©2004 Society of Economic Geologists

Special Publication 11, 2004, pp. 231–241

Chapter 12

Enargite-Gold Deposits at Marcapunta, Colquijirca Mining District, Central Peru:

Mineralogic and Geochemical Zoning in Subvolcanic,
Limestone-Replacement Deposits of High-Sulfidation Epithermal Type
CÉSAR E. VIDAL† AND ROLANDO LIGARDA
Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A., Avenida Carlos Villarán 790, Urbanización Santa Catalina, Lima 13, Perú

Abstract
The Marcapunta enargite-Au deposits are located in the center of the Colquijirca mining district, 310 km north-
east of Lima and 10 km south of the Cerro de Pasco mine. The regional geology comprises folded Permo-Triassic
red-bed deposits of the Mitu Group succeeded by Pucará Group limestone and dolomite of Triassic to Jurassic age,
which are overlain by carbonate breccia, conglomerate, and fresh-water limestone of the Eocene Calera Forma-
tion. These units are intruded and overlain by dacitic domes and pyroclastic rocks of the Marcapunta volcanic cen-
ter. The north-trending Longitudinal fault controlled basin morphology during both the Pucará and Calera For-
mation sedimentation as well as emplacement of the Cerro de Pasco and Marcapunta Miocene volcanoes.
The Marcapunta Cu-As-Au deposits are zoned symmetrically northward into the Zn-Pb-Ag ores of Colqui-
jirca and southwestward into the Zn-Pb-Ag San Gregorio deposit. The Miocene volcanic center at Marcapunta
is intensely altered to advanced argillic alteration assemblages in the form of quartz-alunite ledges with argillic
halos. Alunite mineral separates have been dated at 11.6 ± 0.1 Ma by K-Ar and 10.6 ± 0.1 Ma by 40Ar/39Ar
methods. The main silicification and quartz-alunite alteration are controlled by several prominent east-west
fractures and attain thicknesses from a few centimeters to ~50 m. Mineral assemblages are zoned outward from
a central zone of vuggy quartz to quartz-alunite ± dickite, illite-kaolinite ± montmorillonite and external chlo-
rite-calcite envelopes. Copper mineralization surrounds an interpreted subsurface diatreme vent and flares
outward along the base of the dacitic domes comprising the Marcapunta volcanic center. Semimassive to mas-
sive quartz-pyrite bodies preferentially replaced limestone breccia and conglomerate of the Calera Formation
and are sandwiched between the underlying Mitu Group sandstone and the overlying lava domes.
The northern, western, and southwestern flanks of the Marcapunta volcanic center are characterized by a
recently determined and drill-tested, crescent-shaped gravimetric high. Ore zones attain thicknesses as much
as 100 m adjacent to the steep diatreme walls and thin laterally into discrete strata-bound manto and breccia
horizons. Ore mineralogy is dominated by enargite, covellite, native gold, and several precious metal-bearing
telluride phases. Hypogene chalcocite and digenite occur in a discrete lower manto beneath the enargite zone
of western Marcapunta. Gold appears to be concentrated in the southwestern parts of the replacement bodies.
Cu/As ratios increase from a homogeneous value of 3/1 in the Smelter area, immediately north of the volcano,
to variable values of 4 to 40/1 in the western Marcapunta enargite and digenite-chalcocite mantos.
Resumen
El depósito de enargita-Au de Marcapunta se ubica en el centro del distrito minero de Colquijirca, 310 km al
noreste de Lima y 10 km al sur del distrito minero de Cerro de Pasco. La secuencia estratigráfica mineralizada
está conformada por capas rojas plegadas del Grupo Mitu de edad permo-triásica seguidas por calizas y dolomías
del Grupo Pucará de edad triásica a jurásica, las que a su vez son seguidas por brechas de carbonatos, conglom-
erados y calizas lacustres de la Formación Calera, del Eoceno. Estas unidades fueron intruidas y a la vez recu-
biertas durante el Mioceno por domos dacíticos y piroclastos eruptivos del centro volcánico de Marcapunta. La
Falla Longitudinal, de dirección norte-sur, controló y determinó la morfología y sedimentación en las cuencas Pu-
cará y Calera; además, controló el emplazamiento de los volcanes miocénicos de Cerro de Pasco y Marcapunta.
El depósito de Cu-As-Au en Marcapunta está zonado, por el norte, a los yacimientos de Zn-Pb-Ag de Colqui-
jirca y, hacia el sur, a los depósitos de Zn-Pb-Ag de San Gregorio. El centro volcánico de Marcapunta, que re-
cubre la mineralización Cu-Au, está intensamente alterado a ensambles argílico avanzados, constituidos por
crestones de cuarzo-alunita con halos argílicos. Las alunitas han sido datadas en 11.6 ± 0.1 Ma por el método
K/Ar y 10.6 ± 0.1 Ma por 40 Ar / 39 Ar. Los crestones de silicificación y el fuerte desarrollo de alteración de
cuarzo-alunita son controlados por fracturas prominentes de dirección este-oeste y alcanzan anchos desde cen-
tímetros hasta ~50 m. Los ensambles de alteración hidrotermal varían hacia fuera, desde una zona central de
cuarzo poroso, a cuarzo-alunita ± dickita, illita-caolinita ± montmorillonita y hacia halos externos de clorita +
calcita. La mineralización de cobre está emplazada en niveles subvolcánicos y circunda la diatrema, estando, a
su vez, recubierta por los domos dacíticos del volcán Marcapunta. Cuerpos masivos a semi-masivos de cuarzo
- pirita reemplazan preferentemente a brechas calcáreas y conglomerados basales de la Formación Calera y se
presentan entrampados entre las capas rojas infrayacentes, del Grupo Mitu y las lavas dacíticas suprayacentes
del volcán Marcapunta.
† Corresponding author: e-mail, cesarvid@buenaventura.com.pe

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 232 VIDAL AND LIGARDA

Los flancos norte, oeste y suroeste del volcán Marcapunta están caracterizados por un alto gravimétrico an-
ular, cuyo sector oeste ha sido recientemente perforado. Los cuerpos mineralizados alcanzan espesores de hasta
100 m en los alrededores de la pared de alto ángulo de la diatrema y adelgazan lateralmente a cuerpos estrat-
iformes de reemplazamiento metasomático en horizontes de calizas brechadas, altamente receptivas. La mena
predominante es enargita, con trazas de covelita, oro nativo y telururos. Calcosita y digenita hipógenas se pre-
sentan en un manto profundo, por debajo de las zonas con enargita, en Marcapunta oeste. El oro aparece en-
riquecido en la porción suroeste de los cuerpos. Los cocientes de Cu/As también incrementan de un homogé-
neo 3:1 en el área de Smelter a un rango de variación desde 4:1 hasta 40:1 en los mantos de enargita o
digenita-calcosita en el flanco oeste de Marcapunta.

Exploration and Mining History
THE COLQUIJIRCA district was known as “mountain of silver”
by the original Quechua-speaking inhabitants of the region.
Native Ag, stromeyerite, and acanthite in gossanous outcrops
were probably hand sorted by artisanal miners between the
10th and 15th centuries. Later, shallow adits, raises, and ser-
pentine declines were constructed for the colonial mining of
high-grade silver ore from the then-called Minas del Cerro
Bombón (Pérez-Arauco, 1996). It was not until the early 20th
century, when operated by Sociedad Minera El Brocal
headed by Eulogio Fernandini de la Quintana, that Colqui-
jirca became one of America’s most important and best stud-
ied primary Ag producers (Lindgren, 1935; McKinstry, 1936).
Railroad connection with the La Oroya metallurgical complex
was in place by 1906 and was fundamental in future mine de-
velopment.
From 1945 to 1975, strata-bound Pb-Zn-Ag mantos, in the
Mercedes Chocayoc anticline, were stoped west of Colqui-
jirca from underground sublevels accessed by three main
shafts. An aggressive exploration campaign from 1968 to
1974, including induced-polarization surveys and diamond
drilling, led to the discovery of extensive open-pittable re-
serves in areas west and southwest of Colquijirca. From 1992
to 1994, the San Gregorio Ag oxide and Zn-Pb sulfide de-
posits were rediscovered and partially delineated. A drilling
campaign during the 1930s revealed the San Gregorio zoning
pattern: from near-surface Bi-rich argentiferous oxide ore to
low pyrite, high-grade Zn and Pb sulfide ore at depth.
Since 1978, open-pit methods have been applied at Colqui-
jirca, where current production is 3,500 metric tons (t) per
day of polymetallic sulfide ore, assaying 6 percent Zn, 2 per-
cent Pb, and 100 to 150 ppm Ag. The waste/ore stripping
ratio is currently 7/1, and the Zn-Pb-Ag ore is valued at
US$35 to US$45/t.
This paper reports the geologic, mineralogic, and geo-
chemical findings provided by the 2002-2003 exploration
campaign led by Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A.
The exploration program was designed in collaboration with
Alberto Benavides de la Quintana, chairman of Compañía de
Minas Buenaventura S.A.A., and Sociedad Minera El Brocal
S.A.A. More work, currently underway, is necessary to fully
explore these and other pyritic, enargite-Au deposits within
and around the Marcapunta volcanic center.
Structural, Stratigraphic, and Volcanologic Framework of
Marcapunta in Relationship to Cerro de Pasco
Tectonic inversion is documented on the north-
south–trending Longitudinal fault, the most prominent struc-
ture in the Colquijirca-Cerro de Pasco region. During the
Late Triassic to Jurassic, the fault separated a shallow-water
carbonate platform to the west from a subsiding riftlike basin
to the east (Sempere et al., 2002). During the Eocene, a la-
custrine basin formed west of the Longitudinal fault (e.g.,
Calera Formation). Other faults and lineaments of the north-
south system are indirectly indicated by the elongate form of
the Colquijirca mineral occurrences (Petersen and Vidal,
1996). The Cerro de Pasco and Marcapunta volcanic centers
are 10 km apart and both seem to be controlled by the Longi-
tudinal fault system. Other volcanic centers, such as Yanamate,
are controlled by a set of northeast-trending strike-slip struc-
tures, including the Yurachuanca and Chancay faults (Fig. 1).
Principal faults and volcanic centers of the region cut across
and pierce folded metamorphic and sedimentary sequences
of early Paleozoic, Permian, Triassic to Jurassic, and Eocene
ages. Folds are generally symmetric and open but exhibit ex-
ceptional complexity and tightness in proximity to fault zones,
such as the La Llave and La Pampa isoclinal folds at Colqui-
jirca, as shown schematically in the geologic section (Fig. 1).
Regional stratigraphy was thoroughly documented and de-
scribed in the pioneer works of McLaughlin (1924) and
Noble and Butz (1931) and, more recently, by Mégard (1978)
and Angeles (1999). Early Paleozoic schists and phyllites of
the Excelsior Group were deformed and metamorphosed to
low-grade greenschist facies; they form the wall rocks to the
Cerro de Pasco diatreme and occur as lithic fragments in both
the Cerro de Pasco and Marcapunta diatreme breccias. Per-
mian red beds of the Mitu Group uncomformably overlie the
Excelsior. The red-bed sequence comprises fine-grained,
hematite-stained sandstone with localized beds of quartz-
pebble conglomerate, interpreted to have been deposited in
an arid and desertic mudflow-plain environment (McLaugh-
ling, 1924).The Pucará Group carbonate sequence trans-
gressed a partially reworked unconformity carved on the Mitu
sandstone. The western, shallow-water carbonate facies con-
sists of 300 to 400 m of dolostone breccia and laminated algal
mats with minor intercalations of waterlain tuff. The eastern
basinal facies of the Pucará Group includes 2,400 m of mas-
sive gray micritic limestone and minor shale (Mégard, 1978;
Angeles, 1999).
Cretaceous Goyllarisquizga Group sandstone, shale, and
limestone are absent in the Colquijirca district but present
farther north at Cerro de Pasco (Fig. 1). The district may have
been uplifted at this time or, alternatively, the Cretaceous se-
quence was eroded prior to Eocene basin development. Dur-
ing the Eocene, uplift of the eastern facies of the Pucará
Group promoted rapid erosion and formation of fanglomer-
ate and lacustrine calcareous deposits known as the
Pocobamba Group or, locally, as the Calera and Shuco For-
mations (McLaughlin, 1924; Boit, 1962; Angeles, 1999).
Miocene volcanism produced two large composite dome-
diatreme centers at Marcapunta and Cerro de Pasco and a

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 ENARGITE-Au DEPOSITS, MARCAPUNTA, COLQUIJIRCA MINING DISTRICT, CENTRAL PERU 233

PACOYAN 15.0 15.2

a
14.2

ococh
CERRO DE PASCO

Ve n e n
QUICAY

nca
chua
Y ura 15.2
13.1
36.5 YANAMATE

U D200
D U30

Longitudinal
Río San Juan

SD.31P
76°00W

COLQUIJIRCA

11.0 13.0
SMELTER
11.9

W 11.2 E
MARCAPUNTA

11°00S
BOHORQUEZ

y
ca
SAN GREGORIO

an
Ch

W CERRO MARCAPUNTA E
5 Km

Alluvial cover Cu- Au/Zn-Pb-Ag ore bodies (projected)

Pocobamba and Calera Formations Dacitic dome / diatreme complex
Goyllarisquizga Group Granodioritic stock
200
UD

Western facies of Pucará Group Faults with age control

Eastern facies of Pucará Group Syncline
Mitu Group Anticline
Excelsior Group 13.0 K-Ar age
FIG. 1. Location and geologic map of the Cerro de Pasco-Colquijirca region. Modified from Angeles (1999).

small volcanic vent at Yanamate (Vidal et al., 1984; Rivera,
2002). Cerro de Pasco and Marcapunta are steep-sided, in-
ward-dipping, conical diatremes in the sense of Lorenz
(1986); they were intruded, and partially covered, by dacitic
flow domes and pyroclastic breccia. Cerro de Pasco is ex-
posed at subvolcanic levels and the diatreme structure is filled
by crudely bedded maar tuff and breccia (Silberman and
Noble, 1977), known locally as the Rumiallana Agglomerate;
dikes and cone sheets of younger dacitic magma intruded
along east-west fractures and up the western and northern
flanks of the diatreme structure. Ten kilometers south, at the
Marcapunta volcanic center, dacitic flow domes predominate
at surface with related carapace breccia and minor tuff; dia-
treme-related, bedded sedimentary rocks and tuff breccia,

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 234
believed to have accumulated in a maar setting, are observed
in core from several deep diamond drill holes. Intense and
pervasive acid-sulfate alteration affects the domes (Fig. 2a)
and indicates a shallow environment affected by vapor-domi-
nated plumes (e.g. Stoffregen, 1987). The contrast in expo-
sure level is believed to reflect a combination of the older age
of the subvolcanic Cerro de Pasco vent (Silberman and
Noble, 1977; Rogers, 1983) and post mid-Miocene uplift to
the north, with shallower exposure levels and both more
widespread lakes and subsurface meteoric water reservoirs
preserved to the south, in the Marcapunta volcano area. A
half graben of Eocene to Miocene age is defined by the Río
San Juan-Venenococha and Longitudinal faults (Fig. 1).
Mineral Deposits of the Colquijirca District
The Colquijirca mining district has produced Ag-rich ore
since precolonial Inca times, particularly since the beginning
of the 20th century, from hypogene tennantite-polybasite ore
and rich, near-surface, gossanous stromeyerite and native Ag
ore. From 1974 to 1982, underground room and pillar mining
in the Smelter area produced arsenical sulfide ore to produce
Au- and Ag-bearing Cu concentrates (Table 1).
Notwithstanding its zoned polymetallic character at the dis-
trict scale, silicification and sulfide mineralization are
predominantly stratiform in geometry and tend to form
Vuggy quartz
Massive quartz
Quartz-alunite-dickite
Illite-smectite-kaolinite
Chlorite-calcite
Unaltered rock
Fault
500 m
FIG. 2. Plans of the Marcapunta volcano. a. Hydrothermal alteration. b. Residual Bouger gravity contours, showing in-
ferred outline of diatreme. North-south and east-west sections shown in Figures 3 and 4.
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VIDAL AND LIGARDA
replacement mantos that follow folded beds of either the
Calera or Pucará Formations (Vidal et al., 1997). Historical
underground and open-pit production of polymetallic ore in
the Colquijirca part of the district estimated to be 13 million
metric tons (Mt); current reserves are 8 Mt, averaging 6.4
percent Zn, 2.4 percent Pb, and 95 ppm Ag.
Over the last 20 yrs, several drilling campaigns totaling
35,000 m have extended the known Cu mineralization for 2.5
km south from the Smelter area around the periphery of the
Marcapunta volcanic center, coinciding with a crescent-
shaped gravimetric high (Fig. 2b).
Alteration-Mineralization and Paragenesis
The main constituents of the massive sulfide ore at Marca-
punta are pyrite and enargite together with quartz, alunite,
and minor barite. The early sulfide stage is characterized by
intense silicification and massive pyrite replacement of lime-
stone breccia and, to a lesser extent, the overlying dacitic
domes and sills (Figs. 3–5). Pyrite with cataclastic texture is
overgrown by a second stage of zoned pyrite crystals (Fig. 6a).
Main-stage enargite occurs as open-space fillings of vugs and
fractures in massive pyrite and in close association with minor
covellite and tetrahedrite (Fig. 6b). A large number of
minute, <5-µm inclusions and hairline fractures with native
gold, native tellurium, and telluride species, such as hessite,
a 0.5-1.0 mgal b
>1.0 mgal
DDH
Section line
N
CM1-432-02
W E
500 m
S
234
 ENARGITE-Au DEPOSITS, MARCAPUNTA, COLQUIJIRCA MINING DISTRICT, CENTRAL PERU 235

TABLE 1. Copper Concentrate Production from the Smelter Area, 1974 to 1982 Period

Ye ar Metric tons Cu (%) As (%) Au (ppm) Ag (ppm)

1974 12,947 25.15 na na 32 5

1975 13,687 26.08 na na 18 0
1976 9,876 22.93 na na 11 8
1977 5,549 24.53 na na 10 4
1978 2,150 25.28 8.65 2.40 13 0
1979 3,819 25.78 8.60 3.50 13 0
1980 803 24.38 8.29 4.63 17 1
1981 5,750 24.58 8.39 4.08 11 6
1982 2,381 32.62 10. 09 5.41 13 4
1974 – 1982 56,962 25.22 8.94 4.08 18 1

Notes: na = not available

N S
4500 m
CM1-556 CM1-476-03
CM2-444-03
CM1-436-03
CM1-412-03

CM2-524-02

CM1-504-02

4000 m
?

500 m

FIG. 3. North-south section, showing Marcapunta geology and mineralization. Section marked in Figure.

W E MINERALIZATION
4500 m
CM3-444-03 Oxide-Au zone
CM2-444-03 Enargite-covellite zone
CM1-444-03
CM3-436-03 Digenite-chalcocite zone
CM1-476-03 Diamond drill hole
Fault

LITHOLOGY
Phreatomagmatic breccia

4000 m Porphyritic dacite

Calera Formation
Mitu Group

500 m

FIG. 4. East-west section of Marcapunta geology and mineralization. Symbols as in Figure 3.

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 236 VIDAL AND LIGARDA

SMELTER BOHORQUEZ

b c

d e

f g
FIG. 5. Photographs of the Marcapunta area and drill core. a. Western flank of Marcapunta volcano. b. Flow-foliated
dacitic lava. c. Argillic-altered dacite. d. Massive quartz-pyrite-enargite-Au limestone-breccia replacement. e. Bleached, but
largely unaltered Mitu Group sandstone. f. Silicified and mineralized dacitic sill. g. Digenite, chalcocite, and covellite re-
placing alunitized dacite. Note alunite, pseudomorphous after prominent sanidine phenocrysts.

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 ENARGITE-Au DEPOSITS, MARCAPUNTA, COLQUIJIRCA MINING DISTRICT, CENTRAL PERU 237

py-1

py-1
py-1
py-2
qtz
en

a b

cv+dg

py-1

py

py-1

py

dg
cc

cv+dg
c cc
d

py-3

en

cv
cv
dg

py-3
mc

mc
ef

py-3
e f

FIG. 6. Ore microscopic features. a. Quartz (qtz), pyrite (py-1 and py-2) matrix. b. Pyrite (py-1)-enargite (en) assemblage.
c. Pyrite (py) replaced by hypogene chalcocite (cc) and digenite (dg). d. Pyrite (py-1) replaced by hypogene covellite (cv) and
digenite (dg). e. Late-stage colloform pyrite (py-3) with marcasite (mc) veinlet cutting covellite (cv) and sphalerite (ef). f.
Late-stage colloform pyrite (py-3) with marcasite (mc) cut by late-stage enargite (en) and covellite (cv).

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 238 VIDAL AND LIGARDA

guanajuatoite, and goldfieldite, are ubiquitous in the more
Au-rich portions of the Marcapunta deposit. Barite, galena,
and sphalerite are present only marginally to the enargite
mineralization. Further mineralogic details, based on studies
by Bendezú (2003) and Sáez (2003), are synthesized in a par-
agenetic sequence of mineral deposition, subdivided into
three hypogene stages and a fourth supergene event (Fig. 7).
The pyrite, enargite, and covellite mineralization is clearly
followed by deposition of digenite in close association with
chalcocite. Coarse-grained crystalline aggregates and veins of
digenite and chalcocite are considered to be of hypogene ori-
gin and occur as cement to microbreccias that crosscut pyrite,
enargite, and barite. Replacement by these sulfide minerals
blurs the rectilinear fracture patterns in the preexisting sul-
fide mineral and results in an anastomosing network (Fig. 6c-
d). Occasionally, replacement is complete. Thus, the main-
stage hypogene paragenesis may be subdivided into
enargite-covellite followed by digenite-chalcocite substages.
The Smelter and northern Marcapunta orebodies consist of
relatively homogeneous enargite. The recently discovered
western Marcapunta mineralization has both enargite- and
digenite-bearing zones (Figs. 3–4). Late-stage hypogene vein-
lets of colloform pyrite, with marcasite cores and cut by enar-
gite-covellite veinlets, are known only from the recently
drilled western Marcapunta extensions (Fig. 6e-f).
Dacitic sills, emplaced between the Mitu Group red beds
and the silicified Calera Formation, are also altered and
mineralized in western Marcapunta. Porphyritic textures are
preserved with alunite and pyrite psedomorphous after relict
quartz and sanidine phenocrysts. The sanidine pseudomorphs
are, in turn, selectively replaced by digenite and chalcocite
plus subordinate covellite and enargite (Fig. 5f-g).
Supergene oxidation and precious metal enrichment af-
fected the uppermost parts of the Marcapunta sulfide bodies.
The oxide zone is selectively developed along fractures and
within porous portions of the silicified hanging-wall dacite.
Vuggy quartz rock, with trace to 15 percent limonite fillings
and coatings, typically assay 0.5 to 5 ppm Au and 10 to 200
ppm Ag and occur as lenticular bodies varying from 5 to 35 m
in thickness above the massive sulfide limestone-replacement
deposits (Figs. 3–4). Supergene Cu enrichment, immediately
below the oxide zone, is characterized by sooty chalcocite
coatings on pyrite, with or without supergene sphalerite, but
does not give rise to a widespread blanket. Most of the di-
genite and chalcocite are located below the massive pyrite-
and enargite-dominated mantos, indicative of hypogene de-
position (Figs. 3–4, 7). Similar overprinting of strongly devel-
oped hypogene Cu enrichment has been noted in other deep,
high-sulfidation systems in the southwestern Pacific region
(Sillitoe, 1999).
Geochemical Zonation
Enargite-Au deposits worldwide are magmatic-hydrother-
mal Fe-Cu-As-Au systems with a complex geochemical signa-
ture that includes Ag, Bi, Sb, Te, Ba, W, and Pb. They are par-
ticularly abundant in the Cerro de Pasco and Cajamarca

H Y P O G E N E SUPERGENE
Mineralogy Early stage Main stage Late stage Overprinted

Quartz
Alunite
Pyrite 1
Pyrite 2
Barite
Enargite-luzonite
Covellite
Native gold
Tellurides
Wolframite
Sphalerite
Galena
Digenite
Chalcocite
Tetrahedrite
Pyrite 3
Marcasite
Oxide minerals
FIG. 7. Paragenetic sequence of the Marcapunta enargite-Au deposit.

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 ENARGITE-Au DEPOSITS, MARCAPUNTA, COLQUIJIRCA MINING DISTRICT, CENTRAL PERU 239

regions of Peru, which host numerous Miocene deposits of
this type (Vidal and Cedillo, 1988). Figure 8 shows the metal
content contours for Cu and Au in the Marcapunta deposits.
The Marcapunta Cu-Au system is 3 km north-south, with
widths varying from a few hundred to ~1,500 m. Copper con-
tents increase as the volcanic center is approached. The
northern Marcapunta area has the highest arsenic and copper
contents (Fig. 9a). Similarly, Au is clearly related to the vol-
canic center and appears to be enriched in the southwestern
part of the system. Localized areas of ≥2 ppm Au are known
in the Smelter and northern Marcapunta areas, with up to 6
ppm in the western Marcapunta zone. Underground in the
Smelter zone, an elongate shoot shows Au enrichment south-
ward toward the Marcapunta center (Fig. 9b). Gold contents
in sulfide ore are typically <10 ppm and, based on present
knowledge, do not seem to be as enriched as in epithermal
telluride-bearing ores elsewhere, such as Orcopampa in
southern Peru and Vatukoula in Fiji (Mayta et al., 2002; Pals
et al., 2003).
Implications for Exploration
All genetic models proposed for the Colquijirca mining dis-
trict recognize Marcapunta as the main hydrothermal center
(McKinstry, 1936; Lehne, 1980; Vidal et al., 1984, 1997; Rivera,
2002; Bendezú et al., 2003). Discussion and controversy have
mostly surrounded the structure of the volcanic edifice, for-
merly considered as a high-level intrusive stock (Lacy, 1953;
Cobbing et al., 1981). Other matters of current debate in-
clude the age and duration of the magmatic-hydrothermal
system, its metal zoning, and the ultimate mineral potential.
Geochronologic knowledge remains incomplete despite in-
creased precision in recent dating of volcanic rocks and alter-
ation minerals from Marcapunta. Biotites were dated at 11.5
± 0.4 Ma using the K-Ar method (Vidal et al., 1984) and 12.4
± 0.1 Ma by the 40Ar/39Ar method (Bendezú et al., 2003).
Structural and geochemical similarities are apparent with
other Au-bearing enargite systems, such as Bisbee in Arizona
and Lepanto in the Philippines (Sillitoe, 1988; Hedenquist et
al., 1998).
The high-sulfidation, limestone-replacement, massive to
semimassive pyritic, enargite-Au deposits discovered at
Marcapunta are open and untested both at depth and later-
ally to the south and southwest toward San Gregorio (Fig.
1). Chalcocite stringers, with only traces of pyrite and
quartz, are found in sandstone of the Mitu Group along the
western diatreme wall and possibly indicate deeper, por-
phyry copper-type mineralization. To date, however, no di-
rect evidence of such mineralization has been found. Nev-
ertheless, a buried hydrothermal system associated with a
blind porphyry copper-bearing stock remains a possibility at

a b
SMELTER SMELTER
N

Cu Au
ppm x m
%xm

100 100

10 W E 10

1 1

500 m 500 m
S

FIG. 8. a. Copper distribution at Marcapunta. b. Gold distribution at Marcapunta. Grade × thickness contours; same area
as shown in Figure 2a-b. Smelter inset shown in Figure 9. Sections of Figures 3 and 4 shown in (b) for reference.

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 240 VIDAL AND LIGARDA
a b
100 m
Cu %
3-10 %
1- 3 %
<1 %
FIG. 9. Geochemical distribution in the upper enargite manto of the Smelter area. a. Copper. b. 100 Au/Ag ratio.
depth. Such mineralization, however, is not the prime objec-
tive of current exploration programs and its hypothetical oc-
currence needs to be tested first by additional geologic and
geophysical modeling.
Effective exploration for high-sulfidation epithermal de-
posits at Marcapunta relies on detailed structural mapping
and selective sampling of mineralized veinlets, breccia dikes,
and reactivated faults. At surface, 100 to 300 m above the
massive sulfide deposits, geochemical leakage has produced
anomalies for Cu, Au, As, Bi, and Te with high Cu/Au and
Cu/As ratios. These, in conjunction with geologically con-
strained residual gravity maps, have been used to design and
prioritize exploration drilling. Targeting for, and delineation
of, higher grade orebodies and extensions to known ones is
largely a trial-and-error drilling exercise. Buried Cu-Au de-
posits are still believed to exist, with prospectivity increasing
along the western diatreme walls in the center of an 8-km-
long, north-south mineralized belt defined by the Colquijirca,
Marcapunta, and San Gregorio deposits (Fig. 1).
Hydrothermal fluid migrated upward around and away
from the diatreme, with replacement of the carbonate rocks
beneath the dacitic flow-dome complex.The fluid became
neutralized as it progressed from the strongly acidic Cu- and
Au-depositing environment to the near-neutral Zn- Pb- and
Ag-enriched zone, as discussed in the case of nearby Cerro de
Pasco by Graton and Bowditch (1936). Carbonate rocks
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by guest
100 m
100 Au/Ag
>20
10-20
5-10
dissolved by acidic fluid formed a widespread halo rich in
pyrite and quartz and is further characterized by the occur-
rence of hematite or siderite with minor sphalerite and trace
to 1 percent Zn. Such district-scale zoning is the most com-
pelling feature for guiding exploration in the Colquijirca,
Cerro de Pasco, and other limestone-hosted, enargite-bearing
districts in the Andes of Peru.
Conclusions
The Marcapunta volcanic center generated multiple hy-
drothermal cells, which formed an extensive blanketlike hori-
zon of enargite-Au mineralization in the core of a zoned base
and precious metal district. Gold-enriched, arsenical Cu de-
posits in limestone-replacement quartz-pyrite mantos were
emplaced in a subvolcanic setting around a central diatreme.
Strata-bound Cu mantos flare laterally from beneath below
the northern, western, and southwestern flanks of the Marca-
punta volcanic center. This central or proximal Cu mineral-
ization grades to both north and south through high-grade Pb
and Zn sulfide ore into distal zones rich in Ag- and Sb-bear-
ing sulfosalts. The outermost halo in the well-developed, dis-
trict-scale zoning pattern is characterized by low-grade Zn in
association with abundant siderite or hematite.
Hypogene enargite and digenite zones occur only beneath
the western flanks of Marcapunta. Hypogene Cu enrichment
with Au gave rise to a nonarsenical, low Au, Cu-enriched
240
 ENARGITE-Au DEPOSITS, MARCAPUNTA, COLQUIJIRCA MINING DISTRICT, CENTRAL PERU
horizon emplaced deep in the high-sulfidation epithermal
column, as discussed for other comparable deposits world-
wide (Sillitoe, 1999). Such hypogene Cu enrichment may re-
sult from meteoric water ingress to the core of the magmatic-
hydrothermal system, thus generating deep hypogene
oxidation, as proposed by Brimhall (1980).
The total resource inventory for the Colquijirca mining dis-
trict is estimated to be about 2 Mt of contained Cu with 3
Moz of Au at Marcapunta, surrounded by 9 Mt of Zn and 300
Moz Ag in San Gregorio and Colquijirca. Often, as recog-
nized by McLaughlin (1939), the magnitude of mining dis-
tricts is only appreciated after decades of research and explo-
ration. The major precious metal-bearing Cu and Zn deposits
of Marcapunta and San Gregorio, respectively, would be de-
fined as giants using the criteria of Singer (1995), and the dis-
trict remains open for the discovery of new orebodies and de-
posit extension.
Acknowledgments
Sociedad Minera “El Brocal” S.A.A. is gratefully acknowl-
edged for permission to publish and for the continued sup-
port provided by its Board of Directors and General Manager,
Ysaac Cruz. El Brocal geologists Iván Monteagudo, Carlos
Yacila, and Marco Panez, together with Mario Rosas and
Juan Carlos Sarmiento of Compañía de Minas Buenaventura
S.A.A., comprise the exploration team and are recognized for
their combined efforts in the mapping, logging, sampling, and
information processing during this fascinating discovery.
An original draft was reviewed and much improved by Noel
White and Steve Turner, while a later version was edited by
José Perello and Richard Sillitoe.We thank them all for their
constructive editorial suggestions, which turned a draft con-
tribution into a readable paper.
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