mantos in Mesozoic siltstone-
carbonate units. The current open pit mine commenced operation in August 2011, operated by Minera
Coimolache S.A., a joint venture between Compañía de Minas Buenaventura (40.1%), Southern Copper
Corporation (44.2%) and Espro S.A.C. (15.7%) with production in 2013 of 4.44 t Au and 21.3 t Ag.
Tantahuatay 2 is hosted by the largest, best mineralised and most complex centre within the dome complex, characterised by intense
silicification, advanced argillic alteration and brecciation. This alteration and brecciation completely obliterates igneous textures except in
peripheral areas and where only the early stages of quartz-alunite alteration have occurred. All of the rocks within the mineralised dome are
silicified, with zones of total silicification having textures range from massive to vuggy to sandy. The zones of massive to vuggy quartz
invariably carry anomalous, but typically <0.1 g/t Au, unless there is superimposed brecciation and sulphide mineralisation (Gustafson et al.,
2004).
Multiple, crosscutting stages of brecciation styles are recognised, including i). crackle breccia, with only minor matrix and rotation of
fragments; ii). tectonic or fault breccia; iii). hydrothermal breccia, with mineralised fragmental matrix and polymict clasts; and iv). pebble
breccia, with fragmental matrix and relatively rounded polymict clasts.
Brecciation is variably pervasive across much of the deposit area, with late-stage gold mineralisation being best developed in areas that are
most strongly affected by multiple stages of silicification and brecciation. Below the base of oxidation, the strongest gold mineralisation is
associated with pyrite, enargite and other sulphides. Multiple stages of alunite are also recognised (Gustafson et al., 2004).
The ore deposit is closely associated with zones of irregularly developed quartz-pyrophyllite-alunite within a broad 500 x >600 m block of
quartz-pyrophyllite alteration, which is surrounded by quartz alunite to the north, south and west. Massive silica zones are found in close
association with the gold mineralisation.
A substantial area of what Gustafson et al. (2004) refer to as 'gusano texture' within the quartz-pyrophyllite zone surrounds the main ore
zone to the north, south and east, obliterating the original rock texture. This texture is characterised by segregation of soft, white patches of
pyrophyllite, typically accompanied by minor diaspore and as much as 100% alunite, in a hard siliceous matrix. The siliceous matrix is hard
and comprises granular quartz enclosing ~5 to 30% interstitial aluminosilicate minerals similar those of the soft patches that generally contain
<10% quartz. At Tantahuatay 2, pervasive gusano-textured rock covers an area of at least 500 by 600 m and extends to a depth of at least
200 to 300 m. Lesser amounts are found in the other mineralised and advanced argillic-altered dome centres in the district, in places only
occurring in structural zones several metres or less in width.
The gusano-textured rock is typically dense, containing disseminated pyrite and generally <0.1 g/t Au. Localised more intense sulphide
mineralisation occurs within more brittle and more intensely silicified breccia and vein zones which cut the gusano-textured rock. This
relatively late assemblage is mostly pyrite-enargite-covellite. Cu and Au values vary directly in proportion to the amount of enargite, which is
by far the most abundant copper mineral. Enargite-pyrite alone rarely contains >0.2 g Au/Cu%, although some zones of semi-massive pyrite
reach 0.4 g Au/Cu%. The highest grades of Au with g Au/Cu% ratios as much as >2, invariably occur where bornite, digenite, covellite and/or
sphalerite, and rarely barite, are present with, and apparently overprinting, the enargite. These elevated intervals are typically in the same
siliceous zones of brecciation and veining containing the most enargite (Gustafson et al., 2004).
Weak supergene chalcocite enrichment locally extends to depths of hundreds of metres in fracture zones. In the overlying oxide zone, the
Au remains, with local enrichment very close to surface, whereas Cu has been strongly leached during surficial oxidation (Gustafson et al.,
2004).
A larger 500 x 100 to 250 m area of anomalous >50 ppm Mo surrounds/overlaps the gold ore, occurring as 'smears' of fine-grained,
anhedral molybdenite in pyritic advanced argillic-altered rock. Testing for a deep underlying porphyry deposit during the 1990s did not reveal
any economic mineralisation, although below the Tertiary unconformity, skarn mineralisation comprising pale diopside, epidote and clay with
minor pale sphalelite, galena and chalcopyrite was encountered in the limestone that hosts massive pyrite-enargite mineralisation a few
hundred metres farther east (Paredes, 1981). In the dome complex, which only contains rare dykes, advanced argillic- to sericitic-altered
volcanic rock and pyrite-enargite mineralisation with minor pyrite-bornite-chalcopyrite and pyrite-covellite were intersected at depths of 500 to
700 m. To the NE of the main deposit, a drill hole intersected 500 m containing granular quartz A veins with traces of minute chalcopyrite
inclusions, although the bulk sulphides are pyritic, high-sulphidation assemblages with sharply diminishing grades of gold and copper at
depth, within a zone dominated by overprinting advanced argillic and sericitic alteration (Gustafson et al., 2004).
The mine commenced production in August 2011.
As of 31 December, 2015, ore reserves and mineral resources (Compañí de Minas Buenaventura 2015 Annual Report) were:
Ore reserves
Total oxide ore reserves - 66.197 Mt @ 0.435 g/t Au, 7.154 g/t Ag (=28.6 t Au, 470 t Ag);
Mineral resources
Measured + indicated oxide ore - 49.275 Mt @ 0.311 g/t Au, 7.46 g/t Ag (=14.2 t Au, 375 t Ag);
Inferred oxide ore - 11.400 Mt @ 0.271 g/t Au, 12.44 g/t Ag (=3.1 t Au, 144 t Ag);
Inferred sulphide ore - 290.679 Mt @ 0.310 g/t Au, 10.76 g/t Ag, 0.80% Cu (=90 t Au, 3128 t Ag, 2.313 Mt of Cu).
In 2016 the mine was operated by Minera Coimolache S.A., a joint venture between Compañía de Minas Buenaventura (40.1%), Southern
Copper Corporation (44.2%) and Espro S.A.C. (15.7%).
The most recent source geological information used to prepare this summary was dated: 2004.
This description is a summary from published sources, the chief of which are listed below.
© Copyright Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd. Unauthorised copying, reproduction, storage or dissemination prohibited.
References & Additional Information
Tour photo albums Iron oxide copper-gold series
What's new
Ore deposit database Super-porphyry series
Site map
Conferences Porhyry & Hydrothermal Cu-Au
Experience Ore deposit literature