Structural controls on the superposition of high

sulfidation epithermal mineralisation into porphyry

copper-molybdenum deposits: lessons from
Rosario, northern Chile

D.R. Cooke1, G.J. Masterman*1, R.F. Berry, J.L. Walshe2 and P.A. Gow**2
1
CODES, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 79, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia,
d.cooke@utas.edu.au
* current address: Bolnisi Gold NL, Chihuahua, Mexico
2
CSIRO Exploration and Mining, 26 Dick Perry Av, Kensington, Western Australia 6151
** current address: XStrata Exploration, Mt Isa, Australia

Abstract
The Eocene-Oligocene porphyry belt of northern Chile contains the world’s largest accumulation
of porphyry-related copper metal. Conflicting models exist regarding the relative importance
of strike-slip and reverse faulting during the emplacement of the porphyry and epithermal systems,
based on regional studies and also from work at the Chuquicamata deposit. In contrast, at the
Collahuasi district, high sulfidation state copper-silver mineralisation was superimposed into
the core of the Rosario copper-molybdenum porphyry deposits along normal faults during
gravitational collapse of the Domeyko Cordillera. Exhumation of the porphyry environment
occurred rapidly during this event, allowing near-surface epithermal mineralisation (< 200m
paleodepth) to be juxtaposed into the potassic altered core of the porphyry deposit (estimated
depth of formation: 1300 m) in the space of approximately one million years. Mass wasting
after major episodes of tectonic uplift provides an effective method of hypogene upgrading of
porphyry ores by high sulfidation mineralisation.

Introduction
Genetic relationships between porphyry and high sulfidation state (HS) epithermal mineralisation
are well-established (e.g., Arribas et al., 1995; Hedenquist et al., 1998). However, reasons as to
why some porphyry and HS deposit couplets are separated spatially, whereas others are
superimposed into the same space remain obscure.
Many giant Eocene-Oligocene porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits occur in the Domeyko
Cordillera of northern Chile, including behemoths such as Chuquicamata, La Escondida and
Rosario, together with other major deposits such as El Abra, El Salvador, Radomiro Tomic, El
Abra, Mansa Mina, Toki, Gaby and La Fortuna (Fig. 1). Several of the largest deposits are
hybrid porphyry-epithermal systems, with high sulfidation state mineralisation superimposed
into the potassically altered core of the porphyry deposit (e.g., Chuquicamata, Rosario, La
Escondida, El Salvador; Fig. 1). Northern Chile is therefore an ideal location to investigate
likely mechanisms of superposition (or telescoping) of the epithermal environment into the
core of the porphyry system.

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Figure 1. Map showing the location of the Collahuasi district relative to other major copper and gold
deposits in Chile and western Argentina. Metallogenic belts for the five major copper provinces are
also shown. Dashed contour lines are the depths to the Wadati-Benioff zone. Modified from Muntean
and Einaudi (2000) and Masterman et al. (2005).

Geological setting
Since the Paleozoic, the geological evolution of northern Chile has included periods of terrain
accretion, passive margin and back-arc basin sedimentation, protracted subduction and arc
magmatism. Intermittent episodes of magmatic activity have occurred since the Jurassic, with
the principal magmatic arc migrating eastwards from the Coastal Cordillera (Jurassic) to the
Longitudinal Valley (Cretaceous), Precordillera (Eocene-Oligocene) and Western Cordillera
(Miocene-Recent).
Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary volcanism was terminated by the Incaic orogeny. The Incaic
orogeny marks a change in the tectonic regime from extensional to strong orogeny-normal
shortening (Scheuber and Reutter, 1992). The change in deformation regime is interpreted to be
the result of a change in plate configuration in the south east Pacific between 110 and 70 Ma.
Southward migration of the Aluk-Farallon spreading centre resulted in a reduction in the angle
of convergence along the South American margin.

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Porphyry and high sulfidation mineralisation formed between 42 and 31 Ma in the Precordillera,
with the giant porphyry deposits forming towards the end of this metallogenic epoch. The
older, smaller deposits in the southern end of the belt (El Salvador, Potrerillos; Fig. 1) are gold-
enriched relative to their northern counterparts.
Migration of the northern Chilean magmatic arc 100-280 km to the east over the last 200 million
years resulted in the overprinting of the back-arc environment by a magmatic arc, followed by
subsequent forearc environment. Interaction of the back-arc architecture, together with earlier
architectures (Palaeozoic terrane boundaries, sutures, etc) with the magmatic arc during the Eocene-
Oligocene was fundamental to the formation of the Eocene-Oligocene porphyry province.

Domeyko Fault System

A variety of terms have been used to describe the dominant N-S trending fault system evident
within the Precordillera of northern Chile. These include the West Fissure (Falla Oeste in Spanish),
Domeyko Fault System, and West Fissure Fault System. The terminology ‘west’ is derived from
the type locality at the Chuquicamata Mine where a single branch of this fault system defines
the western margin of the ore deposit (e.g., Lindsay et al., 1995; Ossandon et al., 2001).

The Domeyko Fault System has in part controlled emplacement of the Eocene-Oligocene
porphyries of northern Chile. The northern portion of the Domeyko Fault System represents
the reactivated eastern margin of the main Jurassic back-arc basin, and hosts a complex set of
broadly N-S structures. Eocene-Oligocene magmatism was structurally focussed and attaining
greatest volumes where the Domeyko Fault System intersects other structures, either transverse
transfer structures, or N-S thrusts (inverted syn-sedimentary normal faults?)
Lindsay et al. (1995), among others, argued that strike-slip fault movements on the West Fissure
controlled the emplacement of the Chuquicamata porphyry deposit. The plate convergence
vector provided by Pardo-Casas and Molnar (1987), based on plate reconstructions from
prominent ocean floor magnetic anomalies, suggests a constant ENE-directed convergence from
49 Ma, with a minor change to ESE between 26-20 Ma. This convergence direction should
have translated into a dominantly dextral sense of strike-slip movement on the Domeyko Fault
System. However, movement sense indicators on the fault system show a highly variable sense
of movement. Notably the sense of movement commonly interpreted as associated with
mineralisation is sinistral (Reutter et al., 1996).
In contrast to the strike-slip models, McClay et al. (2002) and Skarmeta et al. (2003) have
argued that the convergence angle was too high for major strike-slip fault movements along the
Domeyko Fault System during the Eocene-Oligocene. Instead, they have shown that the
Domeyko Fault System is dominated by thrust faults, some of which have reactivated basin-
bounding normal faults associated with Jurassic back arc sedimentation.

Collahuasi district
A cluster of Eocene-Oligocene porphyries occur in the Collahuasi district (Fig. 2), including the
supergiant Rosario (3.11 Gt @ 0.82 % Cu, 0.024 % Mo and 0.01 g/t Au), and the giant Ujina
(636 Mt @ 1.06 % Cu), and Quebrada Blanca porphyry deposits (400 Mt @ 0.83 % Cu, 0.015
% Mo and 0.1 g/t Au; Camus, 2002). The district also contains high sulfidation state epithermal
copper-silver veins (including La Grande and Rosario), the intermediate sulfidation state
Montcezuma epithermal silver vein system and the Huinquintipa exotic copper deposit.

Epithermal veins in the Collahuasi district have been mined since at least 1400 AD, with the
peak of epithermal mining activity occurring between 1907 and 1920 (Moore and Masterman,
2002). The porphyry potential of the district was realised with the advent of modern exploration
in the latter half of the twentieth century, although significant difficulties were encountered in
bringing the mines into production. Claims staked in the late 1950s resulted in the discovery of

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Figure 2. Generalized geology of the Rosario, Cerro La Grande and Quebrada Blanca areas. The
outline of copper mineralization at the Rosario and Quebrada Blanca porphyry centres is shown, as
well as vein-hosted Cu-Ag-(Au) massive sulfide occurrences at Poderosa and Cerro La Grande. High-
grade silver occurs in a laminated intermediate-sulfidation quartz vein at Monctezuma. Modified from
Masterman et al. (2005) after Munchmeyer et al. (1984).

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the supergene-enriched Quebrada Blanca deposit in 1977 (production commenced in 1994).
Subsequent exploration resulted in the discovery of Rosario in 1979 (first mined in 2002) and
Ujina in 1991 (initial production in 1998).

Hypogene upgrading at the Rosario Porphyry Cu-Mo Deposit

At the Rosario porphyry deposit, high sulfidation epithermal veins have been superimposed
into the core of the porphyry system, resulting in significant hypogene upgrading of the porphyry
ore (Masterman et al., 2005). This process produced ‘reverse alteration zonation’ with central
domains of advanced argillic and phyllic alteration that have overprinted more laterally extensive
potassic and propylitic alteration zones. Similar alteration patterns have been reported at
Chuquicamata (Ossandon et al., 2001).
The Rosario porphyry was emplaced at 34.4 ± 0.4 Ma (Masterman et al., 2004). Potassic alteration
and the mineralised quartz vein stockwork formed at depths of around 1,300 m below the
paleosurface, based on fluid inclusion results (Masterman et al., 2005). Exhumation of the
porphyry system allowed for superposition of massive sulfide epithermal veins and advanced
argillic alteration into the core of the porphyry system at 32.6 ± 0.3 Ma. The epithermal veins
at Rosario formed at depths of approximately 200 m below the paleosurface, implying that at
least 1 km of rock was eroded at Rosario over a period of approximately 1 m.y.
The Rosario Porphyry intruded immediately after the Incaic tectonic phase (Fig. 3a), implying that
it was emplaced as the Domeyko Cordillera underwent gravitational collapse. Gravitational sliding
along normal faults, such as the Rosario Fault, potentially accelerated exhumation and helped to
promote telescoping of the high-sulfidation environment onto the Rosario Porphyry (Fig. 3b).

Figure 3. Northeast-southwest schematic

section showing a model of divergent
gravitational collapse inferred to have affected
the Collahuasi district. a) Most of the late
Eocene shortening was accommodated by
isoclinal folds in the Mesozoic sedimentary and
volcanic rocks. Note that the Permian basement
was uplifted relative to the Mesozoic sequences
along deep which may have included the
Domeyko and Loa fault systems. Thin-skinned
deformation (e.g., reverse faults) was
accommodated along low-angle thrusts and
inverted basin-margin faults. Magmas ascended
from a mixing, assimilation, storage and
homogenization (MASH) zone at the base of the
crust to levels of neutral buoyancy in the middle-
to-upper crust. They did not erupt, but
crystallized and produced high-level, intrusion-
centred brittle-ductile veins (e.g., the early-stage
veins at Rosario). b) Partial collapse of the
orogenic belt is inferred to have occurred at the
end of the Incaic Orogeny. Crustal units were
detached along gravity slides that were
potentially connected to thrusts in the foreland.
Detritus from erosion was either collected in
basins above the detachments or transported
out of the system. Exhumation changed the
environment from lithostatic to hydrostatic at the site of ore formation and coincided with formation of
intermediate and late-stage veins at Rosario. That porphyry and superimposed high-sulfidation style
mineralization occur at the same crustal level implies protracted intrusive activity at Rosario and the
existence of a well-developed and replenished MASH zone at the base of the crust. Adapted for the
Collahuasi district from a diagram in Rey et al. (2001). Modified after Masterman et al., (2005).

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This mechanism has proven highly effective at generating giant, high-grade hypogene resources
throughout northern Chile, and should be a focus for exploration in other porphyry provinces.

Acknowledgments
This study was part of AMIRA International project P511. We are grateful to the Centre for Ore
Deposit Research (CODES), AMIRA International, CSIRO Exploration and Mining and Compañia
Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi (CMDIC) for providing financial, logistical and technical support.
Manuel Durán is thanked for approving and funding the work at Collahuasi. We appreciate
permission to publish from AMIRA International and CMDIC. Thanks also to Jorge Skarmeta
from CODELCO for numerous insights into the structural evolution of northern Chile.

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Author
David Cooke is an Associate Professor and leader of the Ore Formation research program at
CODES, the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence in ore deposits at the University
of Tasmania. He gained a BSc(hons) from La Trobe University and a PhD from Monash
University. David and his students have been researching porphyry and epithermal mineral
deposits from around the Pacific rim for the past twenty years. David is the 2005 Thayer Lindsley
lecturer for the Society of Economic Geologists.

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