BULLETIN OF THE SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS

Vol. 111 August No. 5

Discovery, Geology, and Origin of the Fruta del Norte Epithermal Gold-Silver Deposit,
Southeastern Ecuador*
Stephen Leary,1 Richard H. Sillitoe,2,† Peter W. Stewart,3 Karl J. Roa,4 and Benjamin E. Nicolson5
1 219a Mount Aspiring Road, Wanaka 9343, New Zealand
2 27 West Hill Park, Highgate Village, London N6 6ND, England
3 The Valley Geological Services Inc., 83 South St. West, Dundas, Ontario L9H 4C7, Canada
4 Glenvar, Cross Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland
5 Geological Survey of South Australia, Level 4, 101 Grenfell St, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia

Abstract
Fruta del Norte is a completely concealed and extraordinarily well preserved epithermal gold-silver deposit
located in the remote Cordillera del Cóndor mountain ranges of southeastern Ecuador. Currently defined
resources in a single, steep, relatively small body, displaying exceptional grade continuity, contain 9.81 million
ounces (Moz) of gold and 15.0 Moz of silver, with an indicated resource grade of 9.59 g/t Au and 12.9 g/t Ag.
The deposit was discovered in early 2006 during a greenfields program conducted by Aurelian Resources,
a Canadian junior explorer. Discovery resulted from systematic drill testing of a conceptual geologic model,
which predicted that auriferous veins would be present in andesitic volcanic rocks inferred to underlie a steep
silicified rib cutting a fluvial conglomerate sequence. The rib is highly anomalous in arsenic, antimony, and
mercury but contains low-order gold values. The second drill test—the discovery hole—intersected >230 m of
ore-grade gold-silver mineralization beneath ~200 m of the barren conglomerate cover.
The host andesitic volcanic rocks, crosscutting feldspar porphyry, and associated phreatic breccias are
assigned to the Piuntza unit of the Santiago Formation, which, along with the Zamora batholith and a series of
porphyry copper stocks, was generated in a continental margin magmatic arc during the Middle to Late Juras-
sic. The deposit is located near the northeastern extremity of the ~10-km-long, Suárez pull-apart basin where
it is linked to the steep West and Central faults, part of the regionally extensive Las Peñas strike-slip fault zone.
The pull-apart basin was progressively filled by fluviatile conglomerate, dacitic ignimbrite flows, finer grained
siliciclastic sedimentary rocks, and, finally, andesite flows, all assigned to the Chapiza Formation.
The Fruta del Norte deposit consists of a 1.3-km-long and up to >300-m-wide vein-stockwork associated
with quartz-illite-pyrite alteration. The deposit comprises two principal vein types, one in the south dominated
by quartz, manganoan carbonates, and abundant base metal sulfides and the other in the north dominated by
manganese- and base metal-poor quartz and calcite. Adularia is a minor main-stage gangue mineral in each.
Both types are abruptly transitional upward and westward to a third ore type marked by intense silicification and
chalcedony veining, with disseminated and veinlet marcasite (±pyrite). The uppermost part of this silicic zone
is sulfide deficient, probably the result of a short-lived supergene oxidation event prior to initial conglomerate
deposition. The deposit is notable for the widespread occurrence of fine to coarse visible gold, which gives rise
to bonanza grades and is closely associated with quartz, chalcedony, carbonate, and sulfide gangue.
The sulfide-free, silicic zone is overlain by an extensive silica sinter horizon, which may either directly overlie
the Piuntza volcanic rocks and/or occur as interbeds in the basal 20 m of the conglomerate, which are invariably
silicified and marcasite bearing. Otherwise, the conglomerate above the orebody lacks silicification, with one
critical exception: the steeply inclined zone that is exposed as the silicified rib that led to discovery. The sinter
horizon, containing localized mud-pool deposits and hydrothermal eruption breccias, is in unusual proximity to
the underlying gold-silver orebody.
The northern and southern parts of the Fruta del Norte deposit possess characteristics that are usually con-
sidered typical of low and intermediate sulfidation epithermal deposits, respectively; they may have required
two discrete mineralizing fluids, both of which are suspected to have ascended via the West and Central faults.

† Corresponding author: e-mail, steve.leary01@gmail.com

*A data repository for this paper is available at http://economicgeology.org/ and at http://econgeol.geoscienceworld.org/.

©2016 by Economic Geology, Vol. 111, pp. 1043–1072 Submitted: November 14, 2015
0361-0128/16/4410/1043-30 1043 Accepted: March 14, 2016
1044 LEARY ET AL.

The upward change to the silicified zone is attributed to cooling of the ascendant fluid on approach to the paleo-
surface sinter. Progressive burial of the deposit beneath the Suárez basin fill may have contributed to the sup-
pression and eventual extinction of the epithermal system, with gold mineralization of the conglomerate being
inhibited by rheologic and chemical factors. Formation of the Fruta del Norte deposit and complete filling of
the Suárez basin took place in >3 to 6 m.y. during the Late Jurassic (<160 to >157–154 Ma).

Introduction
A 90ºW
Cocos Plate 80ºW
South American Plate
The Fruta del Norte deposit is a major high-grade, bulk-mine-
able epithermal gold-silver vein-stockwork system located in 0º
the remote, jungle-covered Cordillera del Cóndor mountain Carnegie Ridge Ecuador
range in the Andes of southeastern Ecuador, 6 km from the
Galápagos
border with Peru (Fig. 1). With an indicated resource of 23.5 7 cm/yr Area
million metric tons (Mt) averaging 9.59 g/t Au and 12.9 g/t Ag B enlarged
(at a cutoff grade of 3.4 g/t Au) and total contained endow- Nazca Plate
ment in all categories of 9.81 million ounces (Moz) of gold 5ºS
and 15.0 Moz of silver (Evans et al., 2014), the deposit is one
Subduction zone
of the premier gold discoveries of the last 50 years.
Fracture zone
Besides its obvious economic pedigree, Fruta del Norte is
also noteworthy for its high degree of preservation and antiq-
uity, the mineralization being Jurassic in age. While several B 78.5ºW
+ Epithermal Au deposit
+
vein-type epithermal gold deposits, including Hishikari, Japan 3ºS +
+ Skarn Au deposit
(Izawa et al., 1993), Ivanhoe, Nevada (Bartlett et al., 1991), SL< + +
and McLaughlin, California (Lehrman, 1986; Gustafson, Trias. Jurassic Cretaceous + <+Porphyry
+ Cu-Au+
or Cu-Mo deposit
+ +
1991), have suffered little erosion and retain remnants of Sedimentary and
volcanic rocks
paleosurface features (e.g., hot-spring sinter, hydrothermal + W< + +
eruption breccias, mud pools, steam-heated alteration zones; ~~~~~~ SC <
+ + + +
see Sillitoe, 2015), the Fruta del Norte deposit is uniquely Zamora batholith
+
P<
preserved in its entirety because of progressive synhydrother- + + + + +

belt
Ecuador Perú
mal burial and the fact that it has yet to be unroofed. Although v Piuntza unit + + + + +
v
most epithermal deposits are Cenozoic in age, a few apprecia-

pper
Paleo Metamorphic and + + +
bly older, chiefly Mesozoic examples are also known (Kesler -zoic sedimentary rocks +
+ +
ui co
and Wilkinson, 2009). However, of these, only Brucejack in Major fault +
British Columbia, Canada (Board and McNaughton, 2013) +
Thrust fault + +
+
Pang
and Balei in Siberia, Russia (Spiridonov et al., 2010) match + + +
Fruta del Norte’s total gold endowment. +
This paper begins by summarizing the events and exploration +
+Fig. 5 M<+
activities that led to the discovery of Fruta del Norte beneath +
>130 m of essentially barren, syn- and predominantly post- + +
mineralization volcanosedimentary cover. It then describes + + + +
zone

the regional geologic setting, followed by the deposit-scale + + +

geology based on drill sections spaced at 100-m intervals over +
the 1.3-km strike length of the deposit and 50-m intervals in + v
Fruta
+ del Norte +
v v v
+ BLP v + International
t

the high-grade core. Particular attention is paid to the well- +

faul

v border
v v
developed mineralogic, geochemical, and textural zoning that v + v + v
+
v
defines four discrete ore types, and the relationship of these + +
v
v + v
zones to immediately overlying paleosurface features. Finally, + +
Peñas

some of the key geologic elements and processes thought to 4ºS v + + v

+ + + + Perú
have been instrumental in deposit localization, metal zoning, N C
+ + + + +
+
v
+ +
Las

Fig. 1. Regional setting of the Fruta del Norte epithermal gold-silver deposit,
v + Santiago
+ v + + + basin
southern Ecuador. A. Current plate tectonic context of Ecuador, showing
the location of (B). Modified from Rosenbaum et al. (2005). B. Simplified v
+ + +
regional geology and principal mineral deposits of southeastern Ecuador + +
and contiguous Peru. Note that, for sake of clarity, the postmineralization
v + v +
Cretaceous cover has been removed from the Zamora batholith along the v v + + +
Pangui copper belt. Deposit abbreviations: BLP = Bonza-Las Peñas, C = + +
+ +
Chinapintza, M = Mirador, N = Nambija, P = Panantza, SC = San Carlos, SL
+ + + + km
= San Luis, W = Warintza. Faults taken from Eguez et al. (2003), Peruvian + + 0 10 20
geology from Quispesivana (1996) and Quispesivana and Zárate (1999), and Ecuador Perú N
Piuntza unit at Nambija from Fontboté et al. (2004). + +
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1045
and grade development are addressed. The paper amplifies
brief exploration and geologic summaries presented previ-
ously (Leary et al., 2007; Stewart and Leary, 2007, 2008).
Discovery History
Early and district-scale exploration
The gold mining history of southern Ecuador predates the
Spanish conquest, with alluvial and bedrock deposits at Nam-
bija (Fig. 1B) and elsewhere exploited first by indigenous
inhabitants and then by colonial Spaniards (Navarro Cardenas,
1986). However, there is no direct evidence for any mining
in the immediate Fruta del Norte area at that time. Modern
exploration of the region was rather limited and discontinu-
ous, partly due to a series of border disputes between Ecua-
dor and Peru, which escalated into brief wars during which
fighting was focused in the vicinity of the Fruta del Norte
project area. Only in late 1998 was a definitive peace accord
signed, allowing uninterrupted access to the border region.
Small-scale alluvial gold mining using suction dredges and
excavators began in the project area in the mid-1980s along
several small rivers south and west of Fruta del Norte. The
first hard-rock mining followed the discovery in the early
1990s of exposed gold- and silver-bearing, quartz-manganoan
carbonate veins at what subsequently became known as the
Bonza-Las Peñas and Ubewdy prospects, located 1.5 and
3 km, respectively, south of Fruta del Norte (Fig. 1B). Several
generations of artisanal miners dug trenches, pits, and short
adits and built rudimentary processing facilities to exploit the
narrow, high-grade veins at Bonza-Las Peñas, but the opera-
tions proved to be generally unprofitable. The artisanal hard-
rock activity diminished after 1996, although sporadic alluvial
and hard-rock mining continues in the area today.
The first company to conduct systematic regional and
prospect-scale exploration of the area was Minera Climax
del Ecuador, a subsidiary of Climax Mining Ltd. of Australia,
which in early 1997 began a program that included geologic
mapping, rock and soil geochemical sampling, test pitting,
trenching, and induced polarization surveying (J. Montes;
G. Van Kerkvoort and R. Harley; unpub. repts. for Climax
Mining Ltd., 1998). The gradient-array induced polarization
survey, employing a 200-m line spacing, and subsequent dia-
mond drilling were focused on Bonza-Las Peñas and other
prospects south of Fruta del Norte. Nonetheless, as the explo-
ration program progressed, Fruta del Norte and environs far-
ther north were covered by an even wider (400 m) spaced,
induced polarization survey, and creeks within the area were
prospected and mapped. The geophysical survey showed a
strong, N-trending, coincident high resistivity-high charge-
ability anomaly about 2 km north of Bonza-Las Peñas along
the projection of the Las Peñas fault zone (Figs. 1B, 2A). The
anomaly was deemed by Climax to be the top-priority target
for future drill testing. It is now known that the anomaly is
~250 m east of and not associated with the Fruta del Norte
mineralization (see below). Only weak chargeability and
resistivity anomalies were detected over the Fruta del Norte
deposit itself, and these were not considered strong enough to
represent a priority drill target. However, Climax never tested
the priority induced polarization anomaly and, because of
insufficient funding, ceased exploration in early 1999.
Initial Aurelian Resources involvement
Aurelian Resources Corporation was formed in 2001 as a pri-
vate company specifically to explore for gold and silver in the
Cordillera del Cóndor, with the program commencing once
the first concessions were granted in 2002. The La Zarza con-
cession was purchased outright from Amlatminas in late 2002
and combined with staking expanded the Condor project area
to nearly 40 concessions, totaling 95,000 hectares. Detailed
exploration commenced in 2003 after Aurelian Resources Inc.
was listed on the TSX venture exchange, thereby securing the
necessary financing.
From 2003 through late 2005, Aurelian carried out detailed
mapping, sampling, trenching, and drilling on the already-
known Bonza-Las Peñas, Ubewdy, and other prospects far-
ther south as well as completing a reconnaissance drainage
geochemical survey and prospecting over the entire Condor
project area. By 2004, the exploration effort was focused
on confirming and expanding the mineralization outlined
by Climax at Bonza-Las Peñas where the surface extent of
epithermal mineralization appeared to be largest. Aurelian
drilled 28 diamond holes, which, combined with trench results
and the 17 cored holes drilled previously by Climax, enabled
estimation of an inferred resource totaling 15 Mt, averaging
1.07 g/t Au and 11.6 g/t Ag for 517,100 oz of gold and 5.6 Moz
of silver (Hennessey and Puritch, 2005).
Regional geochemical sampling
Aurelian personnel first examined the Fruta del Norte area
in April 2004 during project-wide prospecting, drainage geo-
chemical sampling, and reconnaissance geologic mapping.
Several –80-mesh silt samples collected from short drainages
in the area were anomalous in arsenic and antimony, but the
maximum gold value was 28 ppb. Corresponding panned-con-
centrate samples contained a maximum of four grains of fine
gold, a disappointing result compared to samples taken else-
where during the regional program. Three grab samples of the
conglomerate, in which no alteration was recorded, reported
weak gold anomalism (up to 0.15 g/t), but were highly anoma-
lous in arsenic (up to 1,895 ppm), antimony (up to 212 ppm),
and mercury (up to 27.9 ppm).
Upon completion in November 2005, the regional drainage
geochemical program had defined 33 gold and 14 copper tar-
gets throughout the Condor project area. Fruta del Norte was
not among them because of the low-order gold anomalism
and the known fact that elevated arsenic and antimony values
are commonly associated with conglomerate that occupies a
structural basin directly west of the Las Peñas fault zone (see
below).
Implications of a geologic reinterpretation
During 2005, a program of mapping and trenching along the
Las Peñas fault zone was extended from the vein-bearing
andesite into the conglomerate in order to help define the
geologic relationship between the two: specifically the timing
of epithermal mineralization relative to conglomerate depo-
sition. Key observations from this program included: (1) the
main faults, alteration, and mineralization do not pass from
the andesite into the conglomerate; and (2) a few, centime-
ter-sized, banded chalcedony veinlets in the conglomerate
1046 LEARY ET AL.

777,500 mE 778,000 mE 778,500 mE

A B
CLIMAX IP MAP
Fruta del Norte
9,584,000 mN
CHARGEABILITY
orebody
(projected from
1200 m level)
H Drill hole

1
Chalcedonic
Discovery

CLIM
boulder train
outcrop 30 cm
9,583,500 mN

Chalcedonic
cliffs x

AX
1
Topographic
D

4
contour (10 m)

I.P.
Drainage CP-06-49

0
CP-06-50 H

T
Discovery Section 3,300N H
T
CP-06-51

TARGET
10 cm
00
9,583,000 mN

16
E F

1 6 5 0
0 250 500 m
9,582,500 mN

1
5
0
0

C CP-06-50 D
CP-06-51 B
E
CP-06-56 F
CP-06-61 CP-06-49
. . .
.
v v v v
v
v
v
v
v

v v v
v
v v

v
v

v v
v

v
East fault zone

v
v
v
v

v v v
v v
v

v
v v v
v

v
v v v
v
v

v
West fault

10 cm 25 cm
v

v v
v
v

v v v
v v v v
v v v v
v
v
v v
v
v

v v v
v
v
v
v
v

v
v
v v
212.9 m
G
v

v
v
v v v
v v
v

v v
v

v v v
v
v v
v v v
v
v
v
v

v v v
304 m
237.2

v
v
v v v v
v
v

v
v
204

v
v
v

v v v
v v v
v v
v

v v v
v

v
v v v v v

307.5 m v
.80 v

v v v
5m @

v v
v

v v v
v
100 m
v

v v v v v
v

v
v
m@

Jurassic Cret.

v v
v v
v

v v
v v
v
G
v
Hollín Fm.
v v
v
v v v v
v
v

v v v
v
v v
4.14g

v v v
v
v
8.4

v v v
v v
v

v
v
v
v
Sinter horizon
v v
0g/

v
v
v

v v v v
v

v v v v
v v
v

v
v v v
v v
10 mm
v
/t Au

v v v v v
Chapiza Fm.
tA

v v v
v
v v
v
v v
v

v
v

v
v
v

0
v v v
v
v v v
u

v v
v

v v v
v v v
vv
v v v
v
v
432.5 m Piuntza unit v
v
v
1

100 m v
v v v v
v
v
v

v v
462.8 m
v v v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v

v v
v

Fig. 2. Selected exploration and discovery features of the Fruta del Norte gold-silver deposit, southeastern Ecuador. A. Map
showing surface projection of the Fruta del Norte deposit, with respect to the chargeability anomaly defined previously by
Climax Mining Ltd. Chalcedonic rib, float boulder trains, and key drill holes are also shown (see text for details). Note that
the Fruta del Norte deposit is not responsible for the chargeability high. B. Typical conglomerate float boulder replaced by
chalcedony from drainages shown in (A). Pencil for scale. C. Discovery section of Fruta del Norte deposit, showing key drill
holes and gold intercepts (see text for details). D. Silicified conglomerate cut by drill hole CP-06-50, showing conspicuous
iron sulfide impregnation (dark gray). E. Colloform-banded quartz vein clast in conglomerate cut by drill hole CP-06-50.
F. Finely laminated silica sinter cut by drill hole CP-06-50. G. Visible gold in quartz-carbonate vein cut by discovery drill hole
CP-06-51. Bars on right side are 1 mm apart.
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1047

appear to have formed at a shallower epithermal level than
the galena- and sphalerite-bearing, quartz-carbonate veins in
the andesite.
By late 2005, the exploration team concluded that structural
localization of the conglomerate-filled basin and epithermal
veins were linked but, critically, that the conglomerate was
deposited after rather than before the main gold-silver miner-
alization. However, the team further concluded that mineral-
izing fluids must have continued to flow after conglomerate
deposition (Leary et al., 2007). The major implication of this
new interpretation was that epithermal gold-silver deposits
could have formed within dilational structures buried beneath
the conglomerate. Given the limited exploration budget, the
challenge was to explore for concealed deposits that may well
lack obvious surface expressions.
Follow-up prospecting, mapping, and sampling
En route to inspect a neighboring prospect in October 2005,
a conglomerate exposure at Fruta del Norte that had been
sampled in the regional program was again traversed but, sig-
nificantly, this time it was observed to be partially silicified (J.
Soto, unpub. rept. for Aurelian Resources Inc., 2005). In situ
and float samples were collected, both returning anomalous
arsenic, antimony, and mercury values but, again, only low-
order gold (max 70 ppb).
Realizing that the reported silicification implied hydrother-
mal alteration of the conglomerate, one of us (SL) revisited
the area in January 2006. While traversing a small stream just
south of the conglomerate exposure, numerous white, sili-
ceous boulders, 2 to 3 m in size, had to be clambered over.
On closer inspection, the boulders were found to comprise
conglomerate, impregnated by chalcedony, locally crackle
brecciated, and cut by weakly colloform-banded chalcedony
veinlets. Fine-grained, black iron sulfide aggregates were vis-
ible beneath the nondescript, whitish outer weathered rind
(Fig. 2B). The epithermal affinity of the minerals and textures
was immediately appreciated, and the subsequent assays con-
firmed the anticipated arsenic, antimony, and mercury anom-
alism but also included gold values up to 1.92 g/t.
Geologic mapping of the Fruta del Norte area began
immediately and the silicified conglomerate float boulders
were traced upstream to their source in two creeks to reveal a
series of N-striking, silicified exposures, with ~200 m of strike,
characterized by steeply W-dipping fractures (Fig. 2A). The
original outcrop sampled during the regional program and
again by J. Soto was at the northernmost end of the trend,
where the alteration was relatively subtle compared to that of
the main silicified exposures obscured by dense jungle farther
south. Samples again repeated the highly anomalous arse-
nic (100–2,000 ppm), antimony (20–200 ppm), and mercury
(2–30 ppm) values, but did not return >0.33 g/t Au.
Taking into account the then current epithermal model
(e.g., Hedenquist et al., 1996), it was thought that the com-
bination of elevated epithermal trace element contents,
low-order gold values, and low temperatures implied by the
chalcedony could indicate that the silicification represents
late-stage upward leakage of hydrothermal fluid into the con-
glomerate. Consequently, it could be indicative of concealed
gold-silver mineralization in the subjacent andesite (Leary et
al., 2007; Fig. 3).

. .
B-LP STRUCTURE - IP ANOMALY OCCUPIES THE
{

CHALCEDONIC QTZ IN SAME STRUCTURAL LOCATION

CONGLOMERATE INTENSE QTZ RELATIVE TO THE SUAREZ
(As, Sb, Hg, weak Au, Ag). STWK IN PULL-APART BASIN AS AT
LATE PULSE ABOVE SILICIFIED AMN, UBEWDY & B-LP.
BURIED MINERALIZATION? VOLCANICS

Shale HOLLÍN
1
MACHINAZA 2
RIVER
Suarez
Congl ? ? ?
Fault?

? ?
Volcanic Volcanic

m
0
15 0
m
20
CHARGEBILITY
RESISTIVITY

HIGH
HIGH

0 100 200 m
WEST EAST

Fig. 3. Reproduction of the conceptual sketch prepared for Aurelian management to justify drill testing of the concealed
epithermal vein target beneath conglomerate cover and the Climax geophysical anomaly. AMN = Aguas Mesas Norte, B-LP
= Bonza-Las Peñas.
1048 LEARY ET AL.
Drill testing
The decision was taken to drill test both Climax’s coincident
chargeability-resistivity anomaly east of Fruta del Norte and
the hypothesized epithermal mineralization beneath the
silicified conglomerate rib (Fig. 3). In late January 2006, a
man-portable rig was hauled 2 km over a sandstone mesa
on a steep, rugged trail, first to the geophysical target, the
more accessible of the two, but a task that nonetheless took
seven days. The 213-m, inclined hole drilled to investigate the
resistivity-chargeability anomaly (CP-06-49; Figs. 2A, C, 3)
cut pyritized andesitic rocks with scattered centimeter-scale
chalcedony veinlets and pyritic and siliceous breccia over the
final 70 m and readily explained the geophysical anomaly.
Subsequent assays revealed the suspected weak tenor of gold
mineralization, with maximum values of 1.23 g/t over 2 m and
0.22 g/t over 24 m.
The second hole (CP-06-50; Figs. 2A, C, 3) was collared
250 m west of the first to drill beneath the silicified con-
glomerate exposures. The inclined hole intersected silicified
conglomerate beneath the silicified rib (Fig. 2D), between
50- and 80-m depth, which was both preceded and succeeded
by nonsilicified conglomerate. The conglomerate was thicker
than expected but silicification increased strongly in intensity
at about 188 m, followed by suspected silica sinter at down-
hole depths of 195 to 215 m (Fig. 2F). The hole then entered
weakly mineralized andesite, similar to that in CP-06-49, and
returned a best assay of 1.15 g/t Au over 2.5 m. The suspected
sinter horizon suggested the possibility that a hydrothermal
paleosurface was present at the base of the conglomerate,
and an epithermal vein clast (Fig. 2E) intersected in con-
glomerate, ~25 m above the base of the sequence, provided
unambiguous evidence for preconglomerate epithermal min-
eralization at least somewhere in the catchment of the basin.
The initial observations were sufficiently encouraging to
drill a steeper hole (CP-06-51; Fig. 2A, C) from the same
platform: the aim being to penetrate the top of the underlying
andesite vertically beneath the steep, silicified zone. The hole
was successful as it cut tens of meters of moderately silicified
conglomerate before, at ~200 m, entering intensely silicified
andesite with epithermal veining, brecciation, and local visible
gold (Fig. 2G). This discovery intersection averaged 4.14 g/t
Au and 8.5 g/t Ag over 237.2 m (Fig. 2C; 0.5 g/t Au lower
cutoff, up to 3 m of dilution; Aurelian Resources Inc., press
release, 5 April 2006), far superior to anything that could have
been realistically predicted.
The results of discovery hole 51 were followed by additional
wide intervals of epithermal mineralization in subsequent
holes (e.g., Fig. 2C), and Aurelian was able to arrange suf-
ficient financing to rapidly advance the project. Road con-
struction to the camp and project area allowed introduction
of larger skid- and track-mounted rigs in November 2006
to complement two man-portable rigs. Exploratory drilling
on 100-m-spaced sections rapidly demonstrated continuity
of the mineralization along strike to the north and south of
hole 51 on section line 3300mN. After drilling 48,000 m in 88
holes in less than two years, a continuous body of mineraliza-
tion, containing an inferred resource of >13 Moz, compris-
ing 58.9 Mt grading 7.23 g/t Au and 11 g/t Ag, was estimated
(using a cutoff grade 2.3 g/t Au equiv; Hennessey et al., 2007).
Exploration at Fruta del Norte ceased in April 2008 due to a
national moratorium on exploration and mine development
activities imposed by the Ecuadorian government. By that
time, Aurelian had completed 84,000 m of core drilling in 166
holes at Fruta del Norte.
Kinross and Lundin acquisitions
Kinross Gold Corporation acquired Aurelian Resources Inc.
in September 2008 for US$1.2 billion and, once the mora-
torium was lifted and other permitting issues resolved, work
at Fruta del Norte resumed in 2009. Prefeasibility and fea-
sibility studies and the first 600 m of a decline to access the
orebody were completed but, because of failure to negotiate
mutually acceptable exploitation and investment protection
agreements with the Ecuadorian government, Kinross halted
project development in June 2013.
In December 2014, Kinross sold the Fruta del Norte
deposit to Fortress Minerals Corp., a member of the Lundin
Group, for US$240 million. The company, rebranded as Lun-
din Gold Inc., plans to complete feasibility studies for a bulk
underground mine and gravity, flotation, and tailings leach
facility during 2016.
Regional Setting
Subandean geology
The Cordillera del Cóndor and Fruta del Norte deposits are
located in the Subandean zone, the geologic domain that
underlies the eastern foothills of the Andes and is the site
of the Miocene to Recent foreland fold-thrust belt (Pindell
and Tabbutt, 1995; Benavides-Cáceres, 1999; Ramos, 1999).
The Subandean zone is flanked westward by Paleozoic and
Mesozoic metamorphic belts of the Cordillera Real (Fig. 4;
Eastern Cordillera in Peru), widely considered as a series of
fault-bounded, accreted terranes (Aspden and Litherland,
1992; Litherland et al., 1994).
The Subandean zone, underpinned by Neoproterozoic and
Paleozoic basement, was a site of rifting during the Permo-
Triassic, when red-bed sedimentary and alkaline volcanic
rocks of the Mitu Group accumulated (Balkwill et al., 1995;
Chew et al., 2007). A carbonate platform developed across the
rifted terrane in the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic, giving rise
to the Pucará Group in central and northern Peru (Benavides-
Cáceres, 1999; León et al., 2000; Rosas et al., 2007) and strati-
graphically equivalent Santiago Formation in southeastern
Ecuador (Tschopp, 1953; Geyer, 1974; Figs. 4, 5).
A Jurassic calc-alkaline magmatic arc developed from
Colombia, through Ecuador, and into northern Peru, which
includes andesite-dominated volcanic sequences assigned to
the Misahuallí Formation in Ecuador (Litherland et al., 1994)
and Colan (Jaillard, 1997) or Oyotún (León et al., 2000) For-
mation in northern Peru, along with a series of batholithic and
smaller intrusions. The arc volcanic-dominated sequences are
considered partially equivalent to the Chapiza Formation,
a continental redbed package deposited farther east (Jail-
lard, 1997). A regional unconformity separates the Jurassic
arc (batholith and volcanic sequences) and Chapiza Forma-
tion from the shallowly dipping, fluvial quartz sandstone of
the Early Cretaceous Hollín Formation (Figs. 4, 5), which,
in turn, is unconformably overlain by shale and limestone of
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1049

WEST EAST
Cordillera Real Cordillera del Cóndor
3000 Pull-apart 3000
Rio Zamora basin Ecuador Perú
meters

2000 v v
v
v 2000

v v

v v
v v

v
+

v
v v v v

+
v v

v
v
1000

v v
v
1000
+ + +
v v v v
+
v v

v
+

v
v

v
v

+
v

v
v
vv

v
v
v

v
+ v v

v
v

v v

v
v

v
+ v

v
+ +

v
+ v + + ++
v
+
0 ++ v +
0
+ + + +
v

v
+ + Nangari +
+ + v + +

v
++ + v +
+ ++ + + + ++ + +++

v
tza thru

v
v
+ + + + + v
+ ++ +
++ + + + ++++ +
+
-1000 + + +++ (Pos st -1000
v
+ +
+ + + ++ + + + + + t-Cretace
+ + +
+ + ++++ + + + + + + ++ +
+
+ ++++ + + + + +++ + + +
+ + + + + + + ++++ + + + + + + + + + ous)
+ +

v
0 5 10 km
Hollín Formation Location of section
~~~~~~ in Fig. 5.
Chapiza Formation + + Zamora batholith
v
v

Piuntza unit Pucará Group Paleozoic metamorphic rocks

v

v
v

v v

Fig. 4. Schematic crustal-scale geologic section across the Cordillera Real and Cordillera del Cóndor. The approximate posi-
tion of the eastern part of the section line is shown in Figure 5. Surface position of Nangaritza fault from Eguez et al. (2003).
Vertical exaggeration ×2.

the Napo Formation (Tschopp, 1953). The Hollín and Napo is not intruded by the Zamora batholith and is therefore
Formations extend eastward beneath Cenozoic sedimentary assigned to the regionally defined Chapiza Formation (Table
strata of the Santiago basin (Fig. 1B), part of the greater 1). Massive andesite that locally overlies the northern end
hydrocarbon-bearing Oriente basin (Jaillard, 1997). of the basin, informally named Fruta andesite (Stewart and
Leary, 2007, 2008), is dated at ~157 to 154 Ma (see below)
Cordillera del Cóndor geology and considered as the expression of Misahuallí andesitic vol-
In the Cordillera del Cóndor, the main expression of the canism within the pendant (Table 1).
Mesozoic arc magmatism is the >200-km-long, NNE-trend- The Suárez basin is bounded to the east and west by over-
ing Zamora batholith, which comprises I-type plutons of pre- lapped strands of the >80-km-long Las Peñas fault zone (Fig.
dominantly granodioritic to dioritic composition (Litherland 5), a brittle, trench-linked, strike-slip deformation zone (cf.
et al., 1994; Fig. 1B). Isotopic (K-Ar, Rb-Sr) dating yielded Woodcock and Daly, 1986; Mann, 2007). The spatial relation-
preferred ages of ~190 to 170 Ma for main-stage batho- ships of the basin to the fault zone and coarse-grained nature
lith emplacement (Litherland et al., 1994) although several of much of the contained clastic strata are inferred to reflect
younger ages, including 163.8 Ma (U-Pb, zircon; Drobe et al., localized deposition in a pull-apart basin created as a result of
2013), were reported recently. Felsic porphyry stocks that cut extension between fault strands during transpressive displace-
the batholith in several places have U-Pb zircon ages from ment (as first proposed by D. Shatwell, in G. Van Kerkvoort
~157 to 145 Ma (Chiaradia et al., 2009; Drobe et al., 2013). and R. Harley, unpub. report for Climax Mining Ltd., 1998).
Areally extensive roof pendants of shallowly dipping, meta- The Suárez volcanosedimentary basin and underlying
morphosed volcanosedimentary rocks within the batholith, Piuntza volcanic rocks, the latter hosting the Fruta del Norte
some extensively altered to skarn, are assigned to the Late gold-silver deposit, are unconformably overlain by flat-lying,
Triassic Piuntza unit of the Santiago Formation (Litherland cross-bedded, quartz sandstone of the Early Cretaceous Hol-
et al., 1992, 1994; Fig. 1B). Litherland et al. (1994) assigned lín Formation (Figs. 4, 5; Table 1). This sequence, up to 130 m
all other calc-alkaline, intermediate-composition volcanic thick at Fruta del Norte, was deposited under fluvial to shal-
rocks in and adjacent to the Zamora batholith to the Misa- low-marine conditions from both eastern and western sources
huallí unit of the Chapiza Formation. However, Drobe et al. (White et al., 1995; Shanmugam et al., 2000); however, the
(2013) argued for division of the widespread Misahuallí vol- predominantly westerly sediment source extant today did not
canic rocks on the basis of whether they are intruded by or originate until the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene, coincident
unconformably overlie the Zamora batholith. Those intruded with initial deformation, uplift, and exhumation of the Cordil-
by batholith phases were assigned to an expanded Piuntza lera Real in response to terrane accretion on the western cra-
unit of the Santiago Formation and the latter to the Misahuallí ton margin (Ruiz et al., 2007; Martin-Gombojav and Winkler,
unit of the Chapiza Formation. This stratigraphic convention 2008). The collisional orogeny is reflected throughout the
is followed here (Table 1). Subandean zone by numerous reset K-Ar and 40Ar/39Ar ages
A belt of mainly andesitic volcanic rocks forms a N-trending ranging from 75 to 56 Ma (Litherland et al., 1994; Spikings et
pendant, ~25 km long, within the batholith in the Fruta del al., 2001, 2010; Chiaradia et al., 2009), including several for
Norte area; these are intruded by the batholith and typically vein adularia from the Fruta del Norte deposit (P.W. Stewart
display chlorite-calcite-albite assemblages, suggestive of low- and T.D. Ullrich, unpub. data).
grade metamorphism and/or propylitic alteration (Figs. 1B,
4, 5). Hence, these volcanic rocks, at least 1,000 m thick in Metallogeny
the deepest drill hole at Fruta del Norte, are assigned to the The principal ore deposits and prospects in the Subandean
Piuntza unit. The northern extremity of the volcanic pendant zone of southeastern Ecuador are hosted by the Zamora
is unconformably overlain by a coarse, siliciclastic, volcanosed- batholith and its volcanosedimentary roof pendants. The
imentary sequence that defines the localized, fault-bounded deposits and prospects are mostly of Late Jurassic age (Gen-
Suárez basin (Figs. 4, 5). This unmetamorphosed sequence dall et al., 2000; Fontboté et al., 2004; Chiaradia et al., 2009)
1050 LEARY ET AL.

+ 770,000 mE + 780,000 mE + + 790,000 mE and form part of a metallogenic belt extending from southern
+ Rio Zamora + Colombia to northern Peru (Sillitoe et al., 1982; Sillitoe and
+ Perelló, 2005; Chiaradia et al., 2009). The majority are either
+ Alluvial sediments/ + Mirador

+
talus/slides + + <+ Norte + porphyry copper or skarn gold/copper type and related to
small felsic porphyry stocks (Gendall et al., 2000; Prodeminca,
Hollín Formation + + +
+ 2000; Fontboté et al., 2004; Chiaradia et al., 2009; Drobe et
v
v
Chinapintza Group
+
<+ + al., 2013), the most notable exception being the Fruta del
v

+ Mirador
v

+
v

+ + + + Norte epithermal vein-stockwork system. Fruta del Norte is

Chapiza Formation
situated near the southern end of the 150-km-long, Pangui (or
9,600,000 mN

+ + +
Piuntza unit/ Zamora) porphyry copper belt (Gendall et al., 2000; Drobe et
++
v
v
+ +
v

Oyotun Formation + al., 2013; Fig. 1B). However, weakly developed porphyry cop-
v
v

Ecuador Perú
+ Zamora batholith + + per mineralization is also present near, but unrelated to the
+
+ Santiago Formation/
+ + + Fruta del Norte deposit, as well as farther south in the Piuntza
Pucará Group+ pendant. Deposits in the Pangui porphyry copper belt were
+ +
Fault Drainage + formed from 158 to 153 Ma (Gendall et al., 2000; Chiaradia
+ + et al., 2009; Drobe et al., 2013), whereas molybdenite from
a + +
za

or +
9,590,000 mN

am + porphyry copper-style mineralization 600 m west of Bonza-

Rio Machina

t
Tjsf

Z
Ri
o + ul + Las Peñas was dated by the Re-Os method at 169 ± 1 Ma,
+ +o fa
c + ~10 m.y. older than the Fruta del Norte epithermal deposit
+ + + (<160–>157–154 Ma; see below).
n
Bla

+ + Ecuador Perú
+ + The main skarn gold deposits, in the Nambija district
o
Rí

v
+ (Figs. 1B, 5), are younger than both the dated porphyry cop-
+ Fruta
+ del Norte
+ +
+ + per deposits and Fruta del Norte epithermal deposit, being
+ +
.
.

Pull-apart basin
v
Bonza-Las Peñas
+ formed at ~145 Ma (Fontboté et al., 2004; Chiaradia et al.,
v

+
9,580,000 mN

+ +
. È Ubewdy 2009). The auriferous epithermal quartz veins farther south
v

+
Aguas Mesas Norte
v

È Aguas at Chinapintza (Fig. 1B) were considered to be Jurassic by

v

+Part of crustal section + Mesas Sur

È Gemuts et al. (1992), although newer geologic and isotopic
.

v
+ +
v

+ in Fig. 4 + +
.

evidence suggests that they are also younger (Prodeminca,

v

+ Puente-Princesa È +
v
2000; Drobe et al., 2013; R.H. Sillitoe, unpub. data, 2009).
v v

+
v

È Barbascov
v

+ + + +
v

+
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

Deposit-Scale Geology
ev

+ + + +
v
v
v

v
zon
v
9,570,000 mN

+ +
v

+ + Rock types, distribution, and ages

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v

+ + + +
v
v

s fault

Partial erosion of the Early Cretaceous Hollín Formation

v

v
v
v

v
v

+
v

+ + +
v
in the general vicinity of Fruta del Norte exposed mainly
v v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
È Emperador
v
Lasv vPevña

+ + medium- to coarse-grained granodiorite, tonalite, and diorite

v

+ +
v v

È
v v
v

v
v
v

of the Zamora batholith plus most of the Piuntza roof pendant

v
v

+
v

+ + + +
v

v
v
v
v

and Suárez basin fill. However, an elongate, 1-km-wide out-

v

v
v
v
v

v
v

+ + +
v

lier of the Hollín quartz sandstone parallels and swings west

v v v

v
v
v

+
v

v
v
v
v

v
+ +
v

across the Las Peñas fault zone north of Bonza-Las Peñas

9,560,000 mN

v
v

v v
v

v
v

v
(Fig. 5), increasing the thickness of postmineralization cover
v

+ + + + + +
v
v

v v v

v
v

Ecuador Perú MINERALIZATION

v
v

+ over the southern portion of the Fruta del Norte deposit.

+ + +
v v
v

v
Epithermal Au-Ag
Epithermal Au-Ag The Bonza-Las Peñas deposit, altered andesite host, and
v

v
v

v v

+ + + + + deposits
deposit
v

overlying Suárez conglomerate are exposed just south of a

v v
v
v

<
v
v

Porphyry Cu-Au
Porphyry Cu-Au
v

+ +
v
v

+ Hollín-capped mesa. The Suárez basin forms a N-trending

v
v v

v
v deposits
deposit v
v
v

v
v

+ sequence, ~10 km long and 2 km wide, that parallels the

v

v
+È + + È Epithermal prospect
v

ÈÈ
v
9,550,000 mN

v
v
v
v
v

Las Peñas fault zone, thickens to the west, and disappears

v

v
v

+
v

v
v

Chinapintza
v

v
0 5 –0 kmv
v v v

by thinning to the south. The underlying pendant of Piuntza

+ N +
v

+ +
v
v
v
v

volcanic rocks widens to >8 km to the south before disappear-

v

v v
v
v

v
v

ing (based on available mapping) near the Peruvian border,

v

Fig. 5. Regional geologic map of the Cordillera del Cóndor, showing the set- <10 km north of Chinapintza (Figs. 1B, 5).
ting of the Fruta del Norte deposit and Suárez pull-apart basin in relationship As the Fruta del Norte deposit is not exposed, the following
to the Las Peñas fault zone. Note the location of Mirador, the southernmost
porphyry copper deposit in the Pangui belt. Mapping by Aurelian Resources description is based primarily on observation and interpreta-
Inc., with supplemental data from Litherland et al. (1994), Quispesivana tion of diamond drill core. The deposit is hosted by Piuntza
(1996), Quispesivana and Zárate (1999), Eguez et al. (2003), and Corriente (formerly designated Misahuallí) volcanic rocks, composed of
Resources (unpub. data). typically fine-grained and hornblende-phyric, basaltic andes-
ite to andesite flows and crosscutting bodies of feldspar por-
phyry and hydrothermal breccia (Figs. 6, 7; Table 1). The
medium-grained, hornblende-bearing feldspar porphyry,
likewise mainly andesitic in composition, clearly intrudes the
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1051

Table 1. Stratigraphic Chart for the Fruta del Norte Area, Cordillera del Cóndor, Southeastern Ecuador

Age Formation Unit Thickness (m) Description

Early Cretaceous Hollín Upper sandstone >60 Quartz sandstone; white with variable yellow-brown, pink, and
  red-brown iron staining
Middle ≈20 Gray to black mudstone and siltstone, minor quartz sandstone
Lower sandstone ≈25 Quartz sandstone and minor pebble sandstone; white with
  variable yellow-brown and red-brown iron staining; thin
  (cm-scale) seams of carbon near base; may include gray mud
  overlying paleosol
Unconformity
Middle to Chapiza Fruta ≈250 Massive, green to green-gray, fine-grained to feldspar-hornblende
Late Jurassic (Suárez basin)   porphyritic andesite; minor fragmental intervals; equivalent to
  Misahuallí member
Upper mixed sequence ≈250 Interbedded (dm- to m-scale) mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, and
  conglomerate; lower contact is defined where conglomerate
  beds become subordinate to finer grained strata
Machinaza tuff ≈20 Red-brown to grayish to whitish dacitic tuff, very fine-grained with
  feldspar (minor hornblende and quartz) phenocrysts (<5mm)—
  considered as ignimbrite; two or more horizons interbedded
  exclusively in lower conglomerate
Lower conglomerate ≈220 Massively bedded, immature (rounding, size, and composition of
  clasts), polylithic conglomerate; matrix- to clast-supported; clasts
  (up to 1 m core lengths) of andesite, andesite porphyry,
  granitoid, black mudstone, and uncommon epithermal quartz
  vein and silica sinter; minor sandstone interbeds; host to
  Machinaza tuff and, locally, sinter
Early to Santiago (Piuntza: Upper tuffaceous <50? Very fine- to fine-grained, aphanitic to phenocryst poor; poorly
Middle Jurassic arc volcanics)   sorted, fragmental textures common; variable light-gray and
  brown color due to hydrothermal alteration; includes silica
  sinter; host to zones FDN2 and FDN3
Andesite >1 km? Green, massive, aphanitic to feldspar-hornblende porphyritic
  andesite; includes volcanic breccia; typically propylitic altered,
  but strongly silica-illite-pyrite altered where principal host to
  zone FDN1

volcanic rocks, with the largest body constituting the footwall
to the northern part of the Fruta del Norte deposit. The feld-
spar porphyry, clearly premineralization in timing and inter-
preted as either a subvolcanic stock or cryptodome, returned
a Late Jurassic U-Pb zircon age of 160.1 ± 0.2 Ma (see Data
Repository).
The porphyry and, less commonly, andesitic volcanic rocks
are cut by steep, tabular, splaying hydrothermal breccia zones,
up to 30 m wide, which are gradational outward to fractured
rock (Figs. 6, 7). The breccia contains white to pale-gray,
argillized, subrounded to subangular, centimeter-sized clasts
of porphyry and/or andesite supported by darker gray, finer
grained, variably silica-clay-pyrite ± carbonate-altered, rock
flour matrix (Fig. 8C). These commonly monomictic breccias,
apparently devoid of juvenile magmatic material, are inter-
preted to be phreatic in origin (cf. Sillitoe, 1985). They are
most abundant in the high-grade core of the deposit along
the southwestern margin of and cutting the northern feldspar
porphyry body, where they have a complex geometry (Figs.
6, 7). Locally observed, centimeter- to decimeter-scale band-
ing, defined by steep clast alignment and matrix lamination, is
ascribed to upward streaming during the fragmentation pro-
cess. The phreatic breccia is typically devoid of vein clasts—
implying premineralization formation—as well as crosscutting
veins, although vein development does seem to be favored in
the high-grade core of the deposit at and near breccia-wall
rock contacts.
Tectonic breccia at Fruta del Norte is largely confined to
steep fault structures and is readily distinguished from the
phreatic breccia (Fig. 8D, E, F). The clasts in the tectonic
breccia are derived from the adjoining tectonized rocks, which
can include quartz and carbonate veins and are supported by
a light- to dark-gray matrix that varies from soft but cohesive
and foliated, clay-rich gouge to noncohesive mud. Both these
cataclasite varieties grade into highly fractured wall rock (Fig.
8D, F).
The Piuntza volcanic rocks underwent textural obliteration
because of intense and pervasive hydrothermal alteration,
most notably in the uppermost part of the ore zone. There, the
protolith is commonly obscured and andesitic flows and brec-
cias are generally inferred. There is local textural evidence for
thinly bedded deposits that appear to include tuffaceous sedi-
mentary strata as well as massive andesite. The very top of the
Fruta del Norte deposit is marked by a distinctive hot-spring
sequence (Fig. 7; Table 1), which includes silica sinter, other
hydrothermal products, and minor associated volcaniclastic
beds, which are described in more detail below.
The volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Suárez basin are
divisible into four lithostratigraphic units, all assigned to the
Chapiza Formation (Table 1). Massively bedded, heterolithic,
poorly sorted, and matrix-supported fluvial conglomerate over-
lies altered Piuntza rocks and, where present, the sinter hori-
zon and upper tuffaceous unit (Figs. 6, 7). The Machinaza tuff
is dacitic, nonwelded ignimbrite, consisting of layers, typically
1052 LEARY ET AL.

v
v 778,100vmE v 778,300 mE 778,500 mE

v
v

v
v

v
1,200 m amsl plan

v
v
v

v
v

v
v v v v

v
v
v

v
v
lt

v
v

v v
v
v
v
v

v
v
v

fau

v
v
v v v
v v
v
v v v v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
GRID PSAD56 ZONE 17S v

We v

v
st
v v

v
v

v
v
v

v
9,583,800 mN v

v
v

v
v v v
v
v

v v

v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
LITHOLOGIES

v
v
v

v
v
v
v
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
Chapiza Formation
v

v
v

v
v

v
9,583,700 mN A

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v
(mixed)
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
Chapiza Formation
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v v
v

v
v
88

v v
88

v
(conglomerate)

v
9,583,600 mN

v v
v v v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
Chapiza Formation

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v v
(Machinaza tuff)
v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
East fault zone
v
9,583,500 mN v

v
v
Piuntza unit

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v v
v

v
v v

v
v
Hydrothermal v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v
v
v

88 87

v
v

v
9,583,400 mN B
v

v
breccia

v
v
v v
v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v v
v

v
v
v v v

v
v
v

v
v

Central fault
Feldspar porphyry

v
v
v
v

West fault
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v v

v
9,583,300 mN

v
v

v
Zamora batholith

v
+

v
v
v
v v

v
v
+

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v v
85
v
v
v
84

v
v
MINERALIZATION 9,583,200 mN C

v
v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v v
v
v

v
v

v
v

Sinter horizon

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
9,583,100 mN
v
v v
v

v
v

FDN1 Mn carbonate rich

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

Ev a v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v
v

st f
v

v
FDN2 Silicified
v
v v

v
9,583,000 mN
85 N

aul
v
v
v

v
v v

v
v
v
v

v
Quartz-chalcedony

t
v

v
v
West faultv

zon
v

v
v
Ce

FDN4 -calcite veins

v
v
v

v v

v
v

v
ntr

v
v

v
v e
Fp
9,582,900 mN
v

v
al
v
v

v
v
STRUCTURE
v

v
fau

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
lt v

85 v
84
v

Fault (with dip)

v
v v

v
v
v
v
v

9,582,800 mN D
v

v
v

v
v

v
80
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

Fault (strike slip)

v
80 v
+
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v v
v

9,582,700 mN
v

v
+
v
v

v
v
v
v

SECTION (Fig. 7)
v

Dispersion of vmineralization
v

v
v
v

v v v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v v
0 100 v 200 m
v

v
v

9,582,800 mN D v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

Fig. 6. Geologic plan of the Fruta del Norte gold-silver deposit at 1,200 m above mean sea level. The continuous and con-
tiguous distribution of the mineral zones constituting the orebody is evident. Compare with Figure 7B to see the position of
nonsulfidic zone FDN3 above this level plan and the extent of other zones, above and below the plan.

5 to 25 m thick, that define at least two marker beds in the
Suárez lower conglomerate (Figs, 6, 7). The siliciclastic com-
ponent of the Suárez basin fill fines upward from boulder and
cobble conglomerate to become dominated by finer grained
beds, volcaniclastic sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone, with
subordinate pebble conglomerate. The change from coarse
lower conglomerate to the upper mixed clastic unit is consis-
tently mappable (Figs. 6, 7). The finer grained siliciclastic beds
interdigitate with conglomerate toward the east, but do not
appear to continue as far as the East fault zone (Fig. 7). Mas-
sive, unaltered, hornblende- and feldspar-phyric Fruta andes-
ite overlies the upper mixed Suárez unit west of the West fault
(Fig. 7; Table 1). The flow unit thins and disappears to the north,
approximately coincident with the northern limit of Suárez
basin sedimentary rocks and thickens to the southern limit of
drilling (Fig. 7). The base of the andesite is characterized by
peperite, implying emplacement before consolidation of the
underlying sediments (e.g., White et al., 2000). Hornblende
from Fruta andesite is dated by the 40Ar/39Ar method at 156.3
± 1.1 and 154.6 ±1.0 Ma (see Data Repository).
Among the fresh and altered clast lithologies, including
andesite, porphyry, and coarse- to medium-grained intrusive
rocks, in the conglomerate beds are a spectrum of silicic clasts.
These occur in both silicified and nonsilicified conglomerate
but are particularly common within a few tens of meters of the
base. The subangular to semirounded clasts, commonly attain-
ing 30 cm in size, comprise dense silicification of one or more
uncertain protoliths, silica sinter, and crustiform-colloform vein
quartz (Fig. 2E). Some clasts display oxidized rims as a result of
subaerial exposure prior to incorporation in the conglomerate.
The phreatic breccia is mapped to within 50 m of the upper
contact of the underlying Piuntza andesite, yet the Suárez
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1053

.
A B

400 mE
400 mE

200 mE

600 vmEv
200 mE

600 mE
LITHOLOGIES
Discovery

...

v
Hollín Formation

v v
v
v
v
outcrop

v
v

v
v

v
v
v v

v
v

v v v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
East fault zone

v
v

v v
v

v
v
v

v
v

Fruta andesite

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v v
v

v
v

v v
v

v
v

v
v
1,400 1400
v

v
v

v
v v
v

vv
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
m.a.s.l

v
v
m.a.s.l

v v
v
v

v
v
v
v
v v
v

v
v v
v

v
v

v
Chapiza Formation

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

East fault
v
v
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
(mixed) v

v v
v
v

v v v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
Chapiza Formation
v v v
v v

v
v

v
v
v v

v
v v

v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
vv
v

v
v v

v
v
v

v
v
v v v
(conglomerate)

v
v

v
v
v v

v v
v

v
v
v
v v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v
1,200

v v
v
v

v
v

v
v
1,200v
v

v
v
1,200 v v v

v
v
v v
Chapiza Formation

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v v
v

v v v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v

Centra
v
v
v v

zone
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v v
v

v
v
v

v
v
(Machinaza tuff)

v
v

v
v v v v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v

v v

v
v v v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
v
v

v
v v
Piuntza unit

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v v v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v v

v
v

v v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v v v

v v
l fault
v
v

v v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

Hydrothermal

v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
1,000 1,000v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v v
v

v
breccia

v v v

v
v
v v v

v
v
v
v v v

v
v
v

v
v
v v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v v v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v
v v
v
v

v
v

v
v
100 m

v v

v
v

v
v
v

Feldspar porphyry 100 m

v

v
v
v

v
v
v

West fau

v
v

West fault
v

v v

v
v

v
v
v v

v
v v

v
v

v
v
v
v
v v v

v
v

v
v

v
vv

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v v

v
v
v

v
v
+
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v v v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v
v + v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v
vv

v
v v

v
v v
v
v

v
+

v
v
MINERALIZATION

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v v
v
v
v
v +
800 0

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
800 0

v
v

v
v
v
v v v
v
v

v
+
Section 3400N

v
Section 3700N

v
v

v v
vv

v
v

v v

v
+

v
100 m

v
v
100 m
v

v
+ v v

v
v v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v v
v

v
v

v
+
v

v
v

v
v

v
lt
v v
v

v v

+ +

v
Sinter horizon

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v
C D
200 mE

600 mE
400 mE

600 mE
400 mE
200 mE
FDN1 Mn carbonate rich

v
FDN2 Silicified v 1,600

v
v
v

v
v
v
v

Silicified
v

1400
v

v
FDN3
v
v v v v
m.a.s.l v

v
v

v
v
(low sulfide)

v
v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v
v v v

v
v v

v
v v

v
v

v
v
v v
v

Quartz-chalcedony

v
v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
East fault zone

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
FDN4

v
v v

v v

v
v v
v v
v
v

v
v
-calcite veins
v

v
v
v
v

v
v
1,400
v

v
v

v
v
v v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v

vEast fault zone

v
m.a.s.l

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

1,200
v

v v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

STRUCTURE
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v v
v
v

v
Cen

v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v v v
v
v

v v
v
v
v

v
v
v

Unconformity
v
v

v
v v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v v v
v

v
v

v
tral

v
v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

Fault
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
1,200

v
v
v

v
v v

v
v
v

v
v

v v v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v v
v
v

v v

v
fau l

v
v
v

v
v
v

v v
v
v

v v v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v v

v
v v
v
v

v
v

v
v
1000 v v v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v
v

DIAMOND DRILL HOLE

v
v
v
v

v
v
v v

v
v
v

v v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

t v
v

v
v

v v v
v v
v

v
v

v
v v
West fault

v
v

v v v
v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v
v

v v v
v v v
v

v
100 m v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

100 m
v
v

v
v v
v
v

v
v

v
West fa
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
v
v v
v

v
v

v
v v
v v v

v v

v
v

v v

v
v
v v v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v

v v
v

v
v
v v

v
v
v v

v
v v v
v

v
v v v

1,000v

v
v
v

v
v v

v v v
v v

v
v v
v

v
v

v v
v

v v
v

v
v v
v

v
v

v
v
v
v
v

v
v
v
v v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
PLAN (Fig. 6)
v v v
v

v v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v v
v

v
v
v
v
v

v
v
v v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v
v

v v

v
v v
0
v v
v

Section 2800N

v
v

v
v
800 0 Section 3200N
v
v

v
v
v v

v
v

v v
v

v
v

v
v

v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

100 m
v

v
v
v

v
v v

v
1,200
v
v

v
u

100 m v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v v
v

v
v
v v

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v v

v
v
v
v

v
v
lt

v
v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v v
v

v v
v
v

v
v

v v v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

Fig. 7. Vertical geologic sections of the Fruta del Norte gold-silver deposit for grid lines 2800, 3200, 3400, and 3700mN in
Figure 6. The distribution of mineral zones constituting the orebody is also shown. Note the position in (B) of the silicified rib
that includes the discovery outcrop (cf. Fig. 2A).

conglomerate is not brecciated at the contact nor does it is strongly weathered to saprolite immediately beneath the
occur as clasts in the underlying breccia. Similarly, the con- unconformity, and a comparable paleosol may also be pre-
glomerate is not cut by the feldspar porphyry despite the served over Suárez basin siliciclastic rocks, but is less read-
presence of intrusions <100 m below the andesite upper con- ily recognized because of the red-brown color and mud-rich
tact. Therefore, deposition of Suárez conglomerate, interbed- nature of both. The Hollín Formation quartz sandstone and
ded Machinaza tuff, and overlying fine-grained, siliciclastic sub-Early Cretaceous unconformity are nearly horizontal at
sequence, attaining >400 m thick immediately west of Fruta Fruta del Norte. These beds and other Hollín-capped mesas
del Norte (Fig. 7), must postdate feldspar porphyry and phre- in the region are interpreted as remnants of the shallowly
atic breccia emplacement. Suárez basin sedimentation spans W-dipping limb of an open, regional-scale fold affecting the
an interval of ~3 to 6 m.y., between ~160 Ma (the age of the Cretaceous cover in the Subandean region (Fig. 4).
underlying feldspar porphyry) and 157 to 154 Ma (the age of Narrow (1–3 m), black, fine-grained to microporphyritic
the overlying Fruta andesite). The Fruta del Norte deposit mafic dikes intrude locally beneath the Fruta del Norte
was also formed during this same interval, most probably in deposit (Fig. 8E). Chilled margins are typically present and
temporal proximity to the feldspar porphyry. alteration absent, except for minor bleaching at some con-
The Hollín Formation quartz sandstone unconformably tacts. The dikes are particularly evident in the East fault
overlies the Suárez basin sequence and Piuntza andesite at zone where their massive character contrasts with high strain
Fruta del Norte (Fig. 7). Where present, the Fruta andesite displayed by the adjacent foliated cataclasite (Fig. 8E). The
1054 LEARY ET AL.

A C

2
1

D F

Fig. 8. Selected lithologies and alteration types from the Fruta del Norte gold-silver deposit. A. Suárez conglomerate with
chalcedony and marcasite between and, locally, within clasts. B. Porphyry-type quartz-pyrite-chalcopyrite D veinlet (1) cut by
epithermal quartz-manganoan carbonate veinlet (2) within remanent potassic alteration of Piuntza andesite. C. Quartz-illite-
pyrite-altered, matrix-supported phreatic breccia. D. West fault showing nonfoliated gouge containing quartz vein fragments
(top) and foliated gouge containing silicified fragments and a piece of quartz veinlet (to right of scribe tip) in sharp contact
with massive silicified ore (lower right). E. East fault zone showing various degrees of foliation of the fault breccia/cataclasite
across 3 m. The strain in the fault rocks contrasts markedly with the fabric-free, dark-colored mafic dike (lower right, below
scribe). The dike is lighter in tone and increasingly fractured toward the contact with the cataclasite, suggesting late-tectonic
timing of emplacement. This is the dike that returned the Late Cretaceous age (see text). F. Fracturing and brecciation in
proximity to the Central fault, showing truncation of a white epithermal quartz vein and epithermal quartz-carbonate vein
clasts. All white scale bars represent 1 cm.
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1055
dikes intrude faults that cut alteration and mineralization, and
hornblende from a dike below the deposit was dated by the
40Ar/39Ar method at 71.0 ± 2.2 Ma (see Data Repository). It
remains uncertain whether this Late Cretaceous age repre-
sents dike emplacement or is due to argon loss induced by
heating during the Late Cretaceous tectonism; however, the
former alternative is favored in view of the low metamorphic
grade of the Subandean region, high (~550°C) argon closure
temperature of hornblende (McDougall and Harrison, 1999;
Snee, 2002), and absence of argon loss from hornblende in
the dated Fruta andesite samples, even though plagioclase
from one of them reported a reset 40Ar/39Ar age (68 ± 11 Ma;
see Data Repository).
Structural features
The Fruta del Norte deposit is located near the northeastern
extremity of the Suárez basin. Gold mineralization is confined
to a 250- to 300-m-wide fault block between the East and
West faults: N-striking strands of the Las Peñas fault zone that
can be traced over the known length of the deposit (Figs. 6,
7). The Central fault, which displaces the orebody, is a small
splay between the two faults (Fig. 7). The Fruta del Norte
deposit extends for ~1.3 km beneath 130 to >400 m of mainly
postmineralization cover and, if continuous with the exposed
Bonza-Las Peñas deposit, is the northern part of a single,
2.5-km-long epithermal vein system.
Based on drill core correlations, the East, Central, and
West faults are all mapped as vertical to steeply E-dipping
structures (Figs. 6, 7). The East fault zone is a diffuse, mesh-
like array, up to 100 m wide, of anastomosing, heavily dam-
aged crush zones, faults, and shears, with intervening panels
of less-deformed Piuntza andesite and feldspar porphyry.
In contrast, the West fault is one or more distinct and well-
defined crush and gouge zones that are typically <10 m wide.
The West and East faults have been traced in drill holes to
vertical depths of >500 m. The Central fault is idealized as
a discrete structure, generally <1 m wide, that incorporates
crushed vein and silicified material into the fault (Fig. 8F) and
displaces mineral zones (Fig. 7B, C), providing clear evidence
for postmineralization motion.
The three faults show apparent down-to-the-west move-
ment, but with variable displacements over the 1.3-km length
of the deposit (Fig. 7). The West fault shows a relatively con-
stant 130 to 150 m of displacement in the southern and cen-
tral parts of the orebody where it juxtaposes ore and barren
rock (Fig. 7). This relationship suggests that the westernmost
part of the orebody may have been offset; however, explor-
atory drilling to depths of >1 km has so far failed to locate any
displaced ore west of the West fault. The Central fault attains
a maximum displacement of the lower Suárez conglomer-
ate contact of ~70 m in the north (Fig. 7D) that decreases
southward to essentially zero by section 2,800 mN, as the
structure swings east (Fig. 6). The East fault appears to have
the greatest dip-slip displacement of the base of the Suárez
conglomerate, typically ~200 m; it does not adjoin or trun-
cate the orebody in its northern and central parts but does
appear to do so in the south as the gold mineralization swings
east (Fig. 7D). Although drill density and spacing are limited,
minor vertical displacement of the lower Hollín Formation
contact and minor local tilting of Hollín Formation blocks are
interpreted directly above the East fault (Fig. 7C). The West
and/or Central faults are thought to have provided the fluid
pathway utilized during late-stage silicification of Suárez con-
glomerate, as described further below.
The Las Peñas fault zone has a protracted but poorly con-
strained movement history that likely preceded, accompa-
nied, and postdated Suárez basin formation. The results of
structural mapping in the Fruta del Norte area suggest domi-
nantly sinistral displacement with extension related to the left-
stepping character of the Las Peñas fault zone at the Fruta del
Norte deposit (L. Hall, unpub. rept for Aurelian Resources
Inc., 2008). However, local dilational features in the deposit
itself suggest that dextral movement may have occurred dur-
ing vein formation.
A late, N-striking, W-dipping fault was delineated by drill-
ing west of the West fault in the north. This narrow shear zone
has thrust Piuntza andesite over Suárez conglomerate and is
interpreted to have offset the upper part of the West fault up
to 100 m eastward (Fig. 7). This fault and at least part of the
postmineralization movement on the East, Central, and West
faults is tentatively ascribed to the effects of the Late Creta-
ceous tectonism (see above).
Hydrothermal Alteration
The hydrothermal mineralogy of the Fruta del Norte deposit
is based mainly on detailed hand-lens inspection of drill core
supported by limited thin-section microscopy, sodium cobalti-
nitrite staining (Chayes, 1952), and semiquantitative scanning
electron microscopy to aid mineral identification. Two main
hydrothermal alteration types are distinguished in Fruta del
Norte drill core: early porphyry copper-related propylitic and
potassic assemblages and later epithermal quartz/chalcedony-
clay-pyrite/marcasite. The widespread pale-green clay min-
eral is visually identified as illite.
Pre-epithermal porphyry copper alteration
Several, poorly defined porphyry copper-(gold) centers are
hosted by the Piuntza volcanic rocks, within a few kilometers
radius of Fruta del Norte. These centers are represented by
subeconomic (max 0.2–0.3%) copper grades in a chlorite-
epidote-calcite ± magnetite assemblage, which is preserved
laterally and below the epithermal deposit but is obliterated
within and proximal to ore at Fruta del Norte. Patchy rem-
nants of potassic alteration, defined by variably chloritized
hydrothermal biotite and magnetite, containing a few quartz-
pyrite-chalcopyrite veinlets are observed locally. Some of the
veinlets have sericitic halos and are clearly of D-type (cf. Gus-
tafson and Hunt, 1975; Fig. 8B). The porphyry-type alteration
and mineralization crops out east of Bonza-Las Peñas, with
a second porphyry center overlain by Suárez conglomerate
west of Bonza-Las Peñas. The mineral assemblages imply that
the porphyry-type mineralization underwent >1 km of ero-
sion before development of the Fruta del Norte epithermal
deposit and filling of the Suárez basin.
Epithermal alteration
The most intense alteration at Fruta del Norte is associated
with the upper parts of the orebody, directly below the Suárez
conglomerate. There, pervasive silicification and chalcedony
veining are accompanied by <1 to 3 vol % of marcasite and
1056 LEARY ET AL.

pyrite, but by little, if any, illite or carbonate. The silicification
decreases in both extent and intensity downward and east-
ward (Fig. 7), where it is transitional to broad halos of illite-
pyrite and then, more distally, illite-calcite-pyrite developed
in readily recognizable andesite, feldspar porphyry, and phre-
atic breccia. The silicification ends abruptly west of the West
fault, which itself is also not silicified. The silicification ± mar-
casite/pyrite affects the basal part of the conglomerate above
the deposit (Fig. 8A), decreasing in intensity upward over dis-
tances of 2 to 20 m. A blue-green clay mineral, interpreted
as iron-rich smectite, lines fractures and veins locally in the
upper parts of the intensely silicified zone and overlying sinter
and basal conglomerate (see below). Kaolinite is also uncom-
monly present in fractures in the upper parts of the deposit.
The silicification ± marcasite reappears at higher eleva-
tions in the conglomerate, directly above and locally east
and west of the West fault. The first indication of this altera-
tion is provided by a change in the color of the conglomer-
ate matrix from red-brown to gray-green. There is a tendency
for contacts between the conglomerate and Machinaza tuff to
be strongly silicified, with the tuff itself soft and pervasively
illitized. A subvertical zone of silicification ± marcasite occurs
in conglomerate directly over the orebody and is seen at sur-
face as the silicified rib that led to discovery of Fruta del Norte
(see above). This steep, silicified zone presently overlies the
Central fault but may have been originally fed via the West
fault, the upper parts of which may have undergone eastward
displacement on the N-striking, W-dipping reverse structure
that places the Piuntza volcanic rocks over Suárez siliciclastic
rocks west of the West fault. The red-brown, finer grained
siliciclastic strata overlying the conglomerate are never seen
silicified and display only weakly developed alteration above
the West fault, expressed as irregular bleaching of mudstone.
The Fruta andesite is little altered, although it does host
sparse, white carbonate veinlets, one containing galena, above
the West fault.
Gold-Silver Mineralization
Deposit geometry
The alteration and mineralization at Fruta del Norte have a
strike length of at least 1.3 km and are separated from the
Bonza-Las Peñas prospect to the south (~0.5 Moz Au; see
above) by a ~200-m undrilled gap (as of end 2008). Once
the gap is drilled, it is anticipated that >2.5 km of continu-
ous alteration and gold-silver mineralization will have been
defined along the Las Peñas fault zone, largely under Suárez
conglomerate and younger cover. At its northern extremity, the
Fruta del Norte deposit is approximately 80 m wide (section
3,800mN), widening to between 100 and 125 m for a distance
of >300 m in the central high-grade core, and then widening
incrementally southward, first to about 160 m, then to almost
300 m on the southernmost section (2,600mN; Figs. 6, 7).
The disseminated mineralization style thins, weakens, and
becomes patchy in the south, whereas the vein array and stock-
work broaden but become less intense, and the deposit grade
decreases from the core southward to levels more in keeping
with the Bonza-Las Peñas deposit (~1 g/t Au; see above).
The most intense alteration, veining, and brecciation, great-
est mineralogic complexity, and highest grades occur in the
300-m-long, high-grade core (3,250–3,550mN), which con-
tains nearly 50% of the total gold ounces (Fig. 9). The aver-
age grade peaks at 13.3 g/t Au and 17.6 g/t Ag on section
3,400mN, and this one section (with a 50-m clipping) was
estimated to contribute 3.22 Moz of gold and 4.3 Moz of silver
to the resource (Hennessey et al., 2007). The bonanza-grade
character of this section is amply illustrated by a visible gold-
rich intercept with an uncut average grade of 35.18 g/t Au
and 27.1 g/t Ag over 250 m, including one quartz-carbonate
vein with 15 m grading 334 g/t Au and 193.6 g/t Ag. A highest
single assay from this vein reported 2,447 g/t Au and 1,100 g/t
Ag over 1.02 m.
Mineral zones
The Fruta del Norte deposit is made up of four mappable
mineralogic zones, denominated FDN1 to FDN4 (Figs. 6,
7). Zone FDN1, accounting for just over half the gold equiv
ounces and ore tonnage (Table 2), dominates the southern
part of the deposit but, despite representing an important
component of the high-grade core on section 3,400mN (Fig.
9), effectively disappears northward by 3,500mN except for
minor traces in the footwall at depth (Figs. 6, 7). Zone FDN2
overlies zones FDN1 and FDN4, partially flanks them to the
west, and spans the known length of the deposit (Figs. 6, 7).
Zone FDN3 is a thin, flat-lying, volumetrically minor, but
highest grade zone, restricted to the high-grade core where it
overlies zone FDN2 (Fig. 7C) and, very locally, zone FDN4
in the north. Zone FDN4, the lowest grade zone, is volumetri-
cally the most important in the northern part and most closely
associated spatially with the feldspar porphyry body (Figs. 6,
7).
Zone FDN1, hosted by Piuntza andesite and feldspar por-
phyry, is characterized by sheeted to stockwork veins and vein
breccias composed of finely banded, crustiform-colloform
quartz, carbonates, and sulfides (Fig. 10). Manganoan car-
bonates are characteristic, with intensely mineralized zones

Table 2. Inferred Resources by Mineral Zone, Fruta del Norte (modified from Hennessey et al., 2007)

% of total % of total
Metric inferred inferred
Zone tonnes (t) tonnes Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Au Eq (g/t) Au ounces Ag ounces Au Eq ounces Au Eq ounces

FDN1 31,600,000 53.7  7.43 13.7  7.65  7,548,600 13,918,700  7,773,500 55.1
FDN2 15,500,000 26.3  7.31 10.6  7.48  3,642,800  5,282,400  3,728,100 26.6
FDN3  1,000,000 1.7 12.36  9.9 12.52    397,400    318,300    403,000 2.9
FDN4 10,800,000 18.3  6.05  8.2  6.18  2,100,700  2,847,300  2,147,000 15.3
Total 58,900,000 100  7.23 11.8  7.42 13,689,500 22,366,700 14,051,600 100

Notes: Based on a cutoff grade of 2.3 g/t Au equiv; Au equiv calculated using 1 g Au = 61.9 g Ag
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1057

778000 mE

778100 mE

778200 mE

778300 mE

778400 mE

778500 mE
FDN Au HISTOGRAMS
GRID PSAD56 ZONE 17S

9,584,000 mN
9584000 mN
9584000 mN
9584000 mN FDN orebody

mE
Au histogram

778700
778700
778700 mE
mE
778700mE
mE
mE

mE

mE

mE
mE

mE
mE
mE
mE

mE

mE
mE

mE
mE

mE
mE

mE
mE
cut to 10 g/t
mE
778000mE

778100mE

mE
mE

778400mE

mE
778500mE

778600mE
mE
778300mE
778000

778500

778600
778000
778000

778100

778300

778400
778400

778500
778500

778600
778600
778000
778000

778100

778300
778300

778400

778500
778500

778600
778600
778300
9,583,900 mN Drill pad/

t
9583900
9583900
9583900mN
9583900
9583900
9583900mN
mN
mN
mN
mN

aul
drill trace
R

st f
I
O

We
9583800
9583800mN
9583800 mN
mN 9583800 mN
9,583,800 mN
M
A

250 m
9,583,700 mN
9583700
9583700
9583700mN
9583700
9583700
9583700mN
mN
mN
mN
mN
C

H
I N A Z A

88
9,583,600 mN
9583600
9583600
9583600mN
9583600
9583600
9583600mN
mN
mN
mN
mN

CP-07-1 9

CP-08-190
9,583,500 mN
250 m
8
Central fault

0
9583400
9583400
9583400mN
9583400
9583400
9583400mN
mN
mN
mN
mN
9,583,400 mN
-

CP-06-49
9583300
9583300
9583300
9583300
9583300mN
9583300mN
mN
mN
mN
mN
9,583,300 mN
Discovery hole
one

CP-06-51
FDN East
East fault z

84 9583200
9583200 mN
9583200mN
9583200 mN
mN

9583100
9583100
9583100mN
9583100
9583100
9583100mN
mN
mN
mN
mN
9,583,100 mN

9,583,000 mN
9583000
9583000
9583000
9583000 mN
mN
9583000mN
mN
mN

N
v
West fault

Ce
ntr

9582900
9582900
9582900
9582900mN
9582900
9582900 mN
mN
mN
mN
mN
9,582,900 mN
al
fau

84
9,582,800 mN
lt

9582800
9582800
9582800mN
9582800
9582800
9582800mN
mN
mN
mN
mN

9582700
9582700
9582700mN
9582700
9582700
9582700mN
mN
mN
mN
mN
9,582,700 mN

9,582,600 mN
9582600
9582600
9582600mN
9582600 mN
mN
mN

9,582,500 mN

B-LP
9,582,400 mN

Fig. 9. Plan showing surface projections of fault strands of Las Peñas fault zone (see text), outline of the of Fruta del Norte
orebody, and diamond drill holes completed to end 2008. Red histograms on drill hole traces represent individual gold assays
(in g/t) cut to 10 g/t. Note the position of the discovery hole near the southern edge of the high-grade core of the deposit,
which lies roughly between 3250 and 3550mN. B-LP = Bonza-Las Peñas.
1058 LEARY ET AL.

A B

C D

E F 4a

6
1a
5
1b

2
3 4b

G H

Fig. 10. Examples of FDN1-style (manganese- and base metal-rich) veining in drill core. A. Crustiform-colloform quartz-
manganoan carbonate-sulfide vein, containing visible gold associated with colloform pyrite along wall-rock contact (red
arrows). Different brown shades of carbonate bands suggest changing carbonate compositions during vein formation. B.
Cockade texture developed in brecciated quartz-carbonate-pyrite vein. C. Typical FDN1-style alteration and mineraliza-
tion: quartz-carbonate-sulfide stockwork veining and brecciation in quartz-illite-pyrite-altered andesite. D. Bonanza-grade,
brecciated vein from the central, high-grade zone (section 3400N). Multiple gold grains are associated with black-colored
tetrahedrite in near-continuous, thin bands in vein fragments of white to pale-pink manganoan carbonate and minor quartz.
Visible gold occurs along the entire 1.02-m sample length, which assayed 2,447 g/t Au. E. Large cluster of gold dendrites
in a crustiform-colloform quartz-manganoan carbonate-pyrite vein, which assayed 820 g/t Au and 235 g/t Ag. F. Typical
multigenerational, banded quartz-manganoan carbonate-sulfide stockwork veins. At least six veining events are discernible:
Early pyrite (1a, b) and gray, massive chalcedony (2) in the andesite wall rock are cut by parallel colloform brownish car-
bonate-chalcedony veins (3) and vein breccia of pale carbonate and black chalcedony (4a, b). Subparallel brown carbonate
(5) and gray chalcedony (6) veinlets cut earlier generations. G. Pale-brown, colloform manganoan carbonate (left) cut by
white carbonate-quartz-chalcedony and millimeter-scale, crustiform marcasite laminae, containing grains of visible gold (red
arrows). H. Pink, crustiform-colloform rhodochrosite-dominant vein, with a texture in the center resembling quinoa, a South
American cereal. Vein center is filled with black chalcedony-marcasite. Late-stage, glassy, quartz-chalcedony veinlets cut all
previous vein generations.
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1059

J L

M N

Fig. 10 (Cont.). I. Galena and sphalerite along the margin of a quartz-manganoan carbonate veinlet that is cut by an FDN4-
style, laminated quartz-chalcedony vein. J. Black tarnished (oxidized) alabandite (MnS) in manganoan carbonate vein; it is
dark green when freshly cut but becomes black within hours. Alabandite occurs uncommonly in veins beneath the orebody.
K. Multiple varieties of angular carbonate-chalcedony vein fragments cemented by gray chalcedony in matrix-supported vein
breccia. L. Masses of coarse visible gold at the bifurcation of a crustiform-colloform rhodochrosite vein. Assay: 79.90 g/t Au
and 30.8 g/t Ag. M. One-cm-long band of gold in a finely banded crustiform-colloform chalcedony vein, with minor pyrite. N.
Laminated vein displaying sedimentary textures: layers deposited on irregular manganoan carbonate vein surface are com-
posed of fine sand-sized grains of quartz, pyrite, and carbonate, with some layers showing weakly developed graded bedding.
Way-up is toward the upper left corner of the image. The scale card is in centimeters, the white scale bar is 1 cm, the scribe
tip is 1 mm, and the pencil lead is 0.5 mm.

having >1% Mn (Table 3). The zone becomes distinctly richer
in base metals and silver with depth, particularly below the
base of economic gold mineralization.
Zone FDN2 is characterized by intense silicification, chal-
cedony-marcasite veining and breccia cement, extremely
fine grained, disseminated marcasite, and absence of car-
bonate minerals (Fig. 11). Host-rock lithologies are typically
obscured, but interbedded fine-grained tuffaceous sediments
and andesite can be discerned locally. There is a close spa-
tial association with the overlying sinter horizon, marking the
top of the Piuntza andesite and transition into overlying basal
Suárez conglomerate. The change from zone FDN2 to FDN1
is mapped by an abrupt downward increase in manganese
content, from <500 to >5,000 ppm over 1 to 5 m (Table 3).
The base of zone FDN2 against FDN4 is less easily defined
but is mapped by the downward decrease in total sulfur, anti-
mony, mercury, and all metals except gold and silver that
accompany the textural change from dominantly pervasive
silicification and chalcedony-marcasite veining to pervasive
quartz-carbonate veining (Table 3). The boundary between
zones FDN2 and FDN4 varies from near vertical immediately
north of the high-grade core to moderately inclined westward
farther north (Fig. 7). The FDN2 zone thickens toward and
ends abruptly at the West fault, and thins from >100 m in the
 1060 LEARY ET AL.

1,687 884 390 5.9 49 1 11.8 59.4 2.7 27.5

high-grade core of the deposit to only a few meters thick in
2,570 823 8.4 66 1.2 7 43.1 2.7 33.8

Min   0.01 0 0.1 48 0.17 0.01 1 1 1 1 3 0.5 5 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

117.6 1.1 7.7

  25.96 25.74 19.5 1,448 1.31 1.51 879 141 1837 1275 378 17.7 82 3.1 6.4 66.9 1 10.3

Min   0.01 0 0.2 9 0.11 0.02 1 1 1 1 2 0.5 5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

150.7 0.7 6.1

1,065 470 12.9 431 5.8 2.8 74 0.3 3.8

0.5

160 0.7 3.5

1,481 0.9 1.1 230 18 570 223 41 3.1 381 1.1 6.1 86.4 0.6 6.8

0.5
19 0.5

4 0.5
the south. The zone typically has elevated arsenic and anti-
V

29 279

12 206

12,000 8,000 186 2,970 41 28 361 3 32

10,600 3,300 825 68 3,570 26 334 685 15 191

mony contents (Table 3), a feature of the upper-level, lower
  Au Au* Ag Mn Fe-% S-% As Sb Zn Pb Cu Mo Ba Hg Co Cr Sc

temperature parts of many active and extinct epithermal sys-

tems (e.g., Ewers and Keays, 1977; Berger and Silberman,

Notes: Assays in ppm unless otherwise indicated; Au* is length weighted average; other averages are arithmetic; 1σ = one standard deviation; Max = maximum assay; Min = minimum assay
1985; Hedenquist et al., 1996).
Zone FDN3 is a flat-lying, tabular body, up to 20 m thick
40 405

95 580

0.5

0.5
(Fig. 7), which is characterized by intense silicification, locally

FDN4   5.84 5.77 8.2 567 1.41 1.29 123 11 152 78 29 2.7 119 0.9 3.2
FDN2   8.6 8.47 12 332 2.76 2.88 674 59 697 328 143 9.9 42 1.9 9.2

FDN3   9.09 9.06 8.8 101 0.73 0.54 143 47 41 470 157 5.2 264 4.6 2.6
abundant illite, and notably lower sulfur and iron contents
(Fig. 12; Table 3). The zone directly underlies either the

0.5

0.5
Suárez conglomerate (Fig. 12A) or the sinter horizon (Fig.
7C). Locally preserved textures suggest that the zone is hosted
by the same upper bedded tuffaceous sequence as the under-
  2,447.2 2,496.14 1,130 97,000 12.55 10 10,000 2,520 93,700 78,700 28,900 214 2,704 32

595 50,000 10.4 10 10,000 5,320 74,600 55,300 11,900 555 2,110 74

0.5 5

0.5 5
lying FDN2 (Fig. 12C). Indeed, zone FDN3 grades down-
ward into sulfidic zone FDN2 across a 1- to 3-m-wide, blotchy
transition zone: the result of partial sulfide oxidation and asso-
ciated bleaching along fractures and veinlets (Fig. 12D, E).
Table 3. Average Contents of Selected Elements in the Four Fruta del Norte Mineral Zones

Although the zone contains only 3% of the total gold ounces

and less visible gold than the other zones (Fig. 12B), it has the
0.01 1 1 1 3 2

0.01 1 1 1 1 2

highest average gold and gold equiv grades (Table 2) as well

as the lowest Ag/Au ratio and base metal content of the four
zones; however, it is the richest in mercury (Table 3). Zones
FDN2 and FDN3 and parts of the overlying sinter are locally
overprinted by late chalcedony-marcasite veinlets (Fig. 12C).
The northern FDN4 zone comprises large volumes con-
taining 80 to 100% of white quartz and/or chalcedony and
3,975

  13.34 13.32 10.2 169 0.65 0.75 235 133 154

calcite ± adularia veins (Fig. 13), typically with only minor

  132.5 132.5 131 2,390 5.23 5.62 2,040 2,630 1,750

sulfide and manganese contents (Table 3). This style of vein-

ing starts at roughly 3,450mN and is concentrated along the
12,681 3.91 3.86 630 41
11,269 1.47 1.5 1,015 83

Max   195.5 182.5 146 50,000 11.7 10 5,990 264

steeply W-dipping, western hanging wall of the feldspar por-

phyry northward (Figs. 6, 7). The veined zone and gold min-
eralization disappear between sections 3,800 and 3,900mN.
Crustiform-colloform texture is less well developed than in
zones FDN1 and FDN2 but is commonly observed as faint,
centimeter-scale bands in large quartz-chalcedony veins and
as finer laminations in quartz veinlets (Fig. 13B, C). Veins
and veinlets are commonly brecciated and multigenerational
(Fig. 13A, E). Irregular lattices of bladed calcite, partially to
0.1

0.1

completely replaced by quartz, are particularly common, and

manganoan carbonates are absent (Fig. 13). Notwithstanding
the large volume of zone FDN4, the veining in this zone is
0 0.3 23

0 0.1 17

mineralogically much simpler and with a lower average grade

than the other zones (Table 2).
Vein styles and zoning
Total length = 8,295.03 m; number of samples = 8,561

Total length = 6,153.18 m; number of samples = 6,222

Total length = 3,721.81 m; number of samples = 3,735

FDN1   6.54 5.78 12.2

  11.35 11.1 11.2

  55.39 44.58 34.4

The Fruta del Norte deposit, characterized by exquisitely

Total length = 527.07 m; number of samples = 515

preserved examples of classic epithermal vein textures (cf.

Dong et al., 1995), contains two main styles of precious
metal mineralization: massively to finely banded, crustiform-
  1,015 1,015

colloform quartz and/or chalcedony ± sulfide ± carbonate

0.01

0.01

± adularia veins, stockworks, and breccia cements (FDN1

and FDN4; Figs. 10, 13); and intensely silicified host rocks
with disseminations of fine-grained marcasite ± pyrite cut by
crustiform-colloform chalcedony and quartz ± marcasite veins
Min  

Min  

and stockworks (FDN2; Fig.11). The distribution of these

two styles and predominant vein mineralogy is mappable
and allows the deposit to be divided into the coherent zones
Zone

defined above.
Max

1σ
1σ

1σ
Max

1σ
Max

There are appreciable variations both in the mineralogy

of crustiform bands within individual epithermal veins and
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1061

B C

E F

G H

Fig. 11. Examples of FDN2-style mineralization in drill core. A. Fine-grained quartz-illite-pyrite-altered andesite cut by
dark-brown marcasite-chalcedony vein (left) and crustiform-colloform chalcedony-marcasite-smectite vein (right). Local
alteration halos and breccia fill (with chalcedony) of blue-green smectite. Sample is typical of the highest level mineralization
in the FDN2 zone. B. Chalcedony and fine-grained iron sulfide as matrix to intensely silicified, sulfide-rich, and brecciated
rock of unknown type. C. Thin, continuous rind of very fine visible gold between black, iron sulfide-rich chalcedony filled
with later pale-gray chalcedony. Assay: 119 g/t Au and 18.7 g/t Ag. D. Crustiform-colloform chalcedony-marcasite vein cut-
ting chalcedony-cemented breccia containing fine-grained andesite clasts. E. Gold dendrites in white chalcedony (left) near
earlier black sulfidic chalcedony and a marcasite clot (right). Assay: 214 g/t Au and 79.7 g/t Ag. F. Black chalcedony-marcasite
clasts, possibly intensely altered host rock, cemented by dark-gray chalcedony. G. Band of crustiform marcasite needles on
colloform chalcedony (bottom) and succeeded by white quartz. H. Abundant iron sulfides (pyrite or marcasite) as fragments
in gray chalcedony, showing various degrees of brecciation. The scale card is in centimeters, the white scale bar is 1 cm, the
scribe tip is 1 mm, and the pencil lead is 0.5 mm.
1062 LEARY ET AL.

A B

D E

Fig. 12. Examples of FDN3-style mineralization in drill core. A. Contact between green, weakly silicified, and smectite-rich
Suárez conglomerate (top) and underlying, brown-colored silicified zone hosting FDN3 mineralization. A grain of visible gold
is highlighted by the red arrow. B. Typical pale gray-brown FDN3-style mineralization, devoid of sulfide minerals, showing
intense silicification and chalcedony veins. Visible gold is clearly present in the centrally located chalcedony veinlet (to left of
scribe tip). C. Brecciated and intensely silicified FDN3 zone cut by late, black, sulfide-bearing chalcedony veinlets. D. and E.
Where the FDN3 zone is transitional to the underlying FDN2-style mineralization, sulfide leaching (pale gray-brown areas) is
only partial and follows fractures and veinlet margins. The darker areas are FDN2-style mineralization, containing abundant
disseminated sulfide minerals. The scale bar is 1 cm, the scribe tip is 1 mm, and the pencil lead is 0.5 mm.

between different vein generations (Figs. 10–13). Quartz
and chalcedony are ubiquitous but occur in varied propor-
tions, with textures indicative of former opal also occasionally
observed at the shallowest mineralized levels. Carbonate-rich
veins with abundant rhodochrosite and other manganoan
carbonate species predominate in the south and at depth
(FDN1; Fig. 10), where they contain more base metal sul-
fides, mainly sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite, and silver
than the quartz-chalcedony-carbonate veins at shallower
levels and in the north (FDN4; Fig. 13). The abundance of
carbonate and sulfide minerals in both veins and stockworks
decreases and of chalcedony increases from south to north
and from deep to shallow levels. Calcite is the predominant
carbonate mineral in the north where manganoan carbonates
are entirely absent (Fig. 13). Many northern veins comprise
bands of fine-grained, saccharoidal quartz, bladed calcite
(Fig. 13H), and, in places, crustiform adularia (Fig. 13F). The
well-developed crustiform-colloform textures typical of zone
FDN1 in the south are less common in the north, and gener-
ally restricted to millimeter- to centimeter-scale, crustiform
bands of acicular marcasite.
Crustiform-colloform banded, black, gray, and white chal-
cedony veins, commonly interbanded with fine- to medium-
grained marcasite and pyrite, dominate the shallower levels of
the deposit and its western margin, in proximity to the West
fault (Fig. 11). However, local, 1- to 10-mm-scale, black chal-
cedony-only veinlets and breccias appear to be late stage and
are typically barren.
The intensity of veining at Fruta del Norte varies from
millimeter-scale veinlets to composite vein intervals tens of
meters wide, and the veins comprise multiple gangue and
sulfide generations. In the northern part of the deposit,
stockwork and sheeted veins of semimassive to massive sac-
charoidal quartz and chalcedony make up as much as 80 to
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1063

A B

C D

F H

Fig. 13. Examples of FDN4-style mineralization in drill core. A. Multiple generations of chalcedony stockwork veinlets in
quartz-illite-pyrite-altered andesite. B. White quartz vein with two grains of silvery visible gold (within red circles) in quartz-
illite-pyrite-altered feldspar porphyry. C. Crudely colloform-banded, vuggy white quartz veins, typical of zone FDN4, cutting
quartz-illite-pyrite-altered feldspar porphyry. D. Quartz vein containing minor pyrite, with the central, white chalcedonic
band displaying moss-textured quartz. E. Intensely fractured and veined, fine-grained andesite with at least five vein genera-
tions, all composed of similar quartz-chalcedony with minor calcite. F. Sodium cobaltinitrite staining reveals adularia bands
within quartz vein in quartz-illite-pyrite-altered andesite. G. Breccia with black to light-gray chalcedony fragments with open-
space, crystalline, honey-colored sphalerite, galena, and calcite cement. H. Bladed calcite and partial quartz infill in a quartz
vein. Typically, calcite is replaced by quartz but in this example calcite is preserved. The scale card is in centimeters, the white
scale bar is 1 cm, and the scribe and ballpoint pen tips are 1 mm.
1064 LEARY ET AL.
100% of the rock volume over widths of up to 100 m. Stock-
work veining in the upper part of the deposit appears entirely
random and resembles a giant crackle breccia when visualized
at a scale larger than drill core (Figs. 10C, F, 11A, B, 13A,
E). At depth in the manganoan carbonate-rich zone, however,
sheeted veins are more common, with many of them dipping
moderately to steeply west.
Gangue mineralogy and textures
Quartz-bearing, crustiform-colloform veins commonly con-
tain flamboyant quartz (Adams, 1920); imperfectly crystal-
lized quartz that under the microscope shows dramatically
nonuniform extinction and mineral grain boundaries that
transect the colloform banding. The texture is interpreted as
the product of crystallization of amorphous silica to quartz,
and is commonly associated with economic precious metal
mineralization (Sander and Black, 1988; Dong et al., 1995;
Moncada et al., 2012). Crustiform bands of radiating, comb-
textured carbonate with similar nonuniform extinction pat-
terns are also observed, most notably in the interval with the
highest grade vein assay of 2,447 g/t Au (Fig. 10D). Visible
gold appears to have ponded in a concavity on this unusual
band of “flamboyant” carbonate.
In addition to bright pink rhodochrosite, the manganoan
carbonates vary from shades of pale pink and pale brown to
almost white (Fig. 10). In the absence of detailed composi-
tional studies, these are broadly categorized as manganoan
carbonate. In places, clusters of parallel to radiating, white
needles of kutnahorite [CaMn(CO3)2] partially fill vugs.
Minor amounts of rhodonite [(Mn, Fe, Mg, Ca)SiO3] are
closely associated with the manganoan carbonates. Bladed
(platy) calcite, commonly displaying lattice texture, occurs
throughout the deposit wherever carbonates are present.
Early calcite blades are replaced by quartz and lattices filled
by crustiform to massive, fine-grained quartz, although
examples of calcite lattices with open spaces between blades
are also preserved (Fig. 13H). Some bands of rhodochrosite
(and possibly other manganoan carbonates) consist of deli-
cate, curved platelets enveloped by chalcedony (Fig. 10H),
which the writers term quinoa texture because of the resem-
blance to cooked grains of quinoa (a staple cereal crop in the
Andes); it appears to be comparable to moss texture (Dong
et al., 1995).
Crustiform bands and prismatic aggregates of fine-grained
adularia occur in some quartz-chalcedony veins in the deeper
parts of the northern and central portions of the deposit. Some
of the adularia identified in hand sample does not respond to
sodium cobaltinitrite staining, and microscopy suggests that it
is replaced by fine-grained masses of illite (which responds to
staining) or quartz (which does not). Staining and microscopy
show that adularia is a common but not abundant main-stage
gangue mineral that tends to form relatively early in vein his-
tories (Fig. 13F).
Early-stage, crustiform-colloform bands and other textural
styles in veins are commonly fragmented and cemented by
later vein generations (Figs. 10B, D, 11H). These hydrother-
mal breccias range from clast supported and jigsaw-like to
multigenerational, matrix-supported types. They may be dis-
tinguished from the previously described phreatic breccias by
the abundance of epithermal vein clasts.
Sulfide mineralogy and textures
The dominant sulfide gangue minerals are marcasite and
pyrite, which occur together and separately as bands in veins
and veinlets. Marcasite dominates the iron sulfide dissemina-
tions in the upper silicic zone, whereas disseminated pyrite
prevails in the quartz/chalcedony-illite alteration in the main
parts of the deposit. Bands of sphalerite and galena, locally
with chalcopyrite, are common in manganoan carbonate
veins, being notably more abundant in the deepest veins,
commonly below the orebody. Sphalerite and, less commonly,
galena also occur as drusy euhedral crystals lining open spaces
and, at shallow levels, in late fractures (Fig. 13G). The sphal-
erite varies from black to dark brown in crustiform bands
in quartz-carbonate-sulfide veins at depth in zone FDN1 to
honey-colored crystals in open spaces at shallow levels (Fig.
13G). Strong color-defined zoning locally characterizes the
growth of crustiform crystals. Traces of tetrahedrite accom-
pany visible gold in manganoan carbonate veins at depth (Fig.
10D), but was identified only rarely elsewhere. Other volu-
metrically extremely minor metallic minerals identified with
a hand lens or microscopically include pyrrhotite, proustite-
pyrargyrite, acanthite, native silver, freibergite (argentiferous
tetrahedrite), boulangerite, and jamesonite. To these may be
added alabandite (MnS), seen exclusively at depth below the
manganoan carbonate-rich FDN1 ore zone (Fig. 10J), and
stibnite and arsenopyrite, which locally accompany marcasite
in the silicified conglomerate above the deposit.
Gold distribution
Most gold at Fruta del Norte is microscopic in veins and vein-
lets; however, coarse, visible gold is a distinctive and integral
feature of the deposit. Visible gold is seen in association with
a range of minerals, including quartz, chalcedony, carbonates,
marcasite, sphalerite, and tetrahedrite, and where present,
found to generally indicate assay grades of >15 to 20 g/t Au.
Individual gold grains range from isolated specks <0.1 mm in
size to broccoli-like, dendritic crystals >10 mm across (Figs.
10E, 11E). Preliminary and limited electron microprobe anal-
ysis found that gold fineness ranges from ~750 (electrum) in
the north to >900 in the central, high-grade core. The sulfo-
salts that commonly coexist with visible gold are argentifer-
ous and enhance the Ag/Au ratio to ~1 in the upper parts of
the deposit. The orebody becomes increasingly silver rich at
depth and to the south, where Ag/Au ratios attain ~10. The
increased silver values correlate well with higher galena and
sphalerite contents.
Metallurgical tests show that the majority of the gold, par-
ticularly that contained in both vein-dominated zones (FDN1
and FDN4), is free milling. In contrast, the disseminated and
silicic ore in the upper part of the deposit (FDN2) is mod-
erately refractory, with approximately 40% of the total gold
endowment locked in sulfide minerals, mainly marcasite and
pyrite.
Some distinctive vein textures, although perhaps not unique
to Fruta del Norte, are common hallmarks of the bonanza-
grade gold even where visible gold is not noted. In particular,
crustiform vein bands of radiating clusters of elongate marca-
site crystals, 1 to 10 mm long, and coalesced marcasite crys-
tal aggregates are commonly associated with visible gold and
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1065
bonanza grades (Fig. 10G). The acicular marcasite is typically
enveloped by chalcedony, which, in turn, is coated by crystal-
line quartz. Many coarse-grained gold dendrites and porous
masses of visible gold are spatially associated with similar
porous clots of anhedral marcasite (Figs. 10E, 11E). In places
the visible gold accompanies marcasite needles replaced by
pyrite.
Millimeter- to centimeter-scale, pseudosedimentary tex-
tures such as vein laminations that are conformable with and
fill depressions in vein surfaces occur locally (cf. Schieber
and Katsura, 1986). Quartz grain-size variations in some
vein bands are suggestive of graded bedding (Fig. 10N). In
bonanza-grade, crustiform-colloform veins, apparent concavi-
ties in manganoan carbonate bands are seen partially filled
with quartz, visible gold, and tetrahedrite. These features are
interpreted as geopetal structures and the result of accumu-
lation of gold colloids by gravity settling in depressions (cf.
Saunders, 1990, 2012).
Sinter Horizon
Constituents
An additional impressive feature at Fruta del Norte is the
extensive sinter horizon that overlies most of the orebody
(Fig. 7). The horizon, ranging from 1.3 to 32.7 m thick, con-
sists of variable proportions of laminated silica sinter, pale- to
dark-gray mudstone, tuffaceous sandstone, and hydrother-
mal eruption breccia. Rapid burial of the sinter horizon by
conglomerate has atypically preserved a range of textural,
biogenic, and geochemical features in the sinter and other
paleosurface expressions of hydrothermal activity (Fig. 14).
The areal extent of the Fruta del Norte sinter horizon is argu-
ably among the world’s largest ancient examples, and certainly
larger and more complete than the few other well-preserved,
pre-Cenozoic sinters known from Queensland, Australia
(Cunneen and Sillitoe, 1989; White et al., 1989) and Patago-
nia, Argentina (Guido et al., 2002, 2010; Guido and Campbell,
2014).
Distribution
The sinter horizon was intersected by at least one drill hole
on every 100-m section over 1.1 km of strike (Fig. 7), being
unreported on only the two northernmost sections. Sinter is
readily correlated as one continuous, shallowly W dipping
layer for >200 m east-west (Fig. 7D); however, it is also com-
mon for sinter to occur as north-south belts at different eleva-
tions within fault blocks, separated by the West or Central
faults. Three N-trending sinter alignments, separated by the
main fault zones, are recognized. The easternmost sinter belt
tends to be thickest, >10 m in several places, is subhorizon-
tal at about 1,300-m elevation, and is traced for a distance of
>700 m north and south from the high-grade core. The sinter
belt west of the Central fault is ~20 m thick above the high-
grade core of the deposit, and is traced (though typically thin-
ner) for almost 1 km to the south. The horizon is displaced by
the Central and other smaller faults but seen to dip shallowly
westward where less faulted in the south (Fig. 7D).
The sinter horizon directly overlies Piuntza andesite and the
Fruta del Norte orebody and is typically located at the base of
the Suárez conglomerate. However, in the south, the sinter
horizon is interbedded with conglomerate up to 20 m above
the base (Fig. 7D), both east and west of the West fault, show-
ing that paleosurface silica deposition continued briefly after
the onset of Suárez sedimentation. The contact of the sinter
with overlying conglomerate is typically sharp, but locally can
be highly fractured and brecciated. Sinter clasts, up to 1 m
across, in flanking and overlying conglomerate testify to lim-
ited synsedimentary collapse and erosion of the sinter apron.
Lithologic characteristics
Meter-scale beds of siliceous sinter commonly comprise
millimeter-scale, planar to wavy, black and white laminations
that are broadly conformable with the Piuntza-Suárez basin
contact (Fig. 14A, B). Irregular, almond-shaped vugs between
and parallel to the laminations create a porous appearance
(bubble-mat texture). White, opalescent, amorphous silica in
the laminations is variably recrystallized to gray chalcedony
(Fig. 14B). Laminations and crosscutting fractures are stained
in places with black, carbonaceous material (Fig. 14A). The
sinter is locally cut by chalcedony- and marcasite-cemented
hydrothermal breccia, similar to that in some shallow parts
of the underlying orebody. The sinter, as well as immediately
over- and underlying silicified rocks, contains local late-stage,
drusy barite and impregnations of cinnabar and metacinnabar.
The sinter is typically barren but locally can contain low-order
(<0.5 g/t) gold values. In the core of the deposit (3,400mN),
high-grade mineralization can abut the overlying laminated
sinter although elsewhere subeconomic to barren silicified
intervals separate the sinter from the orebody. The sinter
has a distinctive geochemical signature: deficiency of arsenic,
antimony, and base and precious metals and, where it is local-
ized above the large feldspar porphyry at the northern end of
the deposit, strong barium enrichment.
Gray to black, tuffaceous-volcaniclastic beds and hydro-
thermal eruption breccia commonly underlie the laminated
sinter. The matrix-supported hydrothermal breccias typically
contain angular to subrounded clasts, mainly siliceous and
of hydrothermal origin, and are themselves intensely silici-
fied. Thin, black mudstone beds containing disseminations of
fine-grained iron sulfides and enriched in arsenic and anti-
mony occur locally, either lateral to or directly above sinter
(Fig. 14C, D). Locally, the mudstone contains abundant, 1- to
10-mm-sized clasts, possibly oncoids: products of microbi-
ally mediated silica deposition in and around hot-spring vents
(Jones et al., 2001; Fig. 14C). However, many of the elongate
to circular objects in laminated sinter and underlying volcani-
clastic beds are believed to be molds of plant roots and stems
(Fig. 14F). Other circular objects, more difficult to identify
with certainty in drill core, may include accretionary lapilli
(Fig. 14E). Uncommon stromatolite-like textures are likely
splash-zone geyserite (Lynne, 2012) rather than of biogenic
origin (Fig. 14G).
Genetic Aspects
Deposit classification
The geologic features of Fruta del Norte place it firmly in the
epithermal category but complicate its classification as either a
low or intermediate sulfidation deposit (cf. Hedenquist et al.,
2000). The ubiquity of manganoan carbonates and base metal
1066 LEARY ET AL.

B C

D E

F G

Fig. 14. Examples of material from the sinter horizon in drill core. A. Five meters of white and black laminated silica sinter
within a >15-m intersection of similar sinter in the first, “near-miss” drill hole at Fruta del Norte (CP-06-50; Fig. 2C). The
core is dominated by white chalcedony in planar laminae that vary from a few millimeters to a few centimeters thick and are
broadly conformable with the upper surface of the underlying volcanic rocks. The dark-brown bands are chalcedony stained
by carbonaceous matter. Brecciated zones are visible in the upper part of the image and elsewhere in the sinter intercept.
Overlying conglomerate is silicified. B. Close-up of planar laminated silica sinter, showing partial crystallization of white chal-
cedony to gray quartz, with local smectite associated with fractures (left side). C. Chalcedony oncoids in a darker, silicified,
muddy matrix. D. Dark mudstone containing angular clasts of various lithologies, interpreted to represent mud-pool deposi-
tion. E. Silicified laminated sinter including beds dominated by oncoids or perhaps accretionary lapilli. F. Probable silicified
plant stem in silicified tuffaceous sandstone bed from beneath silica sinter. G. Limonite-stained siliceous sinter consisting of
multiply stacked, convex-laminated spicules characteristic of high-temperature, splash-zone geyserite (cf. Lynne, 2012, fig. 9).
Way-up direction is toward the upper right. The core box is 1 m long and white scale bars represent 1 cm.

sulfides along with the presence of tetrahedrite in the southern
FDN1 zone are typical of intermediate sulfidation deposits,
although the color variations of the sphalerite suggests a range
of iron contents rather than the usual low-iron variety (Einaudi
et al., 2003). In contrast, the paucity of sulfides, base metals,
and manganese in the northern FDN4 zone would normally
be considered as low sulfidation features. This continuity
between veins and stockworks with low and intermediate sul-
fidation characteristics resembles several epithermal deposits
in Mexico (e.g., Camprubí and Albinson, 2007).
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1067
The abrupt upward change from the intermediate sulfida-
tion FDN1 zone and, to a lesser extent, the low sulfidation
FDN4 zone to the highly silicified and marcasite-rich FDN2
zone may be ascribed to approach to the paleosurface, as
discussed further below, rather than to any fundamental
change of epithermal mineralization type. Historically, shal-
low epithermal mineralized zones like FDN2, developed
directly below sinter and other surficial hydrothermal mani-
festations, were classified as a separate hot-spring deposit type
(e.g., Berger and Eimon, 1983; Berger and Silberman, 1985)
although, in reality, they simply denote precious metal deposi-
tion in proximity to paleosurfaces (Hedenquist et al., 2000).
Comparisons
Most low and intermediate sulfidation epithermal gold ± sil-
ver deposits, including large, high-grade examples such as
Hishikari, Japan (Izawa et al., 1990), Gosowong, Indonesia
(Richards et al., 2005), El Peñón, Chile (Warren et al., 2004),
and Cerro Vanguardia and Cerro Negro, Argentina (Schal-
amuk et al., 1997; Shatwell et al., 2011), comprise a series of
~1- to 5-m-wide veins that are so far apart that they require
mining individually. In the few cases where epithermal veins
and associated veinlets ± breccias are or have been bulk
mined, average grades are typically <3 g/t and everywhere
<5  g/t Au (e.g., Kelian, Indonesia, McLaughlin, California,
and Waihi, New Zealand; van Leeuwen et al., 1990; Sherlock
et al., 1995; Brathwaite and Faure, 2002). In marked contrast,
the structurally focused zone of anastomosed and overprinted
veins, veinlets, and associated breccias at Fruta del Norte con-
stitutes a much larger, bulk-mineable orebody with at least
double the grade (in part >30 g/t Au). The only truly analo-
gous deposit to Fruta del Norte with respect to size, grade,
style, and mineralogy is Brucejack, British Columbia (Board
and McNaughton, 2013); however, it differs in apparently
being the distal manifestation of a porphyry copper center
instead of overprinting earlier, genetically unrelated porphyry
copper mineralization (Fig. 15A).
Another unusual aspect of Fruta del Norte is the proxim-
ity of the gold-silver orebody and the overlying paleosurface
represented by the sinter horizon. Many epithermal deposits,
particularly those of intermediate sulfidation type, have their
tops up to several hundred meters beneath contemporaneous
paleosurfaces, as typified by many such deposits in Mexico
(Albinson, 1988; Camprubí and Albinson, 2007). Nonethe-
less, some low sulfidation deposits have their tops closer to
contemporaneous paleosurfaces, with the McLaughlin gold
deposit, like Fruta del Norte, being characterized by juxta-
position of ore and sinter (Lehrman, 1986; Sherlock et al.,
1995). In the case of Fruta del Norte, there is no discern-
ible evidence for appreciable erosion of the deposit prior to
sinter accumulation, thereby suggesting that the sinter actu-
ally formed directly on top of ore; this could have been in
response to the throughgoing nature of the controlling fault
zone and vigorous hydrothermal upflow, the surface position
of which is reliably marked by the geyserite (e.g., Campbell
et al., 2015).
Structural setting
The Chapiza Formation siliciclastic sedimentary and volca-
nic sequence progressively filled the Suárez pull-apart basin,
interpreted as a local depocenter formed during extension
and subsidence caused by a left-stepping, releasing bend
on the broadly N-striking Las Peñas strike-slip fault zone
(cf. Sylvester, 1988; Mann, 2007). The bend may have been
localized initially by the massive feldspar porphyry intrusion
at the northern end of the basin. Pull-apart basins are typi-
fied by their narrow, elongate forms, rapid subsidence and
sedimentation rates, abrupt facies changes, and restricted
size of contemporaneous volcanic centers (Nilsen and Sylves-
ter, 1999; Busby and Barrett, 2007), all features documented
in the Suárez basin in the vicinity of Fruta del Norte. The
Suárez basin was active for ~3 to 6 m.y., as bracketed by the
premineralization intrusion of the prebasin feldspar porphyry
(~160 Ma) and postmineralization eruption of Fruta andesite
(157–154 Ma) at the top of the basin fill; a duration similar
to other pull-apart basins along trench-localized, strike-slip
faults (3–10 m.y.; Woodcock, 2004).
The broad, diffuse East fault is interpreted as the main
strand of the Las Peñas fault zone at Fruta del Norte, with
the more discrete Central and West faults constituting intra-
basinal extensional structures linked to pull-apart develop-
ment. The Central and West faults and associated damage
zones—complex networks of low-throw faults—are believed
to have acted as the fluid-upflow conduits. Fracturing was
more widely dispersed in the southern, andesite-hosted
FDN1 zone, but overall dilatancy was greatest in the northern
FDN4 zone due to fault deflection induced by the buttressing
effect of the western contact of the feldspar porphyry intru-
sion (Figs. 6, 7). In contrast, the main East fault zone did not
act as a conduit for fluid discharge, a situation typical of pull-
apart basins (Sibson, 1986).
Mineralization timing
The geologic evidence presented above requires that the
hydrothermal system responsible for the Fruta del Norte
deposit was active both before and during accumulation of the
overlying Suárez conglomerate rather than after the sedimen-
tation was complete, in keeping with the conceptual model
that guided its discovery (Fig. 3; see above). The occurrence
of the silica sinter and associated hydrothermal products at
the top of the Piuntza andesitic volcanic pile and interca-
lated in the lowermost part of the overlying conglomerate
sequence shows conclusively that hydrothermal activity was
active before conglomerate deposition and continued during
the earliest stages of basin filling (Fig. 15B, C). However, the
presence of silicified conglomerate, containing highly anoma-
lous arsenic and antimony and low-order gold values through
to the current land surface, ~130 m above the basal Suárez
basin contact, shows that the system remained at least weakly
active during accumulation of the conglomerate and related
rocks, including the intercalations of externally derived ignim-
brite (Fig. 15D).
The presence of isolated vein and sinter clasts in the lower
parts of the conglomerate unit (Fig. 15C) provides further evi-
dence that epithermal mineralization predated conglomerate
deposition. However, the fact that the sinter is present along
a 1.1-km length of the deposit combined with the apparent
absence of clasts derived from the deeper manganese-rich
vein-stockwork suggests that erosion at Fruta del Norte was
minimal. Indeed, many, if not all, of the clasts could have been
1068 LEARY ET AL.

A Magmatic arc construction, porphyry B Initiation of extension and epithermal Hot pools
Cu mineralization, and erosion mineralization Sinter
Mineralization
Pull-apart basin
WEST EAST v Meteoric water

+
v
v v

v v
v
v
Magmatic fluid

.
v
v

v
v
v v v v

. ..

v
v v v v

v
Hydrothermal fluid

v
.

+
v
Erosion

+
v v v
v v

v
v

v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v
v
v

v v

+
v

+
v v v v
v

v v

v
v

v
v

v
v

.
v
v
v
v
v
v v
v
. v v
v

+
v v

v
v
v

+
v

+
v
Piuntza unit

v
v
v

v
v
v
v v v
v

.. .

v
v

v
+

v v
v

+
v

+
v

. ..
v
v
v

+
.
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
v

v
v

v
+
+

v
. v
v
v
AREA
+
+

v v v

+
v

+
+
v
Feldspar porphyry
v v v
v

v
v

+
OF B
v
v

+
+

v
+
+

v
+
v v

+
+

v
+

v
v

+v

v
+

v + v v
v
v

+
+

+
+

Zamora batholith

+
v v

+
+

+ + + + v v

v
v

+
+
+

+
+

+
+

+ + +

v
v
+ + v v v
Porphyry Cu-Au
+

+ +

++
2 km
+ + +

1 km

+ + +
v
+

+ +
+

+
+ +

+
+

v
+ +
+ +
+

magmas
v
+
+

+
+ +

+
v
++

+
v
v v

+
+
+

+
+

+
+

v
+

v
C Main-stage epithermal mineralization, basin filling, D Burial and late-stage epithermal activity
and minor uplift east of West fault
Erosion Fruta andesite Discovery outcrop
Sulfide oxidation

v
v v

.............

v
v v v

v
v
v

v v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v
v

v
v

v
As, Sb, and minor Au
v

v
v v
.

v
mineralization and
v
v v

................

v
v v
v
v
silicification on late
v
1m v
v v v v
v

v
Sinter fault in conglomerate
v

v
v

v
v

v
..

v
....

v
v
......

West fault

v v v

v
v
.

v v
v
.......

v
v v
v
v v v v v v v Chapiza Formation

v
v v
v
. .. . . .

v
Granodiorite/
v v

v
v v
Late fluid pulse Mixed
. . . . .+ ..

v
v
v
. . . .. +

diorite

v
. .. ... . .

v v
v
. . ..

v
on Westv fault
v
v v v

v
v

v
v
v v
. . ..

v
v
v
v

v
Conglomerate
. . ... .....

v
v v
v
v v v
v

v
v
v
v
v
v
.

v
v
v

v
Epithermal v v v

v
v

v
v

v Machinaza tuff
v
v

vein
v v
v

v
v
. .

v
500 m v
v
v v
v v v
v v
v

v
v
Fig. 15. Schematic evolution of the Fruta del Norte deposit. A. Jurassic magmatic arc construction and subeconomic por-
phyry copper mineralization associated with intermediate-composition porphyries dated at 169 ± 1 Ma. B. Arc erosion
exposes batholith beyond the Piuntza volcanic pendant and brings porphyry copper systems to within <150 m of the paleo-
surface. Strike-slip motion on the Las Peñas fault zone forms a local extensional domain and development of the Suárez
pull-apart basin, following Late Jurassic intrusion of feldspar porphyry (at 160.1 ± 0.2 Ma) and phreatic brecciation. Fruta del
Norte ore-forming epithermal system develops as hydrothermal fluids ascend through basin-margin structures, depositing
silica sinter at the surface and forming underlying alteration and gold-silver mineralization. C. Suárez basin begins to fill, with
conglomerate deposited on sinter west of the West fault. Hydrothermal activity continues, giving rise to sinter at surface and
mineralization at depth. Uplift and a transient drop in the paleoground-water table causes local oxidation of the uppermost
chalcedony-marcasite mineralization to form zone FDN3 before deposition of conglomerate cover on the active hydrother-
mal land surface. D. Basin conglomerate progressively covers area east of West fault, including the sinter horizon at Fruta del
Norte. Catchment area of conglomerate includes exposed epithermal veins and sinter (plus batholith phases) as these occur
as clasts in conglomerate above the deposit (see inset). One or more Machinaza tuff eruptions cover the basin during con-
glomerate deposition. Hydrothermal activity wanes but continues to silicify (±marcasite) conglomerate immediately overlying
the sinter horizon and causes illite alteration of the Machinaza tuff. Late movement on the West fault begins to truncate the
orebody. Maturation of Suárez basin results in deposition of dominantly finer grained clastics, initially on conglomerate in the
depocenter west of the West fault but ultimately spreading eastward to partially cover conglomerate in the Fruta del Norte
area. Latest hydrothermal fluid flows up the West and/or Central faults to cause local silica-marcasite alteration of conglomer-
ate west of the West fault and form the silicified rib at the discovery outcrop at least 130 m above the sinter horizon (see Fig.
2A). Eruption of Fruta andesite (157–154 Ma) marks end of Suárez basin formation after cessation of hydrothermal activity.

derived either from Bonza-Las Peñas or undocumented veins rather fortuitously, the hydrothermal system may have begun
east of the East fault zone. to wane at precisely the time that basin filling began.
Given that only relatively low-order gold values occur above
the sinter horizon, it is reasonable to conclude that the poten- Mineralization processes
tially rapid accumulation of conglomerate on top of the active The high gold tenors that typify the Fruta del Norte deposit,
ore-forming environment caused termination of the bonanza- particularly its central parts (Fig. 9), may be confidently
grade gold stage. More speculatively, basin filling may even ascribed to boiling of the ascendant mineralizing fluids based
have been the main factor in the demise of the system, with on the abundant textural and mineralogic evidence. This
hydrothermal activity all but extinguished at the time of Fruta includes the crustiform-colloform and carbonate-replacement
andesite eruption (Fig. 15D). The unlithified and water-satu- (lattice) textures and presence of adularia and flamboyant
rated conglomerate cover could have acted as both a rheologic quartz (Simmons and Browne, 2000; Simmons et al., 2005)
and chemical barrier because of its reduced ability to sustain along with hydrothermal eruption breccias (Hedenquist and
brittle fractures (e.g., Rawling et al., 2001) and its quenching Henley, 1985; Rowland and Simmons, 2012) and silica sinter
and diluent effects on the ascendant fluids. Alternatively, and (Fournier, 1985; Simmons and Browne, 2000). Nonetheless,
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1069
an appreciable proportion of the coarse gold throughout the
deposit may have been transported as metallic nanoparticles
(colloids), judging by its common dendritic forms, porous
nature, and local occurrence in geopetal structures (cf. Saun-
ders, 1990, 2012; Novgorodova, 2005).
Although boiling accounts well for the formation of both
the FDN1 and FDN4 zones, it does not provide an obvi-
ous explanation for their markedly different mineralogic
characteristics. The abrupt, relatively steep contact within
the high-grade core of the deposit between the manganoan
carbonate-rich, intermediate sulfidation FDN1 zone in the
south and the manganese-poor, low sulfidation FDN4 zone
in the north strongly suggests that two broadly contempora-
neous fluid sources may have been required. The southern
fluid, which gave rise to the higher manganese, base metal,
and silver contents of FDN1 veins, is assumed to have had a
different composition to the manganese- and base metal-poor,
northern fluid responsible for the FDN4 veining (e.g., Sillitoe
and Hedenquist, 2003; Camprubí and Albinson, 2007). Bear-
ing in mind the close spatial association between the Fruta
del Norte deposit and the isolated and broadly coeval feldspar
porphyry intrusion, it is possible that the contrast in fluid com-
positions (e.g., salinities), may reflect relative proximity to a
deeper magma source (Sillitoe and Hedenquist, 2003).
The abrupt upward changes from the manganoan carbon-
ate-rich FDN1 zone and quartz- and calcite-rich FDN4 zone
to the carbonate-free, massively silicified FDN2 zone (and
affiliated FDN3 zone) may be attributed to the abrupt cool-
ing of the ascendant hydrothermal fluids that would be antici-
pated on approach to the paleosurface sinter (Fournier, 1985;
Rimstidt and Barnes, 1980). If this near-surface fluid cooling
was accompanied by slight acidification, implied by the minor
amounts of observed kaolinite, it could also account for pre-
cipitation of the accompanying marcasite (Murowchick and
Barnes, 1986; Reyes, 1990).
The FDN3 zone is believed to have formed by oxidative
weathering of the uppermost parts of the FDN2 zone, pre-
sumably during a short-lived drop in the paleoground-water
table immediately before sinter formation. West-side-down
motion on the West fault is considered as the most likely
cause of the paleoground-water table descent. The paucity of
iron hydroxides in the sulfide-free silicified rock may reflect
the low pH of the supergene solutions consequent upon their
extremely low neutralization capacity. The iron sulfides in the
overlying silicified basal conglomerate and in veinlets cutting
the sulfide-free zone show no sign of oxidation, implying that
it was a transient event that soon gave way to renewed sulfide
deposition.
Concluding Remarks
Discovery of the Fruta del Norte gold-silver deposit resulted
from drill testing of a conceptual exploration model based
on an improved district-scale geologic understanding gained
through investigation of the exposed Bonza-Las Peñas veins
combined with systematic mapping. Nonetheless, the large
size and high grade of the resulting bulk-mineable orebody
were entirely unpredictable. The deposit, characterized by
bonanza grades and widespread visible gold, is exceptional in
regard to its relatively small volume (1.3 km long, 60–>160 m
wide, and ~300 m high), grade continuity, and total metal
inventory—at least 10 Moz Au and 15 Moz Ag, and even
more if a cutoff lower than the currently applied 3.4 g/t Au is
employed. Notwithstanding the remote location, the first two
of these attributes facilitated initial resource definition in less
than two years after discovery.
Fruta del Norte is remarkable for its complete preservation
and juxtaposition of ore with the overlying, 1.1-km-long sin-
ter horizon. Since discovery of the McLaughlin deposit ~35
years ago (Gustafson, 1991) and notwithstanding considerable
exploration effort (e.g., Casaceli et al., 1986), few epithermal
gold deposits have been encountered in close association with
silica sinter accumulations and, until the discovery of Fruta
del Norte, none has been shown to exist in partial contact with
sinter. Therefore the Fruta del Norte discovery reemphasizes
the sinter-ore relationship and should encourage drilling of
sinter horizons that were either superficially or never tested.
The Fruta del Norte deposit, preserved beneath conglom-
erate, exemplifies one of several mechanisms that can lead to
formation of geologically blind epithermal deposits (e.g., Sil-
litoe, 2015). Fluviatile conglomerate deposition in the subsid-
ing Suárez pull-apart basin resulted in progressive burial of the
deposit and may have been ultimately responsible for extinc-
tion of the hydrothermal system. Nonetheless, alteration and
minor gold mineralization affected at least a 200-m thickness
of the capping conglomerate, with massive silicification, chal-
cedonic veinlets and brecciation, arsenic and antimony anom-
alism, and low-order gold values on the present-day surface
being indicative of the ore at depth.
Since extensional pull-apart settings like that at Fruta del
Norte are widely recognized to host epithermal precious
metal deposits (e.g., Sibson, 1986; Henley and Adams, 1992;
Choi et al., 2005; Neubauer et al., 2005; Berger, 2007; Zhang
et al., 2008) and the hydrothermal systems in which they form
(e.g., Coolbaugh et al., 2005; Muraoka et al., 2010), Fruta del
Norte is unlikely to be unique and analogues must be antici-
pated elsewhere. It seems probable that active hydrothermal
systems would be capable of continued upward propaga-
tion through slowly deposited siliciclastic sediments, typical
of sediment-starved pull-apart basins in semiarid and arid
regions (e.g., Reijs and McClay, 2003; Ferrill et al., 2012).
Therefore, blind epithermal deposits with limited surface
manifestations, like Fruta del Norte, would perhaps be more
likely beneath rapidly subsiding pull-apart basins subjected
to humid climatic regimes and consequent high erosion and
sedimentation rates. Any such blind epithermal deposits can
only be realistically targeted by scout drilling beneath sedi-
mentary rocks displaying silicification and arsenic, antimony,
and mercury anomalism—the modus operandi at Fruta del
Norte—unless the cover has been sufficiently thinned by ero-
sion for geophysical methods to be effective.
Acknowledgments
Aurelian Resources’ Ecuador-based exploration team—geolo-
gists Julio Soto, Vinicio Pazmay, Jorge Lema, Carlos Santacruz,
Federico Mera, Alan San Martín, and Jaime Galarza and sup-
port staff Gilbert Campoverde, Carson Noel, Claudio Fierro,
Paul Morales, and Ramón Orellana—is thanked for its criti-
cal role in the Fruta del Norte discovery. Company founders,
Patrick Anderson and Keith Barron, recognized the potential
of the La Zarza concession in 2001 and, along with the other
1070 LEARY ET AL.
directors and senior management of Aurelian Resources, are
thanked for having faith in the exploration team and fully sup-
porting the drill testing of a high-risk, conceptual exploration
model. Geologists Daniele Spethmann and Tom Neelands
did excellent exploration work in 2005 that contributed to the
pull-apart basin model and Hendrik Schloemann, assisted by
Bart Wilson, did an exceptional job of supervising the regional
exploration program to completion by late 2005. Other Aure-
lian personnel who contributed to the exploration and geo-
logic interpretation include Brent Alloway, Xavier Buenaño,
Malco Campoverde, Manuel Cuenca, Andrei Egorov, Mario
Guzmán, Diego Iturralde, Fredy Jiménez, Xavier Jimé-
nez, Osvaldo Medina, Luis Morales, David Rivero, Osvaldo
Robles, Xavier Toledo, Edgardo Torres, José Uzcátegui, and
Jenny Zembrano. Gregg Morrison provided geologic input
during a 2007 visit, and Darryl Lindsay and John Drobe
shared map and geologic information on the Pangui porphyry
copper belt. The manuscript was considerably improved as a
result of constructive reviews by Tawn Albinson, Jeff Mauk,
and, in particular, Stuart Simmons.
REFERENCES
Adams, S.F., 1920, A microscopic study of vein quartz: Economic Geology,
v. 15, p. 623–664.
Albinson, T., 1988, Geologic reconstruction of paleosurfaces in the Sombre-
rete, Colorada, and Fresnillo districts, Zacatecas State, Mexico: Economic
Geology, v. 83, p. 1647–1667.
Aspden, J.A., and Litherland, M., 1992, The geology and Mesozoic collisional
history of the Cordillera Real, Ecuador: Tectonophysics, v. 205, p. 187–204.
Balkwill, H.R., Rodrique, G., Paredes, F.I., and Almeida, J.P., 1995, Northern
part of Oriente Basin, Ecuador: Reflection seismic expression of structures:
American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 62, p. 559–571.
Bartlett, M.W., Enders, M.S., and Hruska, D.C., 1991, Geology of the Hol-
lister gold deposit, Ivanhoe district, Elko County, Nevada, in Raines, G.L.,
Lisle, R.E., Schafer, R.W., and Wilkinson, W.H., eds., Geology and ore
deposits of the Great Basin: Geological Society of Nevada Symposium Pro-
ceedings, v. 2, p. 957–978.
Benavides-Cáceres, V., 1999, Orogenic evolution of the Peruvian Andes:
The Andean cycle: Society of Economic Geologists Special Publication 7,
p. 61–107.
Berger, B.R., 2007, The 3D fault and vein architecture of strike-slip releas-
ing- and restraining bends: Evidence from volcanic-centre-related mineral
deposits: Geological Society, London, Special Publication 290, p. 447–471.
Berger, B.R., and Eimon, P.I., 1983, Conceptual models of epithermal
precious metal deposits, in Shanks, W.C., III, ed., Cameron volume on
unconventional mineral deposits: New York, Society of Mining Engineers,
p. 191–205.
Berger, B.R., and Silberman, M.L., 1985, Relationships of trace-element
patterns to geology in hot-spring-type precious-metal deposits: Reviews in
Economic Geology, v. 2, p. 233–247.
Board, W., and McNaughton, K., 2013, The Brucejack high-grade gold
project, northwest British Columbia, Canada: NewGenGold 2013 Confer-
ence—Case Histories of Discovery, Perth, 2013, Proceedings, p. 177–191,
West Perth, Paydirt Media Pty Ltd.
Brathwaite, R.L., and Faure, K., 2002, The Waihi epithermal gold-silver-base
metal sulfide-quartz vein system, New Zealand: Temperature and salin-
ity controls on electrum and sulfide deposition: Economic Geology, v. 97,
p. 269–290.
Busby, C., and Bassett, K., 2007, Volcanic facies architecture of an intra-arc
strike-slip basin, Santa Rita Mountains, southern Arizona: Bulletin of Vol-
canology, v. 70, p. 85–103.
Campbell, K.A., Guido, D., Gautret, P., Foucher, F., Ramboz, C., and Westall,
F., 2015, Geyserite in hot-spring siliceous sinter: Window on Earth’s hottest
terrestrial (paleo)environment and its extreme life: Earth-Science Reviews,
v. 148, p. 44–64.
Camprubí, A., and Albinson, T., 2007, Epithermal deposits in México—
update of current knowledge, and an empirical reclassification: Geological
Society of America Special Paper 422, p. 377–415.
Casaceli, R.J., Wendell, D.E., and Hoisington, W.D., 1986, Geology and
mineralization of the McGinness Hills, Lander County, Nevada: Nevada
Bureau of Mines and Geology Report 41, p. 93–102.
Chayes, F., 1952, Notes on the staining of potash feldspar with sodium cobalt-
initrite in thin section: American Mineralogist, v. 37, p. 337–340.
Chew, D.M., Schaltegger, U., Košler, J., Whitehouse, M.J., Gutjahr, M., Spik-
ings, R.A., and Mišković, A., 2007, U-Pb geochronologic evidence for the
evolution of the Gondwanan margin of the north-central Andes: Geological
Society of America Bulletin, v. 119, p. 697–711.
Chiaradia, M., Vallance, J., Fontboté, L., Stein, H., Schaltegger, U., Coder,
J., Richards, J., Villeneuve, M., and Gendall, I., 2009, U-Pb, Re-Os, and
39Ar/40Ar geochronology of the Nambija Au-skarn and Pangui porphyry Cu
deposits, Ecuador: Implications for the Jurassic metallogenic belt of the
Northern Andes: Mineralium Deposita, v. 44, p. 371–387.
Choi, S.-G., Ryu, I.-C., Pak, S.J., Wee, S.-M., Kim, C.S., and Park, M.-E.,
2005, Cretaceous epithermal gold-silver mineralization and geodynamic
environment, Korea: Ore Geology Reviews, v. 26, p. 115–135.
Coolbaugh, M.F., Arehart, G.B., Faulds, J.E., and Garside, L.J., 2005, Geo-
thermal systems in the Great Basin, western United States: Modern ana-
logues to the roles of magmatism, structure, and regional tectonics in the
formation of gold deposits, in Rhoden, H.N., Steininger, R.C., and Vikre,
P.G., eds., Geological Society of Nevada Symposium 2005: Windows to the
World, p. 1063–1081.
Cunneen, R., and Sillitoe, R.H., 1989, Paleozoic hot spring sinter in the Drum-
mond basin, Queensland, Australia: Economic Geology, v. 84, p. 135–142.
Dong, G., Morrison, G., and Jaireth, S., 1995, Quartz textures in epithermal
veins, Queensland: Classification, origin, and implication: Economic Geol-
ogy, v. 90, p. 1841–1856.
Drobe, J., Lindsay, D., Stein, H., and Gabites, J., 2013, Geology, mineral-
ization, and geochronological constraints of the Mirador Cu-Au porphyry
district, southeast Ecuador: Economic Geology, v. 108, p. 11–35.
Eguez, A., Alvarado, A., Yepes, H., Machette, M.N., Costa, C., and Dart,
R.L., 2003, Database and map of Quaternary faults and folds in Ecuador
and its offshore regions: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 03-289,
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2003/ofr-03-289/
Einaudi, M.T., Hedenquist, J.W., and Inan, E.E., 2003, Sulfidation state of
fluids in active and extinct hydrothermal systems: Transitions from por-
phyry to epithermal environments: Society of Economic Geologists Special
Publication 10, p. 285–313.
Evans, L., Ross, D., and Scholey, B., 2014, Technical report on the mineral
resource estimate, Fruta del Norte project, Ecuador: NI 43-101 report pre-
pared for Fortress Minerals Corp. by Roscoe Postle Associates Ltd., 171 p.
(available at www.sedar.com)
Ewers, G.R., and Keays, R.R., 1977, Volatile and precious metal zoning in
the Broadlands geothermal field, New Zealand: Economic Geology, v. 72,
p. 1337–1354.
Ferrill, D.A., Morris, A.P., Stamatakos, J.A., Waiting, D.J., Donelick, R.A.,
and Blythe, A.E., 2012, Constraints on exhumation and extensional faulting
in southwestern Nevada and eastern California, U.S.A., from zircon and
apatite thermochronology: Lithosphere, v. 4, p. 63–76.
Fontboté, L., Vallance, J., Markowski, A., and Chiaradia, M., 2004, Oxidized
gold skarns in the Nambija district, Ecuador: Society of Economic Geolo-
gists Special Publication 11, p. 341–357.
Fournier, R.O., 1985, The behaviour of silica in hydrothermal solutions:
Reviews in Economic Geology, v. 2, p. 45–61.
Gemuts, I., Lopez, G., and Jimenez, F., 1992, Gold deposits of southern
Ecuador: Society of Economic Geologists Newsletter 11, p. 1, 13–16.
Gendall, I.R., Quevedo, L.A., Sillitoe, R.H., Spencer, R.M., Puente, C.O.,
León, J.P., and Povedo, R.R., 2000, Discovery of a Jurassic porphyry cop-
per belt, Pangui area, southern Ecuador: Society of Economic Geologists
Newsletter 43, p. 1, 8–15.
Geyer, O.F., 1974, Der Unterjura (Santiago-Formation) von Ekuador: Neues
Jahrbuch Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte 1974, p. 525–541.
Guido, D.M., and Campbell, K.A., 2014, A large and complete Jurassic geo-
thermal field at Claudia, Deseado Massif, Santa Cruz, Argentina: Journal of
Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 275, p. 61–70.
Guido, D., de Barrio, R., and Schalamuk, I., 2002, La Marciana Jurassic sin-
ter—implications for exploration for epithermal precious-metal deposits in
Deseado Massif, southern Patagonia, Argentina: Applied Earth Science,
v. 111, p. 106–113.
Guido, D.M., Channing, A., Campbell, K.A., and Zamuner, A., 2010, Juras-
sic geothermal landscapes and fossil ecosystems at San Agustín, Patagonia,
Argentina: Journal of the Geological Society, London, v. 167, p. 11–20.
 FRUTA DEL NORTE EPITHERMAL Au-Ag DEPOSIT, SE ECUADOR 1071
Gustafson, D.L., 1991, Anatomy of a discovery: The McLaughlin mine, Napa,
Yolo, and Lake Counties, California: Economic Geology Monograph 8,
p. 350–359.
Gustafson, L.B., and Hunt, J.P., 1975, The porphyry copper deposit at El
Salvador, Chile: Economic Geology, v. 70, p. 857–912.
Hedenquist, J.W., and Henley, R.W. 1985, Hydrothermal eruptions in the
Waiotapu geothermal system, New Zealand: Their origin, associated brec-
cias, and relation to precious metal mineralization: Economic Geology,
v. 80, p. 1640–1668.
Hedenquist, J.W., Izawa, E., Arribas, A., Jr., and White, N.C., 1996, Epi-
thermal gold deposits: Styles, characteristics, and exploration: Resource
Geology Special Publication 1, 17 p.
Hedenquist, J.W., Arribas, A., Jr., and Gonzalez-Urien, E., 2000, Explora-
tion for epithermal gold deposits: Reviews in Economic Geology, v. 13,
p. 245–277.
Henley, R.W., and Adams, D.P.M., 1992, Strike-slip fault reactivation as
a control on epithermal vein-style gold mineralization: Geology, v. 20,
p. 443–446.
Hennessey, B.H., and Puritch, E.J., 2005, A mineral resource estimate for
the Bonza-Las Peñas deposit, Cordillera del Condor project, Zamora-
Chinchipe province, southeastern Ecuador: Technical report prepared for
Aurelian Resources Inc. by Micon International Ltd., 88 p (available at
www.sedar.com).
Hennessey, B.H., Puritch, E.J., Gowans, R.M., and Leary, S.F., 2007, A
mineral resource estimate for the Fruta del Norte deposit, Cordillera del
Condor project, Zamora-Chinchipe province, Ecuador: Technical report
prepared for Aurelian Resources Inc. by Micon International Ltd., 126 p.
(available at www.sedar.com).
Izawa, E., Urashima, Y., Ibaraki, K., Suzuki, R., Yokoyama, T., Kawasaki, K.,
Koga, A., and Taguchi, S., 1990, The Hishikari gold deposit: high-grade
epithermal veins in Quaternary volcanics of southern Kyushu, Japan: Jour-
nal of Geochemical Exploration, v. 36, p. 1–56.
Izawa, E., Naito, K., Ibaraki, K., and Suzuki, R., 1993, Mudstones in a hydro-
thermal eruption crater above the gold-bearing vein system of Yamada
deposit at Hishikari, Japan: Resource Geology Special Issue 14, p. 85–92.
Jaillard, E., 1997, Síntesis estratigráfica y sedimentológica del Cretáceo y
Paleogeno de la Cuenca Oriental del Ecuador: Informe final del convenio
ORSTOM-Petroproducción, Paris, ORSTOM, 164 p.
Jones, B., Rosen, M.R., and Renaut, R.W., 2001, “Geyser eggs” from Te Wha-
karewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao, North Island, New Zealand: Journal
of Sedimentary Research, v. 71, p. 190–204.
Kesler, S.E., and Wilkinson, B.H., 2009, Resources of gold in Phanerozoic
epithermal deposits: Economic Geology, v. 104, p. 623–633.
Leary, S., Galarza, J., Lema, J., Pazmay, V., Mera, F., San Martin, A., Santa
Cruz, C., and Soto, J., 2007, The Fruta del Norte epithermal gold-silver
discovery, S.E. Ecuador: NewGenGold 2007 Conference—Case Histories
of Discovery, Perth, 2007, Proceedings, p. 113–126, West Perth, Paydirt
Media Pty Ltd.
Lehrman, N.J., 1986, The McLaughlin mine, Napa and Yolo Counties, Cali-
fornia: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Report 41, p. 85–89.
León, W.R., Palacios O., Vargas, L., and Sánchez, A.W., 2000, Memoria expli-
cativa del mapa geológico del Perú. Escala 1:100,000, 1999: Boletín del
Instituto Geológico Minero y Metalúrgico [Peru], ser. A, no. 136, 73 p.
Litherland, M., Fortey, N.J., and Beddoe-Stephens, B., 1992, Newly discov-
ered Jurassic skarnfields in the Ecuadorian Andes: Journal of South Ameri-
can Earth Sciences, v. 6, p. 67–75.
Litherland, M., Aspden, J.A., and Jemielita, R.A., 1994, The metamorphic belts
of Ecuador: Overseas Memoir of the British Geological Survey 11, 147 p.
Lynne, B.Y., 2012, Mapping vent to distal-apron hot spring paleo-flow path-
ways using siliceous sinter architecture: Geothermics, v. 43, p. 3–24.
Mann, P., 2007, Global catalogue, classification and tectonic origins of
restraining- and releasing bends on active and ancient strike-slip fault sys-
tems: Geological Society, London, Special Publication 290, p. 13–142.
Martin-Gombojav, N., and Winkler, W., 2008, Recycling of Proterozoic crust
in the Andean Amazon foreland of Ecuador: Implications for orogenic
development of the Northern Andes: Terra Nova, v. 20, p. 22–31.
McDougall, I., and Harrison, T.M., 1999, Geochronology and thermochro-
nology by the 40Ar/39Ar method, 2nd ed.: New York, Oxford University Press,
269 p.
Moncada, D., Mutchler, S., Nieto, A., Reynolds, T.J., Rimstidt, J.D., and
Bodnar, R.J., 2012, Mineral textures and fluid inclusion petrography of the
epithermal Ag-Au deposits at Guanajuato, Mexico: Application to explora-
tion: Journal of Geochemical Exploration, v. 114, p. 20–35.
Muraoka, H., Takahashi, M., Sundhoro, H., Dwipa, S., Soeda, Y., Momita,
M., and Shimada, K., 2010, Geothermal systems constrained by the Suma-
tran fault and its pull-apart basins in Sumatra, western Indonesia: World
Geothermal Congress, Bali, Indonesia, 2010, Proceedings, 9 p.
Murowchick, J.B., and Barnes, H.L., 1986, Marcasite precipitation from
hydrothermal solutions: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 50,
p. 2615–2629.
Navarro Cardenas, M., 1986, Investigación histórica de la minería en el Ecua-
dor: Quito, Dirección de Comunicación Social del Ministerio de Energía y
Minas, v. 1, 185 p.
Neubauer, F., Lips, A., Kouzmanov, K., Lexa, J., and Ivaˇşcanu, P., 2005, Sub-
duction, slab detachment and mineralization: The Neogene in the Apuseni
Mountains and Carpathians: Ore Geology Reviews, v. 27, p. 13–44.
Nilsen, T.H., and Sylvester, A.G., 1999, Strike-slip basins: Part I: Leading
Edge, v. 18, p. 1146–1152.
Novgorodova, M.I., 2005, Metacolloidal gold: New Data on Minerals [Rus-
sian Academy of Sciences], v. 40, p. 106-114.
Pindell, J., and Tabbutt, K., 1995, Mesozoic-Cenozoic Andean paleogeogra-
phy and regional controls on hydrocarbon systems: American Association of
Petroleum Geologists Memoir 62, p. 101–128.
Prodeminca, 2000, Depósitos porfídicos y epi-mesotermales relacionados con
intrusiones de la Cordillera el Condor (Volumen 5): Proyecto de desarrollo
minero y control ambiental (Prodeminca), Subcomponente 3.5: Evaluacíon
de distritos mineros del Ecuador: Quito, Ministerio de Energía y Minas,
112 p.
Quispesivana, L., 1996, Geología de los cuadrángulos de Puesto L1ave y Río
Comaina: Boletín del Instituto Geológico Minero y Metalúrgico [Peru], ser.
A, no. 64, 120 p.
Quispesivana, L.J., and Zárate, H., 1999, Geología de los cuadrángulos de Río
Naraime, Río Machinaza y Jiménez Banda: Boletín del Instituto Geológico
Minero y Metalúrgico [Peru], ser. A, no. 135, 136 p.
Ramos, V.A., 1999, Plate tectonic setting of the Andean Cordillera: Episodes,
v. 22, p. 183–190.
Rawling, G.C., Goodwin, L.B., and Wilson, J.L., 2001, Internal architecture,
permeability structure, and hydrologic significance of contrasting fault-
zone types: Geology, v. 29, p. 43–46.
Reijs, J., and McClay, K., 2003, The Salina del Fraile pull-apart basin, north-
west Argentina: Geological Society, London, Special Publication 210,
p. 197–209.
Reyes, A.G., 1990, Petrology of Philippine geothermal systems and the appli-
cation of alteration mineralogy to their assessment: Journal of Volcanology
and Geothermal Research, v. 43, p. 279–309.
Richards, T.H., Ketut Gede Suyadnya, I., Tyasmudadi, N., Darmawan, D.,
and Muryanto, A., 2005, The discovery of the Kencana low sulphidation
epithermal deposit, Gosowong goldfield, Halmahera island, East Indonesia:
NewGenGold 2005 Conference—Case Histories of Discovery, Perth, 2005,
Proceedings, p. 151–167, West Perth, Paydirt Media Pty Ltd.
Rimstidt, J.D., and Barnes, H.L., 1980, The kinetics of silica-water reactions:
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 44, p. 1683–1699.
Rosas, S., Fontboté, L., and Tankard, A., 2007, Tectonic evolution and paleo-
geography of the Mesozoic Pucará Basin, central Peru: Journal of South
American Earth Sciences, v. 24, p. 1–24.
Rosenbaum, G., Giles, D., Saxon, M., Betts, P.G., Weinberg, R.F., and Duboz,
C., 2005, Subduction of the Nazca Ridge and the Inca Plateau: Insights into
the formation of ore deposits in Peru: Earth and Planetary Science Letters,
v. 239, p. 18–32.
Rowland, J.V., and Simmons, S.F, 2012, Hydrologic, magmatic, and tectonic
controls on hydrothermal flow, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand: Impli-
cations for the formation of epithermal vein deposits: Economic Geology,
v. 107, p. 427–457.
Ruiz, G.M.H., Seward, D., and Winkler, W., 2007, Evolution of the Amazon
basin in Ecuador with special reference to hinterland tectonics: Data from
zircon fission-track and heavy mineral analysis: Developments in Sedimen-
tology, v. 58, p. 907–934.
Sander, M.V., and Black, J.E., 1988, Crystallization and recrystallization of
growth-zoned vein quartz crystals from epithermal systems: Implications
for fluid inclusion studies: Economic Geology, v. 83, p. 1052–1060.
Saunders, J.A., 1990, Colloidal transport of gold and silica in epithermal pre-
cious-metal systems: Evidence from the Sleeper deposit, Nevada: Geology,
v. 18, p. 757–760.
——2012, Textural evidence of episodic introduction of metallic nanopar-
ticles into bonanza epithermal ores: Minerals, v. 2, p. 228–243.
1072 LEARY ET AL.
Schalamuk, I.B., Zubia, M.A., Genini, A., and Fernández, R.R., 1997, Jurassic
epithermal Au-Ag deposits of Patagonia, Argentina: Ore Geology Reviews,
v. 12, p. 173–186.
Schieber, J., and Katsura, K.T., 1986, Sedimentation in epithermal veins of
the Bohemia mining district, Oregon, USA: Interpretations and signifi-
cance: Mineralium Deposita, v. 21, p. 322–328.
Shanmugam, G., Poffenberger, H., and Toro Álava, J., 2000, Tide-dominated
estuarine facies in the Hollin and Napo (“T” and “U”) Formations (Cre-
taceous), Sacha Field, Oriente Basin, Ecuador: American Association of
Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 84, p. 652–682.
Shatwell, D., Clifford, J.A., Echavarría, D., Irusta, G., and Lopez, D., 2011,
Discoveries of low-sulfidation epithermal Au-Ag veins at Cerro Negro,
Deseado massif, Argentina: Society of Economic Geologists Newsletter 85,
p. 1, 17–23.
Sherlock, R.L., Tosdal, R.M., Lehrman, N.J., Graney, J.R., Losh, S., Jowett,
E.G., and Kesler, S.E., 1995, Origin of the McLaughlin mine sheeted vein
complex: Metal zoning, fluid inclusion, and isotopic evidence: Economic
Geology, v. 90, p. 2156–2181.
Sibson, R.H., 1986, Earthquakes and lineament infrastructure: Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society of London, ser. A., v. 317, p. 63–79.
Sillitoe, R.H., 1985, Ore-related breccias in volcanoplutonic arcs: Economic
Geology, v. 80, p. 1467–1514.
——2015, Epithermal paleosurfaces: Mineralium Deposita, v. 50, p. 767–793.
Sillitoe, R.H., and Hedenquist, J.W., 2003, Linkages between volcanotectonic
settings, ore-fluid compositions, and epithermal precious metal deposits:
Society of Economic Geologists Special Publication 10, p. 315–343.
Sillitoe, R.H., and Perelló, J., 2005, Andean copper province: Tectonomag-
matic settings, deposit types, metallogeny, exploration, and discovery: Eco-
nomic Geology 100th Anniversary Volume, p. 845–890.
Sillitoe, R.H., Jaramillo, L., Damon, P.E., Shafiqullah, M., and Escovar, R.,
1982, Setting, characteristics, and age of the Andean porphyry copper belt
in Colombia: Economic Geology, v. 77, p. 1837–1850.
Simmons, S.F., and Browne, P.R.L., 2000, Hydrothermal minerals and pre-
cious metals in the Broadlands-Ohaaki geothermal system: Implications for
understanding low-sulfidation epithermal environments: Economic Geol-
ogy, v. 95, p. 971–999.
Simmons, S.F., White, N.C., and John, D.A., 2005, Geological characteristics
of epithermal precious and base metal deposits: Economic Geology 100th
Anniversary Volume, p. 485–522.
Snee, L.W., 2002, Argon thermochronology of mineral deposits—a review of
analytical methods, formulations, and selected applications: U.S. Geological
Survey Bulletin 2194, 39 p.
Spikings, R.A., Winkler, W., Seward, D., and Handler, R., 2001, Along-strike
variations in the thermal and tectonic response of the Ecuadorian Andes to
the collision with heterogeneous oceanic crust: Earth and Planetary Science
Letters, v. 186, p. 57–73.
Spikings, R.A., Crowhurst, P.V., Winkler, W., and Villagómez, D., 2010, Syn-
and post-accretionary cooling history of the Ecuadorian Andes constrained
by their in-situ and detrital thermochronometric record: Journal of South
American Earth Sciences, v. 30, p. 121–133.
Spiridonov, A.M., Zorina, L.D., Letunov, S.P., and Prokof’ev, V.Yu., 2010, The
fluid regime of ore formation in the Balei gold-bearing ore-magmatic sys-
tem (eastern Transbaikalia, Russia): Russian Geology and Geophysics, v. 51,
p. 1102–1109.
Stewart, P.W., and Leary, S., 2007, The Fruta del Norte epithermal gold-silver
deposit, SE Ecuador, in Andrew, C.J., et al., eds., Mineral exploration and
research: Digging deeper: Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits
(SGA) Biennial Meeting, 9th, Dublin, 2007, Proceedings, v. 1, p. 719–722.
——2008, The Fruta del Norte epithermal gold-silver deposit, south-east
Ecuador [ext. abs.]: Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Pac-
rim Congress 2008, Gold Coast, Queensland, 2008, Extended Abstracts,
p. 133–137.
Sylvester, A.G., 1988, Strike-slip faults: Geological Society of America Bul-
letin, v. 100, p. 1666–1703.
Tschopp, H.J., 1953, Oil explorations in the Oriente of Ecuador, 1938–1950:
Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 37,
p. 2303–2347.
van Leeuwen, T.M., Leach, T.M., Hawke, A.A., and Hawke, M.M., 1990, The
Kelian disseminated gold deposit, East Kalimantan, Indonesia: Journal of
Geochemical Exploration, v. 35, p. 1–61.
Warren, I., Zuluaga, J.I., Robbins, C.H., Wulftange, W.H., and Simmons,
S.F., 2004, Geology and geochemistry of epithermal Au-Ag mineralization
in the El Peñón district, northern Chile: Society of Economic Geologists
Special Publication 11, p. 113–139.
White, H.J., Skopec, R.A., Ramirez, F.A., Rodas, J.A., and Bonilla, G., 1995,
Reservoir characterization of the Hollin and Napo Formations, Western
Oriente Basin, Ecuador: American Association of Petroleum Geologists
Memoir 62, p. 573–596.
White, J.D.L., McPhie, J., and Skilling, I., 2000, Peperite: A useful genetic
term: Bulletin of Volcanology, v. 62, p. 65–66.
White, N.C., Wood, D.G., and Lee, M.C., 1989, Epithermal sinters of Paleo-
zoic age in North Queensland, Australia: Geology, v. 17, p. 718–722.
Woodcock, N.H., 2004, Life span and fate of basins: Geology, v. 32,
p. 685–688.
Woodcock, N.H., and Daly, M.C., 1986, The role of strike-slip fault systems
at plate boundaries: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Lon-
don, ser. A, v. 317, p. 13–29.
Zhang, Y., Schaubs, P.M., Zhao, C., Ord, A., Hobbs, B.E., and Barnicoat,
A.C., 2008, Fault-related dilation, permeability enhancement, fluid flow
and mineral precipitation patterns: Numerical models: Geological Society,
London, Special Publication 299, p. 239–255.