Economic Geology, v. 106, pp.

1365–1398

Exploration Tools for Linked Porphyry and Epithermal Deposits:

Example from the Mankayan Intrusion-Centered Cu-Au District, Luzon, Philippines*
ZHAOSHAN CHANG,1,†,** JEFFREY W. HEDENQUIST,2 NOEL C. WHITE,3 DAVID R. COOKE,1 MICHAEL ROACH,1
CARI L. DEYELL,1 JOEY GARCIA, JR., 4,** J. BRUCE GEMMELL,1 STAFFORD MCKNIGHT,5 AND ANA LIZA CUISON4,***
1 CODES ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 126, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
2 99 Fifth Avenue-Suite 260, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S5P5
3 P.O. Box 5181, Kenmore East, Queensland 4069, Australia
4 Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company, 21st Fl., BA-Lepanto Bldg., 8747 Paseo de Roxas, 1126, Makati City, Philippines
5 Geology and Metallurgy, School of Science and Engineering, University of Ballarat, P.O. Box 663, Ballarat VIC 3353, Australia

Abstract
The Mankayan mineral district of northern Luzon, Philippines, hosts several significant ore deposits and
prospects of various types within an area of ~25 km2, including the Far Southeast porphyry Cu-Au deposit, the
Lepanto high sulfidation epithermal Cu-Au deposit, the Victoria intermediate sulfidation epithermal Au-Ag
vein deposit, the Teresa epithermal Au-Ag vein deposit, the Guinaoang porphyry Cu-Au deposit, and the Buaki
and Palidan porphyry Cu-Au prospects, all having formed in a period of about 2 m.y., from ~3 Ma. The geo-
logic units include (1) a basement composed of Late Cretaceous to middle Miocene metavolcanic rocks and
volcaniclastic rocks; (2) the Miocene 12 to 13 Ma tonalitic Bagon intrusive complex; (3) the Pliocene, ~2.2 to
1.8 Ma, Imbanguila dacite porphyry and pyroclastic rocks; and (4) postmineralization cover rocks, including the
~1.2 to 1.0 Ma Bato dacite porphyry and pyroclastic rocks and the ~0.02 Ma Lapangan tuff.
Extensive advanced argillic alteration crops out for ~7 km along the unconformity between the basement
rocks and the Imbanguila dacite formation and consists of quartz-alunite ± pyrophyllite or diaspore, with local
zones of silicic alteration and a halo of dickite ± kaolinite. The alteration and its subhorizontal geometry indi-
cate that it is a lithocap or coalesced lithocaps. The northwest-striking portion is ~4 km long and hosts the
Lepanto enargite Au ore deposit, also controlled by the Lepanto fault. The Lepanto epithermal deposit is
related to the underlying Far Southeast porphyry; the quartz-alunite alteration halo of Lepanto is contempo-
raneous with the ~1.4 Ma potassic alteration of the porphyry. There are also silicic-advanced argillic alteration
patches ~600 m above the Far Southeast orebody at the present surface; these are interpreted to be perched
alteration. There is no systematic mineralogical or textural zoning in the Lepanto lithocap that indicates direc-
tion to the intrusive source. Most surface samples of the lithocap contain less than 50 ppb Au, despite many
being less than a few hundred meters from underground Cu-Au ore.
This study found that several characteristics of the Lepanto lithocap change systematically with distance
from the causative intrusion: The alunite absorption peak at ~1,480 nm in the short wavelength infrared
(SWIR) spectrum shifts to higher wavelengths where the sample is closer to the intrusive center, due to higher
Na and lower K content in the alunite; published experimental studies indicate that high Na/(Na + K) is related
to higher formation temperature. High Ca alunite, including huangite, also occurs at locations proximal to the
intrusive center. Alunite mineral composition analyzed by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spec-
trometry (LA-ICP-MS) indicates that the Pb content decreases toward the intrusive center, whereas Sr, La,
Sr/Pb, and La/Pb increase markedly. Whole-rock compositions, using only nonmineralized (taken as Cu <0.1wt
% and Au <0.1 ppm) and alunite-bearing samples, show that Pb and Ag/Au, plus Hg and Ag, decrease toward
the intrusive center, and Sr/Pb and La/Pb ratios increase. Normalizing whole-rock Pb to the (Na + K) molal
content produces a proxy for the alunite mineral composition, and this ratio provides the same indications as
the LA-ICP-MS analyses of alunite. The concealed Victoria epithermal veins consist of intermediate sulfida-
tion mineralization on the southwest flank of the porphyry. The veins are not exposed, but their presence at
depth is indicated by subtle alteration (illite or interstratified illite and/or smectite or smectite + pyrite) and
geochemical (As, Se) anomalies at the surface. The anomalies are strongly dependent on erosion level; no
anomalies were found where the surface is >~350 m above the upper extent of the veins. An airborne geo-
physics survey indicates that the Far Southeast orebody is associated with a wide zone of demagnetization due
to extensive magnetite-destructive phyllic alteration. Such low magnetic anomalies on the margin of a large
lithocap elsewhere may deserve attention. The directional indicators and mineralization signatures found in
this study have the potential to indicate direction to the intrusive center during exploration of similar porphyry-
epithermal districts.

† Corresponding author: e-mail, zhaoshan.chang@jcu.edu.au

* A digital supplement to this paper is available at <http://economicgeology.org/>
**Current address: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia.
***Current address: CODES ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 126, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia.

© 2011 Gold Open Access: this paper is published under the terms of the CC-BY license.

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 1366
Introduction
LITHOCAPS are horizontal to subhorizontal blankets of resid-
ual quartz and advanced argillic alteration of hypogene origin,
occurring over intrusions (Sillitoe, 1995a). They can host high
sulfidation epithermal mineralization, particularly within
their fracture-controlled roots. Lithocaps are temporally and
genetically related to intrusions that may be associated with
deeper porphyry-style mineralization (Sillitoe, 1995a, 1999,
2011; Hedenquist et al., 1998). Lithocaps can have large areal
extent (>20 km2; Sillitoe, 1995a) and, because they resist ero-
sion, are typically prominent at the surface, which generally
makes them easy to find. The presence of a lithocap of large
areal extent (A. Arribas, pers. commun., 1999) is encouraging
for exploration at an early stage, as it indicates extensive hy-
drothermal activity and potential for high sulfidation ore; in
addition, there is potential for deeper porphyry and marginal
epithermal vein mineralization. Despite the relative ease of
finding lithocaps, it may be difficult to further define the loca-
tion of mineralization within, under, or adjacent to a large
lithocap due to the lack of directional indicators. In particular,
determining the position of the underlying intrusive center is
commonly difficult. In addition, veins on the margin may ter-
minate several hundred meters below the paleosurface,
below the level of the lithocap. In a district without outcrop-
ping veins, exploration for such veins is typically difficult.
The Mankayan mineral district, northern Luzon, Philip-
pines, was studied in order to develop tools for exploration in
such districts, as it is the site of several large intrusion-related
ore deposits and prospects. The district lies within a well-de-
fined, 150-km-long belt of porphyry Cu deposits in the Cen-
tral Cordillera of northern Luzon (e.g., Cooke et al., 2011;
Deyell and Hedenquist, 2011; Hollings et al., 2011a, b; Wa-
ters et al., 2011; Wolfe and Cooke, 2011). It is one of the
country’s richest mining districts, both in terms of proven and
potential economic value as well as abundance and diversity
of hydrothermal mineralization (Sillitoe and Gappe, 1984).
Within an area of ~25 km2 there are several porphyry Cu-Au
and epithermal deposits and prospects (Fig. 1). The Lepanto
high sulfidation epithermal deposit and associated lithocap
host is located above and adjacent to the Far Southeast por-
phyry Cu-Au deposit (Fig. 1). In addition to the close spatial
relationship (Sillitoe, 1983) and an overlap in alteration and
ore mineralogy (Garcia, 1991; Hedenquist et al., 1998), the
two orebodies have been shown to be contemporaneous and
genetically linked (Arribas et al., 1995; Hedenquist et al.,
1998). The more recently discovered Victoria intermediate
sulfidation vein deposit (Cuison et al., 1998; Claveria, 2001),
located within 1 km southwest of the Far Southeast porphyry
(Fig. 1), and the adjacent Teresa vein deposit to the south,
completes the assemblage of porphyry and related high- and
intermediate sulfidation ore deposits in this intrusion-cen-
tered setting.
This study examined the surface expressions of the three
principal deposits, Lepanto (mined out), Far Southeast (drilled
out), and Victoria (now being mined). The ores of these de-
posits are largely blind, and this study was conducted in order
to identify signatures and directional indicators that would
have potential application during exploration of similar por-
phyry-epithermal districts. Such findings should be widely
applicable, given the common relationships noted among
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CHANG ET AL.
such deposits (e.g., Sillitoe and Hedenquist, 2003; Sillitoe,
2010) and evidence for transitions between them (e.g., Ein-
audi et al., 2003).
Discovery histories of ore deposits in the district
The Lepanto enargite Au orebody was worked for Cu and
Au at the start of the Ming dynasty (14th century), and by the
local people prior to the 1500s, after which the Spanish be-
came involved. Outcrops consisting of vuggy to massive
quartz along the Lepanto fault were first mined near the
1,150-m-elevation level, with luzonite-enargite still visible in
the old workings in the cliff face (Lepanto is the type locality
for luzonite). The Cantabro-Filipino company was the first to
conduct large-scale mining in 1865, with at least 1,100 metric
tons (t) of Cu produced during a 10-year period. The present
underground mining activity dates from 1936, when the Lep-
anto Consolidated Mining Co. commenced mining until the
Japanese took over production; Mitsui produced 11,000 t of
Cu during the early 1940s. Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co.
resumed mining in 1948, and up to 1996 a total of 36.3 Mt of
ore was produced from the Lepanto mine at an average grade
of 2.9 percent Cu, 3.4 g/t Au, and 14 g/t Ag, with a total of
0.74 Mt Cu, 92 t Au, and 393 t Ag recovered. The Lepanto
mine closed in 1996 with a remaining minable reserve of 4.4
Mt at 1.76 wt percent Cu and 2.4 g/t Au (Claveria et al.,
1999a).
The Far Southeast porphyry was discovered in 1980, based
in part on the prediction that Lepanto was sitting over a por-
phyry environment (Sillitoe, 1983). Porphyry fragments at the
surface were recognized by Lepanto geologists in outcrops of
Imbanguila dacite volcanic products in the 1970s. In 1978,
the deeper parts of two drill holes, drilled in 1974 about 4 km
southeast of Lepanto, were recognized to contain porphyry-
type mineralization; subsequent reassay in mid-1980 identi-
fied “appreciable Cu values” (Sillitoe, 1995b, p. 33). In 1979,
the Cu and Au mineralized porphyry fragments in outcrop
over the eastern end of the Lepanto orebody were recognized
as being hosted by a diatreme breccia, i.e., implying deriva-
tion from a nearby source at depth (Sillitoe, 1995b). An in-
duced polarization (IP) survey in 1979 east of Lepanto iden-
tified a 1.5-km-long chargeability anomaly, and this was tested
by a deep drill hole in April 1980. The drilling was unsuc-
cessful, intersecting only pyrite thought to be related to Lep-
anto. A second hole closer to Lepanto was drilled from
~1,400-m elevation to 1,100-m depth in October 1980, and
low-grade (0.16 wt % Cu, 0.31 g/t Au) mineralization of a leu-
cocratic quartz diorite porphyry stock was intersected in the
bottom 200 m of the hole. This successful drill hole con-
firmed a 1980 model developed from original surface obser-
vations that the diatreme-hosted porphyry-altered lithic frag-
ments were transported from the central parts of a porphyry
deposit to the surface by eruptive activity (Sillitoe, 1983).
Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. then rehabilitated the 700-
m-elevation level 1.5 km from the Lepanto workings into an
area that had earlier drill hole indications of good Cu and Au
mineralization. In late 1980, the first drill hole from this un-
derground position, 1,000 m in depth, intersected a 475-m in-
terval of 0.46 wt percent Cu and 0.41 g/t Au, with grades in-
creasing downward and continuing to the bottom of the hole;
this is considered to be the discovery drill hole. Up to 1986,
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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT 1367

FIG. 1. Geologic map of the Mankayan district (modified from Garcia, 1991, unpub.; this study) and Guinaoang (Sillitoe
and Angeles, 1985). The alteration mineral zones shown are for surface outcrops. Position of the Lepanto high sulfidation
deposit (red outline), Far Southeast porphyry mineralization (brown), Victoria-Teresa ore veins (thin red and brown lines),
Guinaoang, Buaki, and Palidan porphyry mineralization (brown outlines) are surface projections of largely underground ore-
bodies (the barren core of Guinaoang is shown). Suyoc is off the map area, ~1 km southeast of Palidan. There is only one
area of enargite-luzonite Au mineralization that crops out along the Lepanto fault trace: the Spanish workings. The quartz-
alunite zone includes traces of pyrophyllite, as well as dickite ± kaolinite. The dickite ± kaolinite zone locally includes pyro-
phyllite or diaspore over the Teresa vein. White mica is illite or muscovite but also has been mapped using the field term
“sericite” prior to this study. The two breccias are the diatreme breccia with porphyry-style alteration and mineralized lithic
fragments above the Lepanto orebody and the hydrothermal breccia above the northeast portion of the Far Southeast de-
posit. Dashed line shows the positions of schematic long section (Fig. 3) and the dotted line shows the position of cross sec-
tion through the Lepanto orebody and lithocap (Fig. 4); locations of Figures 6a, b, and 8a are also shown.

75 drill holes totaling 38,000 m were completed from under-
ground on a 100- to 75-m grid. An additional 11,700 m of
drilling was conducted in 1992 to 1995 by a joint venture be-
tween Lepanto and CRA Ltd. of Australia, to a depth of 250
m below sea level. The top of the resource is ~650 m below
the surface, and at a 1.0 wt percent Cu equiv cutoff, the de-
posit contains 356 Mt at 0.73 wt percent Cu and 1.24 g/t Au,
among the highest grades known in porphyry deposits of the
Philippines (Concepción and Cinco, 1989). The core of the
porphyry deposit contains 105 Mt at a grade of 0.86 percent

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 1368
Cu and 2.02 g/t Au at 1.8 percent Cu equiv cutoff, considered
to be economic for an underground operation in the 1980s
(Concepción and Cinco, 1989).
Epithermal veins at Nayak (Fig. 1) and Suyoc (6 km south-
east of Nayak) were exploited by artisanal miners for several
years. At Nayak, about 2 km south-southwest of the surface
projection of the Far Southeast deposit, outcropping quartz-
adularia veins have illite halos and contain sphalerite, galena,
and Au. These veins were exposed at ~1,200-m elevation by
river-cut erosion. By contrast, at Suyoc the principal ore was
quartz-carbonate-chalcopyrite veins (Gonzalez, 1967). In
early 1991, a surface drilling program of 12 shallow holes in
the Nayak area defined about 0.3 Mt of resources at an aver-
age grade of 3 g/t Au. In 1995, exploration shifted to the Tab-
bac area, northeast of Nayak and closer to the surface projec-
tion of the Far Southeast deposit. In May the sixth surface
hole of the year was drilled from 1,320-m elevation with a
south-southeast inclination. At the 1,200-m-elevation level,
clay alteration with comb-texture milky quartz and sphalerite-
galena was intersected with up to 0.7 g/t Au. At the 1,000-m-
elevation level, strong clay alteration and quartz veins with
sphalerite-chalcopyrite were intersected in the same hole,
with grades of 1.1 to 25.0 g/t Au over 21.6 m, averaging 3.7
g/t. Subsequently, in September 1995, lateral drilling from
the 1,000-m level of Lepanto to the west-southwest tested an
area 100 m east of the surface hole. The drilling intersected
eight mineralized zones with grades from 1.3 to 193 g/t Au,
with the best interval of 3.8 m averaging 112.7 g/t. A crosscut
was established from Lepanto at an elevation 50 m below the
intersections, and encouraging results led to the development
of the Victoria mine, with a 2,500 t/d carbon-in-pulp plant be-
coming operational in March 1997. The quartz-carbonate ep-
ithermal veins had an initial resource estimate of 11 Mt at 7.3
g/t Au; grades of 3 to 9 g/t are continuous over a 400-m-verti-
cal interval, and high-grade ore, >30 g/t Au, is more re-
stricted, with up to 250-m-vertical intervals (Cuison et al.,
1998; Disini et al., 1998; Claveria et al., 1999a, b). Subse-
quent development included a twin-ramp decline from near
Nayak completed in late 1999. These declines penetrated a
fault zone of broken vein material ~1 km south of the Victo-
ria veins that assayed up to 3 to 4 g/t Au. Subsequent under-
ground exploration drilling in a southwest direction from Vic-
toria found the northern extension of this fault zone with
better grades, not as high grade as the Victoria veins but with
wider brecciated intervals, and this area was denoted Teresa.
In October 2004, after seven years of mining, the remaining
Victoria resource was 4.6 Mt averaging 5.68 g/t Au at a 2.8 g/t
cutoff, and Teresa was 0.8 Mt averaging 5.73 g/t Au.
The Guinaoang porphyry Cu-Au deposit occurs 3 km
southeast of Far Southeast (Fig. 1). This prospect is largely
concealed by postmineralization rock and shallow-level ad-
vanced argillic alteration (quartz-alunite). The advanced argillic
alteration was drilled in the 1970s by a Filipino company ex-
ploring the area for Lepanto-like mineralization along the
southeast extrapolation of the Lepanto fault, principal host to
about 70 percent of the Lepanto orebody. Twelve holes, some
more than 500 m deep, were drilled without apparent success.
However, during subsequent relogging it was recognized that
high sulfidation sulfides overprinted sericitic alteration, and
that chalcopyrite is present at greater depths (Sillitoe, 1995b).
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CHANG ET AL.
The area was subsequently mapped by Gold Fields Asia Ltd.
in early 1980, who took the initial decision to drill test the
area for a porphyry target based on a small outcrop of inter-
mediate argillic alteration beneath hypogene quartz-alunite
alteration, as well as the relogging of the earlier drill holes
(Sillitoe and Angeles, 1985). Drilling intersected porphyry
stockwork from a 200-m depth and outlined an estimated re-
source of 500 Mt at a grade of 0.4 percent Cu and 0.4 g/t Au.
The mineralization is largely hosted by an altered quartz dior-
ite intrusion 200 to 1,000 m below surface.
Geology of the District
The geology of the Mankayan district has been summarized
by Gonzalez (1956, 1959), Sillitoe and Angeles (1985), Con-
cepción and Cinco (1989), and Garcia (1991). There are four
main units in the district: (1) a Late Cretaceous to middle
Miocene basement consisting of Lepanto metavolcanic rocks,
Apaoan volcaniclastic rocks, and Balili volcaniclastic rocks; (2)
the Miocene tonalitic Bagon intrusive complex; (3) the
Pliocene Imbanguila dacitic to andesitic porphyry and pyro-
clastic rocks, which predates the Far Southeast porphyry Cu-
Au mineralization, and hosts much of the Lepanto enargite
Au deposit and the Victoria veins; and (4) postmineralization
cover rocks, including the Pleistocene Bato dacitic to an-
desitic porphyritic lava and pyroclastic flow units, and the Re-
cent Lapangan tuff (Fig. 1).
The Lepanto metavolcanic rocks (or “green metavolcanic
rocks” of Ringenbach et al., 1990) are the lowermost strati-
graphic unit of the Mankayan district and crop out in the
western part of the district. This unit consists of indurated,
tightly packed andesitic to basaltic lavas with minor turbiditic
sedimentary rocks. It was cut by mafic dikes and has subse-
quently suffered greenschist facies metamorphism. From re-
connaissance regional mapping they are inferred to be of Cre-
taceous-Paleogene age (Fernandez and Pulanco, 1967). This
unit has been intruded by the Bagon tonalitic intrusive com-
plex, which has a reported radiogenic age of 12 to 13 Ma (Sil-
litoe and Angeles, 1985). The Apaoan volcaniclastic rocks are
present in the northeastern part of Mankayan and consist of
green and red thin-bedded siltstone-sandstone. The Balili
group overlies the Lepanto metavolcanic and Apaoan vol-
caniclastic rocks unconformably and consists of mostly ma-
trix-supported polymictic volcanic conglomerates; fossils in-
dicative of late Oligocene to middle Miocene ages were found
within calcareous horizons (Sillitoe and Angeles, 1985).
Both Imbanguila and Bato dacitic units are characterized by
complex sequences of volcanic breccias, pyroclastic horizons,
and massive porphyritic rocks, as well as dike emplacement dur-
ing deposit formation (summarized by Hedenquist et al., 1998).
These units typically contain easily identified bipyramidal
quartz eyes, in addition to feldspar and hornblende phenocrysts.
The lithologic and chemical similarities (Hedenquist et al.,
1998) make it difficult to determine the exact sequence of ac-
tivity without conducting further extensive radiometric dating
and detailed study of the volcanic facies. The Imbanguila host
rock, where dated, was found to be 2.19 ± 0.62 to 1.82 ± 0.36
Ma (n = 4; Arribas et al., 1995). The Bato rocks are younger,
1.18 ± 0.08 to 0.96 ± 0.29 Ma (n = 2). Nearby at Guinaoang,
igneous biotite from a lapilli tuff associated with a dacite dome
has a K-Ar age of 2.9 ± 0.4 Ma (Sillitoe and Angeles, 1985).
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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT 1369

The Imbanguila unit lies over the basement rocks and the
elevation of the unconformity, i.e., the base of the Imbanguila
unit, is contoured in Figure 2. The contour shows that the Im-
banguila unit is associated with two large vents that are close
to each other and coalesce at elevations between 900 and
1,000 m. The unconformity is steep in the lower parts with a
ridge between the two depressions, becomes gentler upward,
and flattens to the northwest (Figs. 2, 3). These two vents are
the likely sources of the Imbanguila dacite. The vents are
located above the subsequent Far Southeast porphyry alter-
ation and mineralization, which are centered on quartz dior-
ite porphyry dikes that intruded to about 300- to 400-m ele-
vation, below the vents. The distribution of the Imbanguila
unit (or units) is spatially related to the Lepanto fault, a splay
of the Abra River fault that is part of the Philippine fault sys-
tem. The Imbanguila unit is also offset by the Lepanto fault,
consistent with the multiple-movement history of the fault
system.

FIG. 2. Contours (blue) of the eleva-

tion of the unconformity between the
basement and the Imbanguila units (from
Garcia, 1991), from drill hole informa-
tion. Two likely vents of the Imbanguila
units can be seen. Outcrops of the quartz-
alunite lithocap are also shown, with the
elevation labeled (green).

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 1370 CHANG ET AL.

FIG. 3. Schematic long section (northwest-southeast dashed line, Fig. 1) along the plane of the Lepanto fault, showing
the location of the Lepanto enargite Au orebody and quartz-alunite ± silicic alteration. The position of the Far Southeast por-
phyry mineralization is projected from the northeast, about 250 m away. Section turns south at the southeast end of the Lep-
anto deposit and crosses the Victoria veins. Modified from Hedenquist et al. (1998, 2001).

There are also two breccia bodies at the surface. About 1
km northwest of the surface projection of the Far Southeast
deposit, a well-defined diatreme breccia crops out above
Lepanto at ~1,300-m elevation (Fig. 1; near the Upper Tram),
cutting Imbanguila dacite. The diatreme breccia contains
lithic fragments with biotite and magnetite alteration and bor-
nite-chalcopyrite mineralization (D. G. Malicdem, pers. com-
mun. to Sillitoe, 1983, and observed in this study), indicating
derivation from an underlying porphyry deposit. Fresh horn-
blende from the matrix of this breccia yielded a K-Ar age of
1.43 ± 0.21 Ma (Arribas et al., 1995). This age, coupled with
the presence of altered lithic fragments, indicates that there
was eruptive activity at the same time as the Far Southeast in-
trusive magmatism and associated hydrothermal activity (sec-
ondary biotite age 1.41 ± 0.05 Ma, n = 6; Arribas et al., 1995).
The feeder of this unit has not been identified, but it is indis-
tinguishable chemically from Imbanguila and Bato rocks
(Hedenquist et al., 1998). A hydrothermal breccia with al-
tered and mineralized porphyry fragments, cemented by sul-
fide minerals, crops out directly above the Far Southeast de-
posit (Fig. 1).
Part of the Lepanto orebody (the fault-hosted main ore
body; Figs. 3, 4), a minor portion of the Victoria-Teresa veins,
and most of the Far Southeast orebody are hosted by base-
ment metavolcanic or volcaniclastic rocks. Despite these
basement host rocks, ore deposits in the Mankayan district
are spatially and temporally related to the late Pliocene to
Pleistocene events of intermediate-composition volcanism
(Fig. 1).
The Lapangan tuff forms a thin and discontinuous cover of
poorly consolidated dacitic air-fall tuff, which is mainly pre-
sent in the center of the Mankayan district (Sillitoe and An-
geles, 1985). Garcia (1991) reported an age of 18,820 ± 679
years from 14C of humic soil in the eastern part of the district.
Within the Mankayan district, the prominent fault system is
a set of faults trending N 50° W and N 40° E (Fig. 1). These
faults are considered to be part of the northernmost splay of
the Philippine fault, the major tectonic lineament of the
Philippine island arc (Sillitoe and Angeles, 1985). The north-
west-trending part of the system comprises the steep, north-
east-dipping Lepanto fault that hosts much of the Lepanto
deposit, with open-space growth into fault-related veins
(Gonzalez, 1956). A kinematic analysis of the faulting indi-
cates that the N 50° W-trending faults (e.g., the Lepanto
fault) may have formed due to strike-slip movement along the
major fault system (Maleterre et al., 1988).
Mineralization in the District
The Lepanto high sulfidation deposit
The Lepanto high sulfidation orebodies are hosted in resid-
ual quartz and advanced argillic alteration zones, the latter
consisting of hypogene alunite, dickite, kaolinite, pyrite and,
locally at depth, diaspore and pyrophyllite (Hedenquist et al.,
1998). Gonzalez (1956, 1959) provided much of the early
framework for understanding the geology, alteration, and min-
eralization. Ores are closely associated with vuggy residual to
massive residual quartz, collectively referred to as silicic al-
teration. Approximately 70 percent of the ore is hosted by the
Lepanto fault, with strong brecciation of the silicic ore zone
in part possibly resulting from synmineral movement that off-
set alteration zones; the balance of ore is contained in the
subhorizontal blanket of the lithocap (Garcia, 1991). Early
paragenetic studies (Gonzalez, 1959) noted that enargite and
luzonite was followed by chalcopyrite, tennantite, and gold
plus electrum with telluride minerals. Tejada (1989) and
Claveria (1997, 1998, 2001) further described the paragene-
sis of Lepanto mineralization, with evidence for early coarse
pyrite generated during the largely Cu- and Au-barren leach-
ing event, which formed a core of residual vuggy quartz and
halo of advanced argillic alteration. This was followed by the
high sulfidation state minerals enargite and luzonite with fine
pyrite, largely hosted by the silicic core, and finally by ten-
nantite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, and tellurides plus
selenides. The postenargite stage of sulfides is associated with
the introduction of gold and was accompanied by the deposi-
tion of anhydrite plus barite gangue minerals. The tennantite
of the gold event at Lepanto may be of intermediate- or high

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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT
sulfidation state, depending on its composition (Jannas et al.,
1999), although the presence of chalcopyrite indicates the
former. Claveria (2000) noted a geochemical zonation in most
ore-related elements in Cu-Au zones, without discriminating
ores and wall rocks, from the southeast to the northwest along
the trend of the Lepanto deposit. For example, Au, Cu, Sb,
Se, and Te generally decrease toward the northwest and Ca
decreases distinctly, whereas Ag and Zn slightly increase.
The Far Southeast porphyry deposit
The Far Southeast porphyry is a concealed deposit. The top
of the porphyry-type mineralization is at an elevation of ~900
m, ~550 m below the surface, roughly coincident with the
base of the enargite Au mineralization of the Lepanto ore-
body. At an elevation of 100 m below sea level, the porphyry
orebody is elongate in the direction of the regional northwest-
trending structure. The Cu and Au grades are concentric
around dikes and irregular intrusive bodies of melanocratic
quartz diorite porphyry (Concepción and Cinco, 1989) em-
placed in the basement. Potassic alteration consists of a biotite-
magnetite ± K-feldspar assemblage and is associated with
veins of vitreous, anhedral quartz. This alteration is partially
to pervasively overprinted by alteration assemblages of chlo-
rite plus hematite and/or white mica sericite-clay-chlorite
(SCC; Sillitoe and Gappe, 1984). There is no definitive para-
genetic evidence linking Cu sulfide minerals to the early veins
of vitreous, anhedral quartz veins (Hedenquist et al., 1998).
However, petrographic evidence shows that Cu sulfides are
associated mainly with a later event characterized by the for-
mation of euhedral quartz crystals with anhydrite (Heden-
quist et al., 1998; Imai, 2000). Cathodoluminescence images
show that the early anhedral quartz is overgrown by euhedral
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1371
FIG. 4. Cross section through the Lepanto fault
(location shown in Fig. 1), illustrating the mushroom
nature of the silicic and advanced argillic altered
zones at the unconformity between the basement
and Imbanguila units (modified from Gonzalez,
1956; Garcia, 1991). The main orebody constitutes
~70 percent of the Lepanto enargite Au ore and is
hosted by the Lepanto fault. The rest of the mined
ore was from strata-bound bodies located at the un-
conformity, as well as above and below this contact
and in subsidiary east-west structures, adjacent to
the Lepanto fault (Garcia, 1991). Where the uncon-
formity is intersected by erosion to the southwest,
approximately parallel to the trace of the Lepanto
fault, the quartz-alunite alteration zone is exposed
(Fig. 1), commonly forming cliffs (e.g., shown here
to the southwest of the Lepanto fault). Over and be-
neath the quartz-alunite zone, the alteration is char-
acteristically dickite ± kaolinite, e.g., where exposed
at the northwest end of the airstrip (Fig. 6a).
quartz (P. Redmond and J. Reynolds, pers. commun., 2000),
the latter associated with sulfide deposition and mineral in-
clusions of illite (Hedenquist et al., 1998). Bleached halos of il-
lite, centimeter to meter wide, accompany these euhedral
quartz-anhydrite-white mica-hematite-pyrite-chalcopyrite-
bornite veins, both of which cut sericite-clay-chlorite alter-
ation. Gold in the Far Southeast deposit is present as free
grains of electrum associated with chalcopyrite and bornite
(Concepción and Cinco, 1989) and locally is accompanied by
Bi-Te−bearing tennantite (Imai, 2000). Upward and outward
from the core of economic porphyry mineralization the per-
vasive sericite-clay-chlorite assemblage grades from white
mica-dominated with minor pyrophyllite locally to an assem-
blage in which pyrophyllite is abundant, variably accompa-
nied by quartz, anhydrite, and kandite minerals (dickite,
nacrite, and kaolinite). This pervasively altered rock is over-
lain and locally cut by a silicic zone with local alunite that
hosts the southeast extent of the Lepanto ore deposit; the alu-
nite halo includes a variable assemblage of anhydrite, dias-
pore, dickite, and/or pyrophyllite (Hedenquist et al., 2001).
The relationship between the Lepanto high sulfidation
deposit and the Far Southeast porphyry deposit
Early ideas suggested that Lepanto was younger than high-
temperature alteration of the underlying porphyry system (Sil-
litoe, 1983). Dating by Arribas et al. (1995), however, found
that the biotite of the porphyry-related potassic alteration and
the alunite in the halo to the silicic host of the high sulfidation
orebody were essentially the same age, 1.41 ± 0.05 (n = 6) and
1.42 ± 0.08 Ma (n = 5), respectively. This study was the first to
demonstrate a coeval age of potassic alteration of a porphyry
deposit and its overlying advanced argillic alteration, the
1371
 1372
latter a lithocap that hosts a high sulfidation ore deposit. Shi-
nohara and Hedenquist (1997) and Hedenquist et al. (1998)
argued that these synchronous alteration events were related
to a coupled hypersaline liquid and a low-salinity vapor,
formed by separation as the solvus was intersected by critical
fluid at depth. The hypersaline liquid remained at depth and
caused the potassic alteration, as evidenced by fluid inclu-
sions. The buoyant vapor ascended to shallower depths to
form an acidic condensate that leached the rock and created
the residual quartz (silicic) and quartz-alunite alteration.
A phyllic alteration overprint of the porphyry ore body fol-
lowed, with illite ages of 1.37 to 1.22 ± 0.04 to 0.10 Ma (n =
10; Arribas et al., 1995). Stable isotopic studies of the biotite,
alunite, and illite indicated that all formed from aqueous flu-
ids with a dominantly magmatic origin, although the alunite-
stable fluid was an acidic condensate of magmatic vapor with
a variable meteoric water component, the latter progressively
and regularly increasing as distance from the porphyry in-
creased, to a distance 4 km to the northwest (Hedenquist et
al., 1998). This study was the first to document in detail that
the relatively low-salinity fluid responsible for the phyllic al-
teration was also magmatic in origin, rather than meteoric as
previously thought. This detail followed the original sugges-
tion of a magmatic origin of phyllic alteration by Kusakabe et
al. (1990) based on their study of Chilean porphyry deposits.
Mancano and Campbell (1995) conducted the first fluid in-
clusion study of enargite and determined that there was a reg-
ular decrease within the Lepanto orebody of both homoge-
nization temperature (305°−195°C) and salinity (~4−2 wt %
NaCl equiv) with increasing distance from the porphyry, over
a distance of >2 km. This supported the idea that the enargite
(and gold) mineralization of Lepanto formed from fluids that
originated from the vicinity of the Far Southeast deposit and
flowed laterally to the northwest. Additional fluid inclusion
and stable isotope results indicated that it was the phyllic stage
of illite-stable fluid, initially an end-member magmatic fluid at
~350°C and 5 wt percent NaCl equiv that was likely responsi-
ble for the Lepanto mineralization (Hedenquist et al., 1998).
The Victoria and Teresa veins
The Victoria veins are located southwest of the Far South-
east porphyry, and at their closest point are within a few hun-
dred meters of the porphyry (Figs. 1, 3). Imbanguila dacite
porphyry and pyroclastic units host much of the veins, but the
veins extend downward into the Balili volcaniclastic and Lep-
anto metavolcanic units (Fig. 3). Some veins have an arcuate
shape, with the strike direction changing from northeast to
southeast (Fig. 1). The Victoria veins pinch out upward at
~1,150- (0 zone) to ~1,100-m (4 and 8 zones) elevation, and
they extend to below the 700-m-elevation level, locally to the
550-m level. Individual veins are mined over a 300-m vertical
interval, have widths up to 8 m, and in general strike north-
northeast with a dip to the southeast, with strike extents of up
to 600 m. By contrast, the Teresa veins, subsequently recog-
nized southwest of Victoria in the vicinity of the Nayak de-
cline at an elevation of ~1,170 m, tend to occur in wider brec-
cia zones and strike north-south, parallel to the northerly
projection of the surface veins at Nayak. The veins crop out at
~1,200-m elevation at Nayak. To the north they are mined at
an elevation of ~900 to 1,150 m in the Teresa sector, although
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CHANG ET AL.
narrow veins continue to 850- to 800-m elevation (Claveria et
al., 1999a, b).
The alteration halos of the veins have been reported to con-
sist of illite, or locally chlorite, rarely in direct contact with
propylitic-altered wall rock (Claveria, 2001; Sajona et al., 2001,
2002). The paragenetic sequence of gangue and ore minerals
in the Victoria veins (Claveria, 2001) consists of (1) an early
quartz vein stage, associated with an intermediate sulfidation-
state assemblage including chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, and low
Fe sphalerite, as well as pyrite and galena; (2) a carbonate
stage of rhodochrosite, with similar sulfides; and (3) a late sul-
fate stage of anhydrite that is sulfide poor. Bornite and
hematite are restricted to the early quartz stage, and gold was
introduced during the later part of the quartz stage and
through the carbonate stage, ending during the sulfate stage.
Sajona et al. (2001) reported homogenization temperatures
of ~200° to 260°C and salinities of <1 to about 4 wt percent
NaCl equiv for fluid inclusions in sphalerite, quartz, and
rhodochrosite from Victoria. On the 1,000-m level in the
north, fluid inclusions in rhodochrosite have higher homoge-
nization temperatures than sphalerite. The homogenization
temperatures of fluid inclusions in sphalerite, as well as the
Fe content in sphalerite, indicate cooling during flow from
the south to the north, with oxidation state increasing slightly
on cooling, whereas the salinity trend is more complicated.
Claveria (2001) reported that the northwesternmost Victo-
ria veins cut advanced argillic alteration and enargite related
to the Lepanto deposit. Similar epithermal quartz veins were
recognized earlier to cut enargite mineralization in the main
Lepanto deposit, near its base (Garcia, 1991). Such phenom-
ena were also observed in this study, for example, anhydrite +
quartz + pyrite ± illite veins cut quartz ± alunite ± pyrophyl-
lite ± diaspore ± dickite assemblages (Fig. 5). Where enargite
and advanced argillic alteration is present in the Victoria area,
it is clearly overprinted by quartz veins and related mineral-
ization. Samples of illite from the Victoria veins were dated by
the Ar-Ar method at 1.31 ± 0.02 Ma (Sakakibara et al., 2001)
and 1.14 ± 0.02 and 1.16 ± 0.02 Ma (Hedenquist et al., 2001).
For illite in the wall rock adjacent to veins, Sakakibara et al.
(2001) reported illite Ar-Ar ages of 1.55 ± 0.03 and 1.31 ±
0.02 Ma and a K-Ar age of 1.50 ± 0.07 Ma. The dating results
are generally in agreement with the paragenetic observation,
with the ~1.5 Ma wall-rock alteration ages slightly overlap-
ping with the Far Southeast biotite and alunite ages (1.41 ±
0.05, n = 6, and 1.42 ± 0.08 Ma, n = 5, respectively; Arribas
et al., 1995). There is a possibility that the wall rocks of the
Victoria veins were altered during the nearby Far Southeast-
Lepanto event (~1.5 Ma) and were further altered during the
subsequent Victoria veining event (1.31−1.14 Ma).
The Teresa veins were dated during this study. Although al-
teration around the Victoria and Teresa veins appears similar,
a sample of illite from the 900-m level of the Teresa vein was
dated at 2.22 ± 0.05 Ma by Ar-Ar analysis (App. 1), indicating
that this portion of the vein system is older.
Other deposits and prospects
Porphyry alteration assemblages at Guinaoang include
sericite-clay-chlorite that overprinted an initial potassic assem-
blage, superseded by sericitic alteration that has a K-Ar age of
3.5 ± 0.5 Ma (Sillitoe and Angeles, 1985). A relatively small
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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT
a continuous outcrops of quartz-alunite occur for over ~7 km
b section of the Lepanto fault with the unconformity, a rela-
FIG. 5. Photographs showing the crosscutting relationship between alter-
ation related to high- and intermediate sulfidation epithermal mineralization.
a. Quartz-pyrite vein cuts quartz-alunite-pyrophyllite-pyrite assemblage. b.
Anhydrite + pyrite veins cut massive quartz + diaspore + pyrite assemblage.
(1.5 km2) lithocap of advanced argillic alteration overlies the
porphyry mineralization. The Guinaoang lithocap locally
hosts enargite mineralization similar to Lepanto, albeit much
smaller in size (Sillitoe and Angeles, 1985; Trudu, 1992). At
Buaki, 2 km west of Far Southeast, porphyry-style quartz veins
and stockworks crop out at surface. Based on assays of surface
samples and underground samples from the 1,150 m-level
tunnel, a resource of 30 Mt grading 0.4 percent Cu and 0.5 g/t
Au was estimated (Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co., unpub.
internal report). The Palidan-Mohong Hill porphyry lithocap
prospect 3 km to the south was tested by drilling and tunnel-
ing, and the resource is estimated at 100 Mt grading 0.4 per-
cent Cu and 0.4 g/t Au (Gold Fields Asia Ltd., unpub. inter-
nal report). Alunite in the Mohong Hill lithocap was dated by
K-Ar (A. Arribas, pers. commun., 1996) at 1.66 ± 0.32 Ma.
Surface Alteration Patterns
Lithocap occurrence
The most notable surficial alteration feature in the Mankayan
district is the extensive advanced argillic alteration. Nearly
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1373
from the north end of the airstrip south-southeast to the Pal-
idan porphyry locality (Figs. 1, 2, 6a, b). The elevation of the
outcrops ranges from ~1,050 to 1,600 m, mostly at or close to
locations where the unconformity between the base of the
Imbanguila dacite unit and the basement rocks is intersected
by the current surface (Fig. 2). Such hypogene advanced
argillic alteration with subhorizontal geometry due to litho-
logic control constitutes a lithocap (Sillitoe, 1995a).
The northern lithocap extends to the southeast below the
surface to an area overlying the Far Southeast porphyry, ac-
cording to underground information. The rocks on the sur-
face above this section of underground lithocap, however, are
fresh, except for some directly above the Far Southeast por-
phyry (Figs. 1, 2, 4). This ~4-km-long northwest-trending
lithocap hosts the Lepanto orebody and is referred to here as
the Lepanto lithocap, for clarity (Fig. 3). The dating of five
alunite samples from the Lepanto lithocap, collected over a 4-
km distance, from the porphyry to airstrip, indicates that the
advanced argillic alteration formed at essentially the same
time (1.42 ± 0.08 Ma; Arribas et al., 1995). There is a strong
structural control on the lithocap, associated with the inter-
tionship first noted by Gonzalez (1956). The Lepanto fault is
the major feeder and many branch faults functioned as sub-
sidiary feeders (Garcia, 1991). Alteration along the faults
below the subhorizontal part constitutes the root zones of the
lithocap.
There are also patches of advanced argillic alteration lo-
cated on the surface over the Far Southeast porphyry, 500 to
700 m above the unconformity (Fig. 2) at 1,370- to 1,450-m
elevation. These zones constitute stacked lenses of advanced
argillic alteration within the lithocap. Narrow faults contain-
ing alunite, including huangite (the Ca end-member alunite),
are present in fresh Imbanguila dacite porphyry in deep
gorges below the level of the surficial patches; these faults are
believed to be the fluid conduits for the stacked lenses.
The Lepanto lithocap, as well as the high sulfidation min-
eralization hosted by portions of it, has been shown to be con-
tinuous and genetically related to Far Southeast porphyry by
dating, fluid inclusion studies, and O-H isotope studies, sum-
marized above (Arribas et al., 1995; Mancano and Campbell,
1995; Hedenquist et al., 1998). The Buaki porphyry is present
on the western margin of the lithocap, but erosion has ex-
posed the core of this small porphyry system, indicating that
it is not related to the Lepanto lithocap; surface samples at
Buaki contain porphyry-style quartz stockworks overprinted
by dickite ± kaolinite that is interpreted to be part of the Lep-
anto lithocap. If there were a lithocap generated by the Buaki
porphyry, it has been eroded away. In summary, there is no
geologic, geochemical, or geophysical evidence for any other
porphyry systems to be related to the Lepanto lithocap except
for Far Southeast.
The southern portion of the lithocap that crops out in the
district trends north-northwest. It partially covers the Victoria-
Teresa veins, extends south to Mohong Hill (Fig. 6b) where it
overlies the Palidan porphyry and continues ~0.5 km farther
south. The potentially older age of Mohong Hill alunite (1.66
± 0.32 Ma), compared to that of alunite samples in the litho-
cap northwest of the Far Southeast porphyry (1.42 ± 0.08 Ma),
1373
 1374 CHANG ET AL.

b
FIG. 6. a. Northwest end of the airstrip, ~4 km northwest of the surface projection of the Far Southeast porphyry de-
posit, showing the quartz-alunite cliff outcrops and dickite + kaolinite alteration over and beneath them. Looking to the
north. b. Mohong Hill lithocap of quartz + alunite, forming cliffs above the exposed sericite alteration zone of the Palidan
porphyry, in the valley to the right. Looking to the north.

suggests that there may have been more than one intrusive cen- horizon. This is consistent with the Palidan porphyry that
ter of volatiles that generated acidic condensates along the same crops out below Mohong Hill (Figs. 1, 2). For this reason, this
unconformity, with leaching and alteration coalescing to form part of the lithocap alteration in the district is excluded from
an apparently single alteration zone along the same permeable discussion below on zoning in the Lepanto lithocap.

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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT
Lithocap mineralogy and zoning
At Lepanto the lithocap is mostly composed of quartz-alu-
nite ± pyrite, locally with pyrophyllite and/or diaspore. The
alunite crystals are typically >60 µm in size with a flaky shape,
indicating a hypogene origin, which is consistent with the alu-
nite δ34S compositions of 22 to 25 per mil (Hedenquist et al.,
1998). The principal cliff-forming rocks are composed of
quartz-alunite, with the disseminated pyrite commonly oxi-
dized at surface due to weathering. Within the quartz-alunite
horizons the silicic centers locally show a vuggy texture, but
massive silicic rocks are more common, largely along and
proximal to the Lepanto fault. Most of the Lepanto ore is
hosted in such massive silicic rocks, although not all the mas-
sive silicic rocks are mineralized. On the surface most of these
massive silicic ± alunite rocks are only weakly anomalous in
Au (<50 ppb), except at a few locations such as the Spanish
workings. Cathodoluminescence studies of a few massive sili-
cic samples show that they were originally residual quartz
with a vuggy texture and the vugs were subsequently filled by
euhedral quartz (Fig. 7). Quartz-alunite horizons are sur-
rounded by dickite ± kaolinite (Fig. 4). At the end of the
airstrip, the dickite ± kaolinite zone is ~20 m thick both above
and below the near-horizontal quartz-alunite zone (Fig. 6a).
Zonation in the root zones of the lithocap is similar to the
classic pattern noted by Steven and Ratté (1960) at Sum-
mitville, United States, with a silicic core that hosts miner-
alization changing laterally outward to quartz-alunite then
dickite ± kaolinite (Fig. 4), over a scale of 10s of meters. In
contrast, the zonation is vertical in subhorizontal lithocap hori-
zons, with quartz-alunite in the middle and dickite ± kaolinite
above and below (Figs. 4, 6a). The silicic core is well devel-
oped close to the major fluid conduits, such as the Lepanto
fault, but is largely missing elsewhere. Laterally along the
lithocap horizon there is no obvious zonation in texture or
mineralogy from proximal to distal locations relative to the
causative intrusion at Far Southeast, or in any other directions.
FIG. 7. Cathodoluminescence (CL) image shows that massive silicic rocks
contain vugs that have been filled with quartz. The CL texture of the infill-
ing quartz indicates that they have grown in open space. The rest of the rock,
i.e., the matrix of the vugs, consists of micron-size quartz and trace rutile.
The observation indicates that this massive silicic rock was originally vuggy in
texture.
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1375
Mineralogy and zoning over intermediate sulfidation veins
The surface alteration above the Victoria veins is shown in
Figure 8. There is weak white mica-pyrite alteration, grading
outward to unaltered rocks that only show evidence of weath-
ering. Except for a few millimeter-scale carbonate veinlets, no
quartz or thick carbonate veins were found on the surface, de-
spite the Victoria veins being up to 8 m wide a few hundred
meters below.
Illite crystallinity (IC), a term introduced by Kubler (1967),
can be used to indicate the formation temperature of white
mica. Illite crystallinity was originally measured by X-ray dif-
fraction (XRD) in which the XRD-IC was expressed as the
half-height width of the 10-Å peak. The dominant control on
IC is argued to be temperature (Frey, 1987), with higher tem-
perature increasing the crystallinity of illite (i.e., larger crys-
tals), resulting in a smaller XRD-IC value (sharper peak shape).
Where illite crystallinity studies are determined from short
wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectral features, the SWIR-IC
is defined as the AlOH peak depth at ~2,200 nm divided by
the H2O peak depth at ~1,900 nm on a hull quotient SWIR
spectrum (Pontual et al., unpub. manual, 1997). In contrast to
XRD-IC, the more crystalline mineral results in higher
SWIR-IC values. Measurements of XRD-IC and SWIR-IC
on the same samples show that the values have a good nega-
tive correlation, meaning that either can be used to deter-
mine IC (Chang, unpub. data) and thus indicate relative for-
mation temperature; SWIR data are easy and fast to acquire.
Where the tops of the veins are less than ~250 m below the
present surface, the outcropping alteration is mostly white
mica + pyrite; chlorite is rare and epidote is not observed.
The rocks typically also contain halloysite, but this mineral is
believed to be caused by weathering. The SWIR-IC of white
mica is 0.5 to 0.7 and the white mica is illite or interstratified
illite and/or smectite according to XRD identification. Where
the tops of the veins are deeper, between ~250 to ~350 m,
white mica + pyrite alteration is still present at the surface but
the SWIR-IC is smaller, 0.3 to 0.5. This indicates that the
white mica is probably smectite, which has been confirmed
by XRD analysis. At surface locations where the veins are
>350 m below the present surface, only halloysite ± kaolinite
± smectite occur; the presence of igneous magnetite and lack
of pyrite here suggests that this alteration is due primarily to
weathering (Fig. 8a, b).
Geochemical Patterns: New Insights for Exploration
SWIR spectral variations of alunite
A total of 44 surface samples containing alunite were col-
lected along a 7-km traverse of the quartz-alunite portion of
the lithocap (Fig. 9a). Another 25 samples were collected
from underground on the 1,150-, 900-, and 700-m levels, be-
tween the Lepanto deposit and the northern margin of the
Victoria veins, to expand the distribution of alunite samples
studied. Most alunite samples are of altered Imbanguila dacitic
pyroclastic rocks, as indicated by the residual bipyramidal
quartz eyes, whereas a few samples may have replaced rocks
of the Balili unit. All the alunite samples were measured using
the CODES PIMA-II instrument. In addition, the composi-
tion of 15 alunite samples was determined by laser-ablation
inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)
1375
 1376 CHANG ET AL.

900 level veins

1150 level veins
Sample locations
Silicic ± quartz-alunite ± pyrite
Dickite ± kaolinite
Illite or I/S + pyrite
Smectite + pyrite
Halloysite ± kaolinite ± smectite

FIG. 8. a. Detailed mapping of surface alteration above the Victoria intermediate sulfidation epithermal veins, with illite
and smectite zones distinguished by PIMA and XRD. Previous alteration mapping, outside the dashed line, is also shown
with same color for the same units but a lighter shade. Lepanto ore plus Victoria-Teresa veins are projected to the surface.
The quartz-alunite alteration is associated with limited silicic alteration, and can also contain trace pyrophyllite or dickite ±
kaolinite; the dickite ± kaolinite zone can also contain traces of pyrophyllite. Halloysite ± smectite zone without pyrite is in-
terpreted to be largely due to weathering, since igneous rock magnetite is still present. I/S = interstratified illite/smectite. b.
Pseudocross section from quartz-alunite alteration south of the main Lepanto orebodies, southeast to the Victoria veins, then
north to the Far Southeast area (a), with alteration zoning from surface as well as subsurface workings (locations of subsur-
face samples from 1150 mL crosscut shown). Approximate upper limits of the veins from underground workings plus drill
hole information. Areas where there is only halloysite ± smectite and fresh-rock magnetite are interpreted to have suffered
weathering, supported by the lack of pyrite; this unaltered zone must extend to some depth. Subtle alteration zone of smec-
tite + pyrite appears to be a halo at the surface, up to a few 100s m over the tops of the veins; there is no control on its depth
extent or distribution. Illite crystallinity (IC) determined by PIMA; values ≥1.0 are dominantly illite, whereas values ≤0.5
are dominantly smectite (surface samples); illite/smectite (I/S) refers to interstratified clays. Some of the zones noted as sili-
cic ± quartz-alunite contain quartz-alunite at the surface; dickite ± kaolinite locally includes pyrophyllite.

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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT 1377

a b

10000

1000
Pb (ppm)

100

10

1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Sample sequential number

c d
FIG. 9. a. Alunite absorption feature at ~1,480-nm shifts to higher SWIR wavelength position toward intrusive center. b.
Wavelength position of alunite ~1,480-nm feature (avg; at least 3 measurements per sample) has positive correlation with
alunite Na/(Na + K) mole ratio (microprobe data; avg of 7−11 analyses). The error bars are 1 for both variables. c. The Ca
content of alunite is higher closer to intrusive center, with huangite observed close to the surface projection of the Far South-
east porphyry (blue stars); samples from surface lithocap, plus three from underground, with multiple analyses of each sam-
ple. d. Alunite Pb content measured by LA-ICP-MS, with multiple analyses for each sample. Intrasample variation is much
smaller than the total range of the whole dataset. 1 = MK04-08B; 2 = 816829; 3 = MK04-04A; 4 = MK04-39a; 5 = U89-34-
630; 6 = U91-42-156; 7 = 816803; 8 = MK04-01A; 9 = MK04-03B; 10 = MK04-100; 11 = 816813; 12 = MK04-87E; 13 =
MK04-107; 14 = 816831; 15 = MK04-65A; 16 = 816811; 17 = 817010; 18 = MK04-92c.

for 24 elements (82 analyses), and of these, nine samples were
analyzed by electron microprobe (83 analyses). Some other
alunite samples from this district were also microprobed. The
microprobe and LA-ICP-MS results are listed in Appendices
2 and 3, respectively.
Backscattered electron images indicate that the alunite is
typically zoned, with zones 1 to 5 µm wide, which is mainly
due to the variations in Na, K, and Ca contents. The major el-
ements of alunite were analyzed using an electron micro-
probe with a 15-µm beam size. In each sample seven to 11
analyses were obtained. The composition variation within one
sample is typically small compared with the variation between
samples. For example, the mole Na/(Na + K) ratio of all the
analyses ranges from 0.04 to 0.96, whereas the variation of
this ratio within a sample is typically <0.30, although in low
Na samples the range of this ratio is up to 0.51. Figure 9b fur-
ther illustrates that the intrasample variation is small relative
to the variation of the whole dataset. The Al and S content in
all the alunite analyses have little variation, with the average
and standard deviation being 20.12 ± 0.35 and 15.03 ± 0.31
wt percent, respectively; the Ca content is typically low but
locally up to 3.89 wt percent. PIMA analyses with a ~2- by 10-
mm window identified huangite in a few samples (spectrum
shown in App. 4). Locally there are small APS minerals in-
cluded in alunite. A few microprobe analyses of an APS min-
eral in one sample revealed that it is rich in Sr (10.60−12.61
wt %) with minor Ca (2.53−3.04 wt %), i.e., in the svanber-
gite-woodhouseite series.

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 1378
In SWIR spectra, K-Na alunites have a strong absorption
feature at about 1,480 nm wavelength (App. 4). The exact po-
sition of this feature shifts, related to alunite composition
(Thompson et al., 1999). At Mankayan, at least three SWIR
spectra were measured on each sample. The variation in the
wavelength position of this feature in each sample is typically
<2 nm, with only a few exceptions that were up to 4 nm. The
average composition of alunite shows a correlation between
the alunite Na/(Na + K) ratio and its ~1,480-nm feature, with
higher wavelength position corresponding to higher Na con-
tent in the alunite (Fig. 9b), despite the variations in both the
ratio and the wavelength position for each sample. The higher
Na content in turn has been demonstrated to correlate posi-
tively with formation temperature, supported by alunite ex-
periments (Stoffregen and Cygan, 1990).
In the Mankayan district, the alunite feature at ~1,480 nm
in SWIR spectra varies between 1,479 and 1,495 nm. The
wavelength peak position of alunite in the Lepanto lithocap
generally decreases with increasing distance from the intru-
sive center (Fig. 9a), particularly to the far northwest extent
of the lithocap. Closer to the Far Southeast porphyry deposit,
the peak positions generally have higher wavelengths, regard-
less of the sample elevation, i.e., from the surface (~1,350-m
elev) or underground (1150, 900, and 700 mL); in particular,
the wavelengths of the most distant alunite are all low. The
samples from lithocap outcrops in the southern part of the
district may be related to the Palidan porphyry, but this re-
mains to be tested with further study and dating. Microprobe
results of alunite, hosted by Imbanguila dacite, show that alu-
nite is more Ca rich closer to the Far Southeast porphyry
(Fig. 9c). Huangite, the Ca end member of alunite, has only
been found over the Far Southeast porphyry deposit (Fig.
9c).
Mineral chemistry of alunite
Trace elements in alunite analyzed by LA-ICP-MS in-
cluded Ca, Sr, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Er, Yb, Lu, Zr,
Ba, Au, Ag, Pb, Sb, Bi, Mn, Fe, Cu, As, and Se. The internal
standard used for data reduction was aluminum, which
showed little variation in the 83 microprobe analyses. Six to
10 LA-ICP-MS analyses were obtained from most of the sam-
ples. Similar to the major elements, variation in these trace
elements among analyses of the same sample is typically
smaller than the variation of the whole dataset. For example,
the Pb of the all the analyses ranges from 1 to 3,616 ppm,
whereas Pb variation in analyses of individual samples (max-
min) are mostly <1,000 ppm, particularly in low Pb samples
(Fig. 9d). The intrasample variation is generally larger in sam-
ples containing more Pb, with the largest intrasample varia-
tion being ~3,400 ppm in the sample with the highest Pb con-
tent (App. 3). Despite the variation in each sample, the samples
have significantly different compositions (e.g., Fig. 9d). All the
elements plus some element ratios were plotted on base map
to examine spatial trends; multiple analyses for each sample
were plotted individually, without averaging for each sample,
and are represented by the multiple circles at each location
(e.g., Fig. 10a, and all other diagrams of this type). These re-
sults indicate that the Pb content in alunite from the Lepanto
lithocap is lower closer to the intrusive center (Fig. 10a). Sil-
ver in most of the analyses is below the detection limits, with
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CHANG ET AL.
samples containing detectable Ag (0.2−3.5 ppm) distal to the
intrusive center (App. 5a). In contrast, the Sr content and rare
earth elements (REE), represented by La (Apps. 6a, 7a) and
particularly the La/Pb and Sr/Pb ratios (Apps. 6b, 7b), gener-
ally increase closer to the intrusive center.
Lithocap whole-rock geochemical signatures and patterns
We determined the geochemical signatures of different
types of mineralization and associated alteration by analyzing
whole-rock compositions, including major elements and 57
trace elements (ACME Lab, Vancouver, Canada). The ele-
ments, sample digestion methods, analytical methods, and
detection limits are described in Appendix 8. Results below
the detection limits were given values of half the detection
limit for the purpose of data plotting and interpretation. In
total 141 samples were analyzed, with 103 from the surface
(App. 9). In addition, 105 previous analyses of whole-rock
samples from Lepanto underground workings, many of them
constituting ore, were also available for this study (Claveria,
1997).
Gold and related elements: The gold anomalies in the litho-
cap at the surface, associated with quartz-alunite as well as
dickite ± kaolinite zones, are instructive for exploration and
assessment of lithocaps elsewhere. A total of 98 analyses of
lithocap samples were obtained, of which 60 were from the
surface, and these included silicic, quartz-alunite, and dickite
± kaolinite alteration types. Three samples of silicic alteration
along structures at the surface contain enargite and >1 g/t Au.
They are not considered here for this assessment of gold sig-
nature in lithocap alteration, as they represent the later min-
eralization event, distinct from the early alteration event
(Hedenquist et al., 1998).
Lithocap samples were collected from above Far Southeast
and south of the Buaki 1,150 mL portal to ~4 km northwest
at the end of the airstrip. Samples close to Buaki are about
100 m west of the surface projection of the Lepanto orebody,
whereas samples at the end of the airstrip are nearly 2 km
northwest from underground Lepanto ore (Fig. 11). This
suite of 25 samples returned gold values of 1 to 46 ppb, aver-
aging only 12 ppb. A silicic sample in this area from the Lep-
anto fault structure contained 0.7 wt percent Cu as enargite,
and 1.1 g/t Au, and is excluded from this average. Other sam-
ples of lithocap at the surface above distal enargite veins,
northwest of the surface projection of the Victoria and Teresa
veins, contain 1 to 70 ppb Au, with the 17 samples averaging
27 ppb. Two other samples from the surface projection of a
distal enargite vein, both associated with silicic alteration
along a structure, contain 1.1 and 4.0 g/t Au and 0.4 and >2
wt percent Cu, respectively, and are excluded from this con-
sideration. Farther south, up to 0.5 km south of Mohong Hill,
13 lithocap samples, possibly related to the Palidan porphyry,
contain 4 to 500 ppb Au, averaging 133 ppb. Two samples in
quartz-alunite lithocap close to the Guinaoang porphyry de-
posit contain 23 and 34 ppb Au.
The distribution of Au in lithocap samples does not show
any clear patterns related to the position of the Lepanto ore-
body, nor does Cu, As, Te, and other ore-related elements, ex-
cept for higher values in samples of silicic alteration associ-
ated with structures. The most notable result is the lack of
strong Au enrichment (mostly <50 ppb) in the quartz-alunite
1378
 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT 1379

1 - 426 2 - 10 2 - 10
427 - 1207 11 - 24 11 - 24
1208 - 2289 25 - 40 25 - 40
2290 - 4631 41 - 71 41 - 71

4632 - 7868 72 - 151 72 - 151

a b

1-7 2-7 4 - 17 1 - 17
8 - 21 8 - 21 18 - 34 18 - 34
22 - 71 22 - 71 35 - 68 35 - 68
72 - 192 72 - 192
69 - 205 69 - 205
193 - 550 193 - 500
206 - 478 206 - 478

c d
FIG. 10. a. Alunite Pb content decreases toward intrusive center. Samples of alunite from surface lithocap, plus two from
underground, analyzed by LA-ICP-MS, with multiple analyses for each sample. b.-d. Whole-rock Pb concentrations of non-
mineralized samples (Cu <0.1 wt % and Au <100 ppb): b. Only alunite-bearing samples are plotted; whole-rock Pb concen-
tration decreases toward intrusive center. c. All the nonmineralized samples are plotted without the mineralogical discrimi-
nation; the trend is less clear. d. For samples containing alunite, the molar Pb/(Na + K) ratio of whole-rock data has the same
trend as alunite Pb content (a), indicating that the Pb is mostly in alunite, and the ratio can be used as a proxy of alunite Pb
content.

lithocap as close as a few hundred meters from the largely
blind enargite Au orebody.
Trace element signatures in alunite-bearing lithocap sam-
ples: Although gold and other metals do not define any obvi-
ous patterns when data from all of the lithocap samples are
plotted together, a selected sample set does have some ele-
ments and ratios that show trends relative to the causative in-
trusive center. From the whole sample set, mineralized sam-
ples, i.e., defined as containing ≥0.1 wt percent Cu and/or
≥100 ppb Au, were first filtered out. In addition, samples not
containing alunite were also excluded. The remaining sam-
ples from the Lepanto quartz-alunite lithocap show clear spa-
tial trends relative to the Far Southeast porphyry in the fol-
lowing elements and ratios: Hg, Pb, Ag, Sr/Pb, La/Pb (La as a
representative of all REE), and Ag/Au.
Mercury is low (less than ~130 ppb) above or close to the
Far Southeast porphyry and is higher to the northwest, along
the inferred major fluid-flow direction of the Lepanto litho-
cap (Fig. 12a). About 4 km to the northwest, at the end of the
airstrip, Hg concentrations are the highest, about 4,000 ppb.
When all nonmineralized samples (Cu < 0.1 wt % and Au
<100 ppb) of all advance argillic alteration types are plotted
together, including those without alunite, this trend is less
clear (Fig. 12b). Ore samples, which are much higher in Hg
(up to 38,000 ppb), further obscure this trend.
Lead also shows a trend of higher values with increasing
distance from the Far Southeast intrusive center and the
enargite orebodies (Fig. 10b). At proximal locations, the Pb
content in the alunite-bearing samples is <40 ppm, whereas
about 1 to 2 km northwest of the surface projection of the
enargite orebodies, Pb increases to about 90 to 150 ppm. In
contrast with Hg, Pb does not increase significantly until far
from the intrusive center. When all nonmineralized samples
are plotted, including those without alunite, the trend in Pb is

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 1380 CHANG ET AL.

1 - 25
26 - 50
51 - 100
101 - 250
251 - 500
FIG. 11. Gold content of surface lithocap samples. Dashed lines show out-
crops with silicic and/or advanced argillic alteration, including dickite ± kaoli-
nite ± pyrite zones. Mineral deposits in the map are surface projections. Sur-
face samples from the Mankayan lithocap, even a few 100 m from the
orebody, have low gold anomalies of 1 to 46 ppb, avg 12 ppb (n = 25). Ex-
ception to these values are for samples collected along structures with silicic
alteration, most of which contain visible enargite; in these cases, gold values
were >1 g/t.
obscure (Fig. 10c). Mineralized samples contain much higher
Pb (up to 14,700 ppm); adding them further obscures the
trend. Other elements or ratios that show trends in nonmin-
eralized, alunite-bearing rocks include Ag, Ag/Au (both de-
crease toward the porphyry center; App. 5b, c), and Sr/Pb and
La/Pb ratios (both increase toward the porphyry center;
Apps. 6c, 7c). Other rare earth elements show similar behav-
ior as La.
The fact that clear geochemical trends are detected only in
alunite-bearing samples suggests that the anomalies are re-
lated to alunite. Normalizing the whole-rock Pb to moles of
(Na + K), assuming the Na and K in the whole rock mostly re-
sides in alunite of the quartz-alunite lithocap, improves the
trend (Fig. 10d), supporting the contention that Pb in non-
mineralized samples is largely hosted by alunite. This asser-
tion is confirmed by LA-ICP-MS analyses of alunite (Fig.
10a), which show that alunite contains up to ~3,600 ppm Pb
in the lattice; the alunite mineral chemistry has the same
trend as the whole-rock compositions.
Halos above intermediate sulfidation veins
At the present surface 150 to 450 m above the Victoria and
Teresa veins, there are weak but detectable As (Fig. 13a) and
Se (Fig. 13b) anomalies. Above the surface projections of the
veins, As is typically >18 ppm, whereas rocks a few hundred
meters from these positions contain less than this amount.
For Se the anomalous level above veins is >0.5 ppm; there is
a poor correlation between Se and S. For reference, the least
altered rock contains 0.2 ppm As and 0.1 ppm Se. Other ele-
ments out of the 57 analyzed do not show any consistent dif-
ference in rocks at the surface projects of the veins and some
distance away. For example, the Au values range from below
the detection limit (0.2 ppb) to 46 ppb above the veins, com-
pared to <0.2 to 23 ppb away from the veins laterally. Silver
content at the surface above the veins ranges from 8 to 214
ppm, compared to 10 to 240 ppm a few 100 m away from the
surface projection of the veins. Thus, geochemical anomalies
above the upper limit of the veins are subtle but real for a lim-
ited group of elements.
Geophysics
In August 1997, following recognition of the economic sig-
nificance of the Victoria veins to the south of the then-depleted

7 - 128 7 - 128 3 - 347 3 - 347

129 - 347 129 - 347 348 - 1068 348 - 1068
348 - 697 348 - 697 1069 - 2106 1069 - 2106
2107 - 4000 2107 - 4000
698 - 2106 698 - 2106
4001 - 15863 4001 - 15863
2107 - 3748 2107 - 3748

a b
FIG. 12. Surface and underground nonmineralized samples (Cu >0.1 wt % and Au >100 ppb). a. Only alunite-bearing
samples plotted; whole-rock Hg concentration decreases toward intrusive center. b. All the nonmineralized samples are plot-
ted without the mineralogical discrimination; the trend is less clear.

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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT 1381

0-7
8 - 18
19 - 50
51 - 115
116 - 189

0.1 - 0.2
0.3 - 0.5
0.6 - 1.2
1.3 - 3.3
3.4 - 4.5

FIG. 13. Surface geochemical anomalies over the Vic-

toria and Teresa veins (alteration results in Fig. 8a). a.
Arsenic concentrations, with >18 ppm As being anom-
alous in the white mica + pyrite zone, 250 to 350 m
above the tops of veins in the main Victoria zone. The
least altered rocks contain ~0.2 ppm As. b. Se concen-
trations, with >0.5 ppm Se being anomalous; least al-
tered rock values ~0.1 ppm Se.
b

Lepanto orebody, Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. decided
to fly an airborne geophysical survey over the prospective
area. The survey was contracted to World Geoscience and
was flown in a helicopter with lines 100 and 200 m apart ori-
ented north-south, with nominal sensor terrain clearance of
40 m. Magnetic data were collected using Scintrex equipment
with intrinsic resolution of 0.0001 nT, a cycle rate of 0.1 sec
and sample interval of 4 m. Radiometric data were collected
using a Picodas 256 channel spectrometer with a cycle rate of
1 sec and sampling interval of 40 m, connected to a 16.75 l
NaI crystal. Total magnetic intensity, digital terrain model,
and standard 4 channel radiometrics (K, U, Th) were pro-
vided as located and gridded data. The discussion presented
here relates to a 7-km2 area centered on the Victoria veins,
flown at 100-m line spacing; this area covers all the known sig-
nificant deposits in the Mankayan district.
The Mankayan district is particularly challenging for in-
terpretation of aeromagnetic data, as it contains multiple
shallow-dipping volcanic units of different ages and compo-
sitions with multiple intrusions and extensive hydrothermal

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 1382 CHANG ET AL.

alteration. As a result, the magnetic susceptibility can be ex-
pected to vary widely over short distances, and remanence ef-
fects must also be anticipated. In addition, the area lies close
to the magnetic equator, so magnetic features are displaced as
a result of the shallow (20°N) magnetic inclination. In pro-
cessing of magnetic data acquired at low latitudes, spatial fre-
quency domain reduction to the pole transformations of total
magnetic intensity data are used to shift anomalous features
to overlie their source. The magnetic data acquired by World
Geoscience were presented as images in which reduction to
the pole transformations had been done (Fig. 14).
The magnetic character of stratigraphic units was assessed
both by magnetic susceptibility measurements on samples
and by correlating mapped geology with the aeromagnetic
survey results. The basement Lepanto metavolcanic and Balili
volcaniclastic rocks are both variably magnetic, with many
small localized anomalies recorded by the aeromagnetic sur-
vey. The Imbanguila dacite porphyry is effectively nonmag-
netic close to the porphyry ore deposit but moderately mag-
netic elsewhere. The Imbanguila pyroclastic rocks are variably
magnetic. The postmineralization Bato pyroclastic deposits
are thin (100−200 m) with low measured susceptibility: their
apparent character in the aeromagnetic survey may be due to
underlying Bato dacite intrusions or older units.
The magnetic expression of mineralization was examined
by overlying known orebodies on the magnetic image. It is ap-
parent that the Far Southeast orebody lies in a zone of lower
reduction to the pole total magnetic intensity, corresponding

FIG. 14. Image showing magnetic data after reduction to the pole transformation by World Geoscience, overlain by the
positions of ore deposits and surface alteration. The dashed lines show areas of silicic and/or advanced argillic alteration. Red
= magnetic high, blue = magnetic low.

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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT
to the extensive zone of magnetite destructive alteration; this
was due to the phyllic overprint of potassic alteration at
depth, as well as more shallow advanced argillic alteration of
fresh rock. There is no apparent indication of the deep mag-
netite-rich potassic alteration that occurs below ~300- to 400-
m elevation, i.e., ~1 km below the surface (average suscepti-
bility for core from the Far Southeast potassic zone is 0.05
SI). Forward modeling of a 400-m-diam cylinder with a depth
extent of 1,000 m and a top 900 m below the surface indicates
that the expected magnetic response of the deep potassic
zone is broad and low amplitude, and thus would not be de-
tectable in the presence of other anomalies. The Guinaoang
porphyry deposit to the southeast occurs in an area of sub-
dued response and also has no apparent magnetic expression.
The Lepanto high sulfidation orebody, and its host lithocap,
which has a shallow southeast plunge toward the Far South-
east porphyry, has no apparent magnetic expression. There is
a general, although not exact, association between the Victo-
ria and Teresa vein systems and zones of demagnetization or
reverse magnetization.
Comparison of topographic lineaments interpreted from
the digital elevation model derived from the airborne geo-
physical data, magnetic lineaments interpreted from the re-
duction to the pole total magnetic intensity, and the geologic
map (Fig. 1) shows that many northwest-trending topographic
lineaments correspond to mapped faults. Some of the north-
east-trending lineaments, as defined by topography and mag-
netic data, correspond to mapped faults, but there are many
additional lineaments that may represent other structures.
The radiometric image clearly maps out the basement units
(Lepanto metavolcanic rocks and Bagon intrusion). The Im-
banguila and Bato units have a variable response, between
and within units. However, there is no obvious radiometric
expression of any of the mineralized systems.
Summary and Discussion
Genetic link between porphyry and lithocap:
the basic processes
The genetic link between porphyry-style alteration-miner-
alization and lithocap was implied in Sillitoe’s (1995a) defini-
tion of lithocap. This genetic link was demonstrated in the
Mankayan district through field observation, radiometric dat-
ing, fluid inclusion studies, and stable isotope studies (Arribas
et al., 1995; Mancano and Campbell, 1995; Hedenquist et al.,
1998). Typically the formation of porphyry-related alteration
involves the early-stage separation of hypersaline liquid and
vapor as a magmatic critical fluid intersects its solvus (Henley
and McNabb, 1978). The hypersaline liquid causes the deep
potassic alteration, whereas the vapor, being buoyant, ascends
toward the surface along structures. Magmatic gases such as
HCl and SO2 fractionate to the vapor and, after condensing
into ground water, form an acidic liquid. The condensate be-
comes more reactive as it cools and the acids increasingly dis-
sociate, and this causes leaching, forming residual quartz
cores with halos of advanced argillic alteration (quartz-alunite
± dickite-kaolinite; Ransome, 1907; Steven and Ratté, 1960;
White, 1991; Rye, 1993; Hedenquist et al., 1998). If the as-
cending, structurally controlled acidic fluid encounters a per-
meable horizon, either an unconformity or one or more rock
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1383
units, the reactive fluid will flow along and cause intense
leaching and alteration in that layer, creating a lithocap above
and lateral from the causative intrusion (Sillitoe, 1995a;
Hedenquist and Taran, in prep.).
At Mankayan, the intrusions related to the Far Southeast
porphyry deposit exsolved the fluid which subsequently sepa-
rated to hypersaline liquid and vapor (Shinohara and Heden-
quist, 1997), the latter subsequently forming an acidic con-
densate. The unconformity between the basement and
Imbanguila units channeled the flow of this condensate, facil-
itated by the Lepanto fault, and the leaching and alteration
along the path produced the Lepanto lithocap (Hedenquist et
al., 1998). The lithocap extends prominently to the northwest
from the Far Southeast porphyry, rather than in all the direc-
tions, due in part to the nature of the unconformity and the
local geology. The unconformity has a cone shape with two
vent-related depressions (Fig. 2). It is speculated that the va-
pors and subsequent acid condensates ascended from the
northwestern depression, the northwestern side of which is
less steep, and therefore the condensates could flow unob-
structed to the northwest. In contrast, the southeastern side
of the cone has a steeper slope and turns downward toward
the southeastern depression at 900- to 1,000-m elevation
(Fig. 2). Any condensate ascending along the unconformity to
the southeast would lose its permeable channel at this eleva-
tion, as hot fluids tend not to move downward. The rock
above this section of the unconformity is mostly dacite por-
phyry and it has low permeability (Fig. 1), which would hin-
der further fluid ascent and flow to the southeast. In sum-
mary, the geometry of the unconformity and the spatial
distribution of the rock units may have caused the asymmetry
of the lithocap.
All lithocaps have structural roots, or feeders, along which
the acidic condensate ascends. But not all structurally con-
trolled zones of hypogene advanced argillic alteration have as-
sociated lithocaps (Sillitoe, 1999), either because they did not
intersect permeable horizons, or such horizons have subse-
quently been eroded. If there are multiple permeable layers
or perched water tables, it is possible that multiple, stacked
horizons of lithocap will form. In the Mankayan district, the
patches of advanced argillic alteration above the Far South-
east porphyry lie far above the basement-Imbanguila uncon-
formity (Fig. 2) along which the majority of the advanced
argillic alteration occurs. These patches are probably con-
nected by fractures with the main lithocap below and thus
constitute perched horizons. Erosion in the Mankayan district
has been minimal since the formation of the Far Southeast-
Lepanto system, <500 m based on pressure estimates from
fluid inclusion studies at Far Southeast (Hedenquist et al.,
1998), in part due to its youth, meaning that only a portion of
the quartz-alunite lithocap is presently exposed (Fig. 2; com-
pare the elevation of the unconformity with that of outcrop-
ping quartz-alunite, formed at and above the unconformity).
Formation of high sulfidation epithermal deposits:
a two-stage process
Hypogene advanced argillic alteration forms during the ini-
tial stage of porphyry development, during vapor discharge.
Mineralization, if present, forms in a subsequent stage (White,
1991), as seen at Lepanto (Hedenquist et al., 1998) and other
1383
 1384
high sulfidation deposits (Sillitoe and Hedenquist, 2003).
Hedenquist et al. (1998) demonstrated that the Lepanto high
sulfidation mineralization is caused by the phyllic-stage lower
salinity fluid, following early alteration that produced potassic
alteration at depth and the lithocap alteration closer to the
surface.
In the Mankayan district, only part of the lithocap is min-
eralized. The orebodies are located at deeper positions and
relatively close to the intrusive source (Figs. 1, 3). The major-
ity of ore (~70%) lies in structural roots, principally the Lep-
anto fault (Fig. 4). Within the lithocap that extends ~4 km
northwest from the intrusion, mineralized roots occur up to
~2.5 km from the intrusive source, whereas most of the min-
eralized horizons are within ~1.5 km of the intrusion (Fig. 1).
Lithocaps elsewhere show many similar characteristics that in
general indicate the potential for high sulfidation mineraliza-
tion, but most are not strongly mineralized. One reason for
this may be due primarily to hydrologic reasons, i.e., the sub-
sequent mineralizing fluid that comes after the early acidic
condensate may not be able to ascend to the elevation of the
lithocap, especially to the upper horizons of a perched litho-
cap. For example, the patches of advanced argillic alteration
at the surface directly above Far Southeast are barren; like-
wise, the upper lithocap horizon over the Quimsacocha de-
posit, Ecuador, is also largely barren (IAMGold staff, pers.
commun., 2007). Alternatively, the later mineralizing fluid
may have been minor or nonexistent (Einaudi et al., 2003).
Where the deeper porphyry environment is exposed, the
mineralized portion of the lithocap may have been eroded
(R.H. Sillitoe, pers. commun., 2007).
Zonation in mineralogy and texture
At Mankayan, the alteration halo to structural feeders of
the Lepanto lithocap and ore deposit are zoned (Fig. 4), sim-
ilar to the classic zonation pattern at the structurally con-
trolled Summitville high sulfidation epithermal deposit
(Steven and Ratte, 1960); the alteration zonation, from struc-
ture to margin, commonly has a scale of 10s of meters. The
horizontal part of the lithocap shows a vertical zonation, with
quartz-alunite in the middle and dickite ± kaolinite above and
below, also at a scale of 10s of meters. Silicic zones at Lep-
anto, vuggy or massive in texture, largely occur in proximal lo-
cations close to the feeder structure(s) and tend to be absent
in distal locations, similar to other lithocap horizons (Sillitoe,
1995a). For exploration of lithocaps up to tens of square kilo-
meters in size, such local alteration zonation is of limited use.
At the kilometer scale, there is no systematic mineralogical or
textural zonation relative to the intrusive source in the Lep-
anto lithocap.
Signatures in alunite
Alunite is commonly one of the most abundant minerals in
lithocaps, as at Mankayan. SWIR spectral features of alunite
and some trace elements in alunite show indications of sys-
tematic variations relative to the Far Southeast porphyry
source. The alunite absorption peak at ~1,480 nm of the
SWIR spectrum shifts to higher wavelength positions closer
to the Far Southeast porphyry (Fig. 9a). The Pb content in
alunite is lower closer to the intrusive center (Fig. 10a),
whereas Sr, Sr/Pb, La, and La/Pb increase (Apps. 6a, b, 7a, b).
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CHANG ET AL.
The variation in the ~1,480 feature of alunite is related to
its Na/(Na + K) composition (Fig. 9b), which is directly cor-
related to the temperature of formation (Stoffregen and
Cygan, 1990). This is consistent with the spatial distribution
of the samples relative to the intrusive heat source, with Na-
rich samples closest to the Far Southeast porphyry.
Lead in alunite is higher in distal positions (Fig. 10a), prob-
ably because Pb substitutes for K, as the ionic radius of Pb2+
(1.32) is closer in size to K+ (1.33) than to Na+ (0.98). Since
alunite with higher K forms in distal positions at lower tem-
perature compared to alunite with higher Na, Pb also has a
higher concentration in distal alunite. The elements Sr2+
(1.27) and La3+ (1.04) are probably more related to Ca2+
(1.06) than to Na+ or K+, due to both ionic radii and charge
considerations. Their contents in alunite have a trend that in-
creases near the intrusive center (Apps. 6a, 7a), consistent
with the distribution of high Ca alunite (up to 3.9 wt %) and
huangite (Ca alunite) closer to Far Southeast (Fig. 9c). The
La/Pb and Sr/Pb ratios magnify these signals. In addition to
crystal lattice effects, the solubility of these trace elements at
different temperatures may also have played a role. For ex-
ample, Pb may have a higher solubility at higher temperature
in proximal locations, resulting in its transport to cooler, dis-
tal location, where it is then incorporated into alunite.
Signatures in whole-rock composition of lithocap samples
The Lepanto lithocap does not have significant anomalies
of Au. Lithocap samples of quartz-alunite, even only a few
hundreds of meters away from the Lepanto orebodies, con-
tain <50 ppb Au. Gold is not appreciably introduced during
the early vapor condensate-related leaching and lithocap de-
velopment, consistent with the extremely low Au content of
near-surface, low-pressure magmatic vapors (Hedenquist et
al., 1994; Hedenquist, 1995), in contrast to the higher metal
contents in high-pressure volcanic vapor (Hedenquist, 1995),
and in vapor-rich inclusions from high-pressure porphyry
depths (Heinrich, 2005). This lack of Au in the early, near-
surface (i.e., low-pressure) vapors explains the <50 ppb Au
anomaly in whole rock within the Lepanto lithocap. Gold
content is also low in alunite, dominantly below the detection
limits (App. 3). The detection limits are mostly 0.1 to 0.2
ppm, with a few up to 0.6 ppm. As the ionic radius of Au+
(1.37) is similar to K+ (1.33), it is argued that Au would have
substituted in alunite if Au had been present at the time of
alunite formation. When all whole-rock samples were plotted
without discrimination, patterns were not found for any other
elements of the 57 elements (Apps. 8, 9; App. 9 is in a digital
supplementary) analyzed, as well as many element ratios.
However, this study did find geochemical patterns zoned in
the Lepanto lithocap relative to the Far Southeast porphyry,
the intrusive source, in selected suites of samples from the
Lepanto lithocap, namely nonmineralized (Cu <0.1 wt % and
Au <100 ppb), alunite-bearing samples. As noted for this
lithocap, Pb, Hg, Ag, and Ag/Au decrease and La/Pb and
Sr/Pb increase toward the intrusive center (Figs. 10b, 12a;
Apps. 5b, c, 6c, 7c). Selecting non-mineralized samples re-
stricts the samples to all having formed in the early leaching
and alteration stage, relatively free of overprinting by later
mineralizing fluids which may complicate trends. Conse-
quently, these patterns indicate the direction to the intrusive
1384
 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT
source of volatiles. Filtering out samples without alunite con-
strains the samples to be formed under similarly acidic condi-
tions, and to have the same mineralogic nature. The sample
filtering practice is essential for selecting rocks formed at ap-
proximately the same time and under similar conditions, and
by fluids dominated by magmatic characteristics. The selected
samples can then be more reliably compared to one another,
even though variations in geology may also have an effect.
The trends shown in alunite compositions and the compo-
sition of non-mineralized, alunite-bearing whole-rock sam-
ples from the lithocap indicate the direction to the paleo-
thermal source for the initial-stage leaching and alteration
event. Such trends do not point to ore but they help to indi-
cate areas with a higher potential for mineralization, because
porphyry-style mineralization occurs in and adjacent to the
intrusive source, and high sulfidation mineralization also
tends to occur proximal to intrusive source(s) and related
structures. To use the vectors, the outcrops of lithocap alter-
ation are assumed to be genetically linked. Any evidence of
such a relationship, primarily geological relationships but also
dating, increases the confidence in the results.
Surface signatures of concealed intermediate sulfidation
epithermal veins
At the present erosional surface above the Victoria inter-
mediate sulfidation veins, there are subtle alteration (illite to
interstratified illite/smectite to smectite + pyrite) and geo-
chemical (As, Se) expressions. Combining the results of alter-
ation mineralogy, illite crystallinity, and geochemical anom-
alies may improve the targeting of such a vein prospect,
despite the anomalies being weak. In a district such as at
Mankayan with known porphyry and/or high sulfidation de-
posits, or even a district containing a barren lithocap, alter-
ation and geochemical anomalies can nevertheless provide in-
dications of the location of vein targets worthwhile to drill
test. The subtlety of signatures is strongly dependent on the
erosion level; therefore, even if such indications are not pre-
sent at some erosional surfaces, e.g., >350 m above the upper
extent of veins—similar to those in the Mankayan district—
the potential of the district should not be ignored if there are
other indications of mineralization potential, e.g., mineralized
fragments in an exposed diatreme, or within 2 to 3 km of a
porphyry deposit or lithocap.
Geophysical signatures
In the Mankayan district airborne magnetic imagery is
complex and difficult to interpret, reflecting the combined ef-
fects of low magnetic inclination, magnetic topography and
remnant magnetization in an area with complex and variable
volcanic stratigraphy and many intrusions. The airborne geo-
physical data have not provided any signatures that can be
confidently related directly to ore bodies. There is no direct
surface expression of the magnetic alteration in the ~1,000-m
deep core of the Far Southeast porphyry deposit, but the ore
body occurs in a large zone with obvious demagnetization,
providing an indirect guide. Importantly, this survey indicates
that not all porphyry deposits are associated with a positive
magnetic anomaly, if magnetite-bearing potassic alteration is
overprinted by other alteration types. There are several mag-
netic anomalies of relative lows present in the Mankayan
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1385
district (Fig. 14), but the one above Far Southeast is special
in that it is at the end of a ~4 km elongated lithocap. This in-
dicates that integrating geophysical findings with geological
knowledge may help increase confidence in targeting. In a
district that contains many low magnetic anomalies, those
closest to the margin of a large lithocap may deserve priority
in follow-up investigation.
The Guinaoang porphyry deposit and the Lepanto high sul-
fidation deposit have no apparent geophysical expression.
The Victoria and Theresa vein systems can be tentatively re-
lated to a zone of probable demagnetization, consistent with
the white mica-pyrite alteration. Radiometric data reflect
bedrock units, but show no effects of mineralization. Numer-
ous linear features are apparent according to digital elevation
model and reduction to the pole total magnetic intensity im-
ages. Most have been confirmed to be faults by mapping,
whereas some northeast-trending lineaments have not been
recognized in mapping and deserve exploration as possible
sites for mineralized veins. Thus, the geophysical survey,
while not pointing directly to ore, has provided potential tar-
gets for investigation in the Mankayan district.
General Implications for Exploration
The presence of a lithocap indicates an epithermal level of
erosion, and the potential for epithermal and/or porphyry
mineralization nearby. This is clearly demonstrated in the
Mankayan district and at many other locations worldwide.
New exploration tools and lessons that can be learnt from this
study in the Mankayan district include the following points.
Alteration mapping, aided by SWIR equipment, is essential
to assess the advanced argillic lithocap environment, as is
mapping of lithology and structures. However, alteration by
itself may be insufficient to point to the causative intrusive
source. Vectors found in this study include the following: (1)
the alunite peak position at ~1480 nm on SWIR spectrum
shifts toward higher wavelength in samples that are closer to
the intrusive source of acidic condensates; (2) in alunite the
Pb content decreases closer to the intrusive center, whereas
Sr, La, La/Pb, and Sr/Pb increase; (3) the whole-rock compo-
sition of alunite-containing, non-mineralized (<0.1 % Cu and
<100 ppb Au) lithocap samples can also point to the intrusive
source: Hg, Pb, Ag, and Ag/Au decrease and La/Pb and Sr/Pb
increase toward the intrusive center. Normalizing whole-rock
Pb to the (Na+K) moles is a proxy for the alunite mineral
composition, and as demonstrated in the Mankayan district,
the ratio provides the same indication as alunite composi-
tions. This is useful, as whole-rock analyses are much less
expensive, with a faster turnaround time, than LA-ICP-MS
analyses. These vectors point to the causative intrusive source
that is the potential center to mineralization, including por-
phyry and high sulfidation deposits.
The gold anomaly in the quartz-alunite alteration of a litho-
cap can be quite low (<50 ppb), even within a few hundred
meters of the surface projection of underground ores. A
prospect should not be discarded only based on a low level of
gold anomaly in quartz-alunite alteration, particularly if the
lithocap is large. It is critical to locate the structural feeders of
lithocaps, as high sulfidation mineralization—if present—is
most likely to be concentrated there. In addition, the pres-
ence of silicic alteration is much more indicative of prospect
1385
 1386
potential than pervasive quartz-alunite or clay alteration, par-
ticularly that associated with structures. Stacked lithocap
horizons may occur, and in such cases the lower layers have a
better chance of being mineralized (e.g., Quimsacocha).
Low magnetic anomalies on the margin of a large lithocap,
particularly at the end of an elongate, structurally controlled
lithocap, deserve special attention, as the anomaly may be
caused by demagnetization due to porphyry-style alteration,
e.g., either phyllic or advanced argillic overprint of potassic
alteration.
White mica-pyrite alteration, coupled with various elements
of the epithermal suite—both As and Se at Mankayan—may
indicate the presence of concealed intermediate sulfidation
epithermal veins, especially in a district with known porphyry
or high-sufidation mineralization or large lithocaps. The sig-
natures are strongly dependent on the erosion level, and are
typically quite subtle in positions several hundred meters over
veins, and hence an assessment of the degree of erosion is
essential.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Mr. Bryan Yap, President of Lepanto
Consolidated Mining Company, for permission to conduct
this study in the Mankayan district, for providing access to the
air magnetic and radiometric survey results, and for permis-
sion to publish the outcome of this study. This work is part of
AMIRA Project P765, completed in December, 2006, at
CODES, University of Tasmania. The project was sponsored
by Anglo American, Anglo Gold Ashanti, Gold Fields, New-
crest, Newmont, Placer Dome, and Teck Cominco, as well as
Barrick in the final year, with additional funding provided by
the Australian Research Council. We acknowledge the dis-
cussion and ideas provided by representatives of the sponsor-
ing companies, and assistance by the AMIRA research coor-
dinator Alan Goode. We thank Lyndon Bradish and Froilan
Conde, plus many other Lepanto staff, including Bene,
Danny, Ed, Louie, Perfecto, Perry, Ric, and Willy, for their as-
sistance, and Dave Braxton for help in the field. Paddy Wa-
ters of Anglo American Philippines generously provided lo-
gistic support and funding for some of the whole-rock
geochemical analyses. We appreciate the help from CODES
staff, including Simon Stephens for sample preparation,
Sarah Gilbert and Leonid Danyushevsky for LA-ICP-MS
analyses, and June Pongratz for report preparation. We thank
Roger Stoffregen for comments on an early version of the
manuscript, and John Thompson and Raymond Jannas for
useful reviews.
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 1388 CHANG ET AL.

APPENDIX 1

Sample MKU04-44, Teresa vein, 900 mL; 1- to 4-µm

fraction of illite. This wall-rock sample is in the footwall, 2
m from a ~50-cm-wide vein. It contains ~0.6 ppm Au
(ACME AA-Litho Package). Dated by the Oregon State
University Ar-Ar laboratory.

APPENDIX 2
Major Elements Composition of Alunite Measured Using Microprobe

Sample no. Na (%0 Al (%) P (%) S (%) K (%) Ca (%) Fe (%) Sr (%) Ba (%) H (%) O (%) Sum

816803 2.61 20.15 0.04 15.22 3.28 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.11 1.46 54.08 97.14
816803 1.63 20.19 0.04 14.76 5.67 0.29 0.06 0.06 0.10 1.46 53.67 97.92
816803 1.61 20.08 0.05 14.42 5.43 0.25 0.05 0.06 0.09 1.46 53.01 96.51
816803 1.60 20.17 0.06 15.20 4.94 0.85 0.04 0.13 0.11 1.46 54.43 99.00
816803 1.54 20.25 0.03 15.09 5.50 0.67 0.05 0.19 0.10 1.46 54.32 99.19
816803 1.30 20.05 0.03 14.87 6.26 0.39 0.05 0.13 0.09 1.46 53.77 98.43
816803 1.23 20.01 0.05 14.71 5.98 0.42 0.06 0.15 0.09 1.46 53.44 97.58
816803 1.20 19.93 0.05 14.79 6.60 0.37 0.05 0.12 0.11 1.46 53.59 98.27
816803 1.07 20.12 0.05 14.72 6.88 0.18 0.06 0.06 0.10 1.46 53.57 98.25
816811 2.90 20.13 0.05 15.28 3.83 0.25 0.06 0.06 0.10 1.46 54.47 98.60
816811 1.44 19.96 0.04 15.08 6.48 0.09 0.05 0.06 0.09 1.46 53.96 98.69
816811 0.62 19.46 0.04 15.01 8.01 0.02 0.05 0.06 0.10 1.46 53.43 98.26
816811 0.56 19.27 0.04 14.62 8.14 0.02 0.06 0.17 0.11 1.46 52.71 97.16
816811 0.52 19.75 0.04 14.95 8.23 0.03 0.05 0.06 0.11 1.46 53.60 98.80
816811 0.38 19.77 0.05 14.72 8.59 0.03 0.18 0.19 0.11 1.46 53.39 98.87
816811 0.27 19.80 0.07 14.71 8.62 0.03 0.05 0.06 0.10 1.46 53.31 98.47
816813 2.82 20.21 0.05 14.74 3.55 0.12 0.04 0.25 0.10 1.46 53.63 96.98
816813 2.51 19.91 0.23 15.05 3.03 0.18 0.10 0.24 0.36 1.46 53.91 96.99
816813 2.48 20.18 0.04 15.12 3.22 0.03 0.05 0.16 0.11 1.46 53.92 96.77
816813 2.42 20.02 0.04 14.87 3.56 0.03 0.05 0.30 0.11 1.46 53.47 96.33
816813 2.39 19.87 0.05 14.89 4.52 0.03 0.06 0.15 0.25 1.46 53.56 97.22
816813 2.30 19.78 0.07 14.36 4.11 0.05 0.05 0.29 0.12 1.46 52.61 95.20
816813 2.30 20.05 0.04 14.72 4.53 0.03 0.06 0.19 0.12 1.46 53.42 96.92
816813 1.45 19.36 2.76 11.61 2.48 1.61 0.06 3.92 0.53 1.46 52.30 97.53
816813 1.34 18.89 4.11 10.67 1.96 1.52 0.11 6.16 0.79 1.46 52.51 99.52
816813 0.13 17.89 7.31 6.66 0.16 2.54 0.05 11.66 0.88 1.46 50.35 99.08
816813 0.03 17.73 8.04 6.05 0.03 3.04 0.06 10.60 1.12 1.46 50.21 98.37
816813 0.03 17.85 7.93 5.78 0.03 2.53 0.06 12.61 0.86 1.46 49.90 99.03
817010 2.18 20.11 0.04 15.03 3.81 0.03 0.05 0.06 0.11 1.46 53.72 96.58
817010 2.06 19.97 0.06 15.27 4.48 0.03 0.04 0.18 0.11 1.46 54.10 97.77
817010 2.05 19.99 0.05 15.09 4.46 0.03 0.05 0.12 0.11 1.46 53.82 97.23
817010 1.72 19.68 0.04 14.83 5.39 0.03 0.06 0.06 0.12 1.46 53.20 96.59
817010 1.44 19.73 0.00 14.65 6.52 0.03 0.10 0.16 0.12 1.46 53.10 97.31
817010 1.13 19.78 0.06 14.55 6.90 0.03 0.06 0.15 0.23 1.46 53.03 97.38
817010 1.11 19.64 0.05 14.78 7.12 0.03 0.10 0.13 0.10 1.46 53.27 97.78
817010 0.72 19.35 0.04 14.57 7.40 0.02 0.06 0.15 0.11 1.46 52.60 96.49
950ml 130FZ XC 2.08 20.07 0.05 15.08 4.76 0.03 0.05 0.59 0.12 1.46 54.01 98.29
950ml 130FZ XC 2.00 19.77 0.05 15.01 4.69 0.03 0.05 0.25 0.12 1.46 53.56 96.99
950ml 130FZ XC 1.99 19.86 0.09 14.96 4.69 0.03 0.05 0.26 0.12 1.46 53.62 97.13
950ml 130FZ XC 1.97 19.94 0.04 14.65 3.69 0.16 0.06 0.29 0.12 1.46 53.01 95.39
950ml 130FZ XC 1.88 19.75 0.04 14.85 4.44 0.03 0.06 0.46 0.12 1.46 53.23 96.31
950ml 130FZ XC 1.85 19.89 0.05 14.85 4.76 0.16 0.06 0.53 0.30 1.46 53.51 97.42
950ml 130FZ XC 1.79 19.83 0.04 15.14 5.00 0.03 0.05 0.36 0.12 1.46 53.78 97.59
950ml 130FZ XC 1.69 19.67 0.04 15.29 5.54 0.03 0.05 0.35 0.12 1.46 53.95 98.18

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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT 1389

APPENDIX 2 (Cont.)

Sample no. Na (%0 Al (%) P (%) S (%) K (%) Ca (%) Fe (%) Sr (%) Ba (%) H (%) O (%) Sum

950ml 130FZ XC 1.66 19.64 0.05 15.19 5.13 0.03 0.06 0.45 0.11 1.46 53.72 97.50
MK04-01A 3.00 20.46 0.06 15.41 1.03 0.17 0.44 0.06 0.11 1.46 54.56 96.75
MK04-01A 2.80 20.47 0.05 15.30 1.79 0.10 0.14 0.19 0.12 1.46 54.34 96.76
MK04-01A 2.78 20.45 0.06 15.18 1.09 0.14 0.58 0.13 0.12 1.46 54.20 96.20
MK04-01A 2.67 20.53 0.05 15.33 1.33 0.12 0.15 0.06 0.10 1.46 54.30 96.10
MK04-01A 2.63 20.43 0.05 15.25 1.85 0.11 0.30 0.06 0.12 1.46 54.25 96.51
MK04-01A 2.62 20.44 0.05 15.44 1.78 0.10 0.49 0.12 0.12 1.46 54.60 97.23
MK04-01A 2.61 20.01 0.05 14.80 1.84 0.20 0.06 0.25 0.13 1.46 53.16 94.57
MK04-01A 2.57 20.50 0.05 15.33 1.04 0.17 0.13 0.06 0.12 1.46 54.19 95.62
MK04-01A 2.48 20.57 0.04 15.06 1.39 0.16 0.13 0.06 0.11 1.46 53.86 95.32
MK04-01A 2.39 20.14 0.05 15.19 1.78 0.03 0.10 0.06 0.12 1.46 53.67 94.99
MK04-08B 3.39 20.58 0.05 15.19 0.71 0.20 0.06 0.06 0.12 1.46 54.24 96.06
MK04-08B 3.28 20.11 0.05 15.37 1.04 0.42 0.05 0.06 0.12 1.46 54.21 96.17
MK04-08B 3.03 20.57 0.04 14.96 1.35 0.03 0.19 0.06 0.12 1.46 53.87 95.67
MK04-08B 2.62 20.37 0.05 15.27 0.91 0.29 0.20 0.06 0.12 1.46 54.05 95.39
MK04-08B 2.61 20.57 0.05 15.20 0.93 0.29 0.13 0.06 0.11 1.46 54.09 95.49
MK04-08B 2.46 20.59 0.05 15.16 0.54 1.01 0.15 0.12 0.11 1.46 54.21 95.84
MK04-08B 1.96 20.56 0.04 15.55 0.35 3.05 0.14 0.06 0.13 1.46 55.36 98.66
MK04-08B 1.19 20.68 0.04 15.45 0.63 3.41 0.06 0.06 0.12 1.46 55.21 98.32
MK04-08B 0.90 20.74 0.07 15.61 0.52 3.89 0.27 0.06 0.13 1.46 55.69 99.33
MK04-100 2.17 20.12 0.06 15.34 2.56 0.03 0.06 0.18 0.12 1.46 53.98 96.08
MK04-100 0.91 19.79 0.04 14.67 7.31 0.08 0.05 0.13 0.12 1.46 53.20 97.75
MK04-100 0.69 19.75 0.05 14.65 7.44 0.03 0.06 0.06 0.12 1.46 53.07 97.38
MK04-100 0.67 19.78 0.04 14.79 7.66 0.05 0.05 0.13 0.11 1.46 53.35 98.10
MK04-100 0.55 19.68 0.05 14.86 8.13 0.08 0.06 0.16 0.12 1.46 53.44 98.58
MK04-100 0.52 19.89 0.05 14.78 8.01 0.03 0.05 0.16 0.11 1.46 53.45 98.50
MK04-100 0.52 19.64 0.06 14.55 7.94 0.09 0.06 0.16 0.11 1.46 52.92 97.51
MK04-100 0.52 19.62 0.09 14.42 8.41 0.07 0.05 0.15 0.13 1.46 52.84 97.76
MK04-100 0.48 19.86 0.10 14.60 8.25 0.03 0.05 0.16 0.13 1.46 53.26 98.37
MK04-100 0.48 19.47 0.05 14.65 8.20 0.03 0.05 0.20 0.12 1.46 52.93 97.64
MK04-100 0.46 19.66 0.06 14.48 8.16 0.03 0.06 0.17 0.12 1.46 52.82 97.46
MK04-107 2.27 20.04 0.05 15.14 4.50 0.07 0.05 0.14 0.12 1.46 54.03 97.86
MK04-107 2.18 20.40 0.04 15.11 3.66 0.06 0.06 0.13 0.12 1.46 54.09 97.32
MK04-107 2.16 20.19 0.06 14.63 3.74 0.17 0.05 0.06 0.12 1.46 53.26 95.91
MK04-107 1.90 20.05 0.06 14.89 3.96 0.17 0.05 0.06 0.12 1.46 53.46 96.18
MK04-107 1.88 20.14 0.03 15.01 4.20 0.11 0.05 0.16 0.11 1.46 53.73 96.88
MK04-107 1.85 20.12 0.10 15.05 4.35 0.16 0.05 0.24 0.12 1.46 53.92 97.43
MK04-107 1.85 20.06 0.05 15.11 3.76 0.15 0.05 0.19 0.12 1.46 53.77 96.59
MK04-107 1.73 19.96 0.05 15.25 4.66 0.14 0.05 0.22 0.11 1.46 54.02 97.65
MK04-107 1.38 19.70 0.08 14.87 5.72 0.06 0.06 0.18 0.12 1.46 53.30 96.92
MK04-39A 4.92 20.62 0.04 15.59 0.37 0.29 0.06 0.06 0.09 1.46 55.37 98.88
MK04-39A 4.70 20.59 0.06 15.37 0.73 0.26 0.05 0.06 0.11 1.46 55.01 98.38
MK04-39A 4.67 20.91 0.05 15.58 0.60 0.18 0.05 0.06 0.09 1.46 55.54 99.20
MK04-39A 3.36 20.60 0.04 15.67 1.14 1.60 0.06 0.06 0.10 1.46 55.61 99.70
MK04-39A 3.18 20.52 0.05 15.48 0.88 1.63 0.06 0.06 0.10 1.46 55.17 98.60
MK04-39A 2.55 20.77 0.04 15.31 0.69 2.34 0.04 0.06 0.10 1.46 55.12 98.48
MK04-39A 2.19 20.78 0.04 15.80 0.75 2.65 0.06 0.06 0.10 1.46 55.89 99.78
MK04-39A 1.36 20.61 0.04 15.20 0.50 3.44 0.05 0.06 0.11 1.46 54.80 97.61
U89-34-630 3.09 20.40 0.05 15.26 0.63 0.31 0.05 0.18 0.13 1.46 54.14 95.71
U89-34-630 2.76 20.38 0.04 15.12 1.69 0.40 0.05 0.06 0.11 1.46 54.01 96.08
U89-34-630 2.66 20.42 0.05 15.42 1.17 0.20 0.05 0.15 0.11 1.46 54.30 96.01
U89-34-630 2.49 20.24 0.05 15.21 2.70 0.19 0.06 0.21 0.12 1.46 54.09 96.81
U89-34-630 2.47 20.32 0.06 15.36 1.97 0.56 0.05 0.18 0.12 1.46 54.38 96.92
U89-34-630 2.45 20.38 0.05 15.23 2.16 0.39 0.05 0.06 0.11 1.46 54.17 96.52
U89-34-630 2.32 20.30 0.06 15.32 1.75 0.36 0.05 0.12 0.11 1.46 54.10 95.93
U89-34-630 2.15 20.18 0.04 15.52 3.79 0.27 0.06 0.18 0.12 1.46 54.61 98.38
U89-34-630 2.06 20.12 0.04 15.01 4.22 0.13 0.05 0.19 0.11 1.46 53.81 97.20
U89-34-630 1.99 19.90 0.04 15.15 4.53 0.10 0.05 0.26 0.12 1.46 53.85 97.44
U91-42-156 2.90 20.47 0.05 14.98 3.34 0.16 0.06 0.22 0.10 1.46 54.20 97.93
U91-42-156 2.55 20.11 0.04 15.16 3.69 0.16 0.06 0.16 0.11 1.46 54.08 97.57
U91-42-156 2.50 20.34 0.05 14.89 3.43 0.17 0.27 0.19 0.11 1.46 53.93 97.34
U91-42-156 2.29 20.51 0.04 15.03 3.04 0.18 0.40 0.21 0.11 1.46 54.18 97.45
U91-42-156 2.19 20.16 0.05 14.59 4.85 0.03 0.19 0.48 0.11 1.46 53.47 97.59
U91-42-156 2.09 20.41 0.07 14.85 3.74 0.12 0.05 0.28 0.10 1.46 53.79 96.96
U91-42-156 1.78 20.17 0.04 14.99 4.37 0.09 0.15 0.39 0.11 1.46 53.81 97.35
U91-42-156 1.47 19.91 0.05 14.81 5.84 0.06 0.05 0.18 0.10 1.46 53.42 97.35
U91-42-156 1.40 20.11 0.03 15.06 6.34 0.03 0.06 0.26 0.11 1.46 54.03 98.87

Notes: Beam size = 15µ, voltage = 15 kV, current = 10 nA

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 1389

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 1390 CHANG ET AL.

APPEN
Trace Elements Composition (ppm) of

Sample no. Easting Northing Elevation (m) Mn Fe Cu As Se Sr Zr Ag

816829 263752 1865226 1085 <0.9 77 4 <1.9 <2.8 330 <0.1 <0.2
816829 263752 1865226 1085 1.0 21 5 <2.1 <2.8 209 0.2 <0.2
816829 263752 1865226 1085 <1.7 671 <3.6 <3.8 8.5 117 0.1 <0.4
816831 262824 1866392 1005 <0.8 22 <2.1 <2.3 <3.5 923 <0 <0.2
816831 262824 1866392 1005 4.0 161 35 6 <2.6 683 0.2 <0.2
816831 262824 1866392 1005 6.3 46 50 6 <2.3 1050 0.1 <0.3
816831 262824 1866392 1005 7.7 39 47 7 <2.4 1063 0.6 0.2
816831 262824 1866392 1005 14.8 75 236 17 <3 931 0.2 <0.2
816831 262824 1866392 1005 2.4 121 44 19 <3.3 1387 0.8 <0.2
816831 262824 1866392 1005 2.7 93 50 11 <3.1 1248 <0.1 <0.2
817010 262934 1867109 1070 <2.8 261 36 125 <2.5 259 0.2 3.4
817010 262934 1867109 1070 <1.1 186 13 116 <1.7 223 1.3 3.5
817010 262934 1867109 1070 <1 74 3 113 <2.1 251 1.2 0.5
817010 262934 1867109 1070 <1.6 391 19 149 <3.8 318 0.1 2.1
817010 262934 1867109 1070 <1.8 167 <2.2 249 <2.2 325 0.7 2.7
817010 262934 1867109 1070 <1.2 98 6 33 <2.8 210 0.6 <0.2
930127 No data No data 1150 <0.8 <11.4 <1.2 <0.7 <1.9 2928 <0 <0.1
930127 No data No data 1150 <1 43 3 <1.2 <2 2937 0.2 <0.2
930127 No data No data 1150 <1.1 22 <1.2 <0.9 <1.7 2404 0.4 <0.2
930127 No data No data 1150 <1.1 <13.4 <1.2 <1.1 <2.2 2922 <0 <0.2
930127 No data No data 1150 <1 <13.7 2 <1.1 <2.3 2879 <0 <0.2
930127 No data No data 1150 <0.7 11 <1.1 <0.8 <2.5 2904 0.1 <0.1
930127 No data No data 1150 <0.8 17 <1.2 <0.9 <2.3 3207 0.2 <0.1
930127 No data No data 1150 <0.8 <15.2 <1.1 <1.1 <2 2616 0.1 <0.1
930127 No data No data 1150 <1.3 <18.3 <1.5 <1.4 3.0 3071 <0 <0.2
950130 No data No data No data <2.3 <15.7 2 <1.1 5.6 2788 0.1 <0.2
950130 No data No data No data <0.9 19 2 <0.9 <2.3 2497 0.0 <0.1
950130 No data No data No data <0.6 <8.8 <1 <0.7 <1.6 2246 <0 <0.1
950130 No data No data No data <1.7 <14.3 2 <1.2 <1.6 7177 <0 <0.2
950130 No data No data No data <1.1 <15.1 <1.1 <1 <1.9 5821 <0 <0.2
950130 No data No data No data <1 <12.1 2 <0.8 <2.1 2866 0.1 <0.2
950130 No data No data No data <0.8 <10.7 2 <0.7 <1.6 2218 <0 <0.2
MK04-01A 265806 1864467 1442 <1.4 231 4 <1.6 <3.2 598 0.2 <0.3
MK04-01A 265806 1864467 1442 <2.1 251 3 2 <3.1 1725 <0.1 <0.5
MK04-03B 266482 1863955 1410 <0.9 20 <1.7 <2.3 <2.6 2126 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-03B 266482 1863955 1410 2.3 34 <1.9 5 <4.1 2283 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-03B 266482 1863955 1410 0.8 46 2 6 <1.9 436 0.2 <0.2
MK04-03B 266482 1863955 1410 <1.2 50 <2.6 4 <4.4 2175 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-03B 266482 1863955 1410 <1.1 <20.5 <2.7 <2.5 <3.2 2412 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-04A 266678 1864168 1565 <1.2 17 <2.3 <3.3 <4.6 223 0.7 <0.3
MK04-04A 266678 1864168 1565 <4.2 379 <7.9 13 288.5 243 0.7 <0.9
MK04-04A 266678 1864168 1565 <1.2 38 4 <4.1 29.6 324 0.4 <0.2
MK04-04A 266678 1864168 1565 <1.5 <29.2 <3.2 <4.9 <6.3 277 <0.1 <0.3
MK04-04A 266678 1864168 1565 <1.3 <26 <2.7 <3.7 <5.5 187 0.2 <0.3
MK04-04A 266678 1864168 1565 <1 <19.3 <1.6 3 <3.8 148 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-04A 266678 1864168 1565 <0.9 23 <1.9 <2.4 <3.5 243 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-08B 265638 1864009 1399 <2 <22.7 <1.9 <1.8 <3.1 33 <0 <0.4
MK04-08B 265638 1864009 1399 <1.2 28 <1.3 1 <2.1 40 0.1 <0.2
MK04-08B 265638 1864009 1399 <1 28 <1.1 <1 <2.1 16 <0 <0.2
MK04-100 264223 1864263 1342 <1.2 <20.1 <2.1 14 <4.5 85 <0.1 <0.3
MK04-100 264223 1864263 1342 <1.2 <20.5 <2.6 14 <3.6 141 <0.1 <0.3
MK04-100 264223 1864263 1342 <1.2 <22.4 <1.9 <3.4 <3.1 22 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-100 264223 1864263 1342 <1.4 <25.4 <2 4 <4.2 30 <0.1 <0.3
MK04-100 264223 1864263 1342 <1.2 <22.7 <1.7 33 <4.5 123 0.3 <0.3
MK04-107 263975 1864390 1252 <1.1 51 <1.5 8 <2.6 610 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-107 263975 1864390 1252 <0.8 29 <1.3 5 <2.4 372 <0 <0.1

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DIX 3
Alunite Measured Using LA-ICP-MS

100*
Sb Ba La Ce Nd Sm Eu Gd Dy Er Yb Lu Au Pb Bi La/Pb Sr/Pb

<0.1 56 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 <0 <0 <0 <0 <0.1 9 0.0 0.5 36.3
<0.1 48 <0.0 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 6 <0 33.3
<0.3 21 <0.0 0.1 0.2 <0.2 0.4 0.2 0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 7 0.0 15.9
<0.2 794 1.0 1.2 0.1 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 733 <0 0.1 1.3
<0.1 500 1.5 2.2 0.3 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.2 540 <0 0.3 1.3
<0.1 615 4.9 6.8 1.4 0.2 <0 <0.1 <0 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 659 0.0 0.7 1.6
0.2 664 3.4 5.0 1.2 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 540 <0 0.6 2.0
<0.2 690 4.3 6.0 1.4 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0 <0 <0 <0 <0.1 903 0.0 0.5 1.0
<0.2 1076 7.9 12.2 2.7 0.2 0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 1352 0.1 0.6 1.0
<0.2 882 5.0 7.4 1.4 0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 952 <0 0.5 1.3
0.4 1122 0.8 1.7 1.0 0.1 <0 0.2 0.1 0.0 <0 <0 <0.1 2940 0.4 0.0 0.1
0.2 611 0.8 1.9 1.1 0.1 0.0 <0.1 0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 1969 0.3 0.0 0.1
0.1 226 1.6 3.5 2.8 0.2 0.0 0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.2 864 0.3 0.2 0.3
0.6 676 1.3 2.8 1.7 <0.1 <0 <0.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.2 2134 0.5 0.1 0.1
0.3 549 1.0 2.2 1.3 <0.1 <0.1 <0.2 0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.2 2389 3.3 0.0 0.1
0.2 320 0.2 0.4 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 1370 0.2 0.0 0.2
<0.1 902 1.2 1.8 0.3 <0.2 <0 0.1 <0 <0 <0 <0 <0.1 143 <0 0.8 20.5
<0.1 970 1.2 1.6 0.2 0.0 0.0 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0 <0 <0.1 181 <0 0.7 16.2
<0.1 802 0.8 1.2 0.2 <0.1 <0 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 142 <0 0.6 16.9
<0.1 962 1.0 1.4 0.2 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 0.1 158 <0 0.6 18.6
0.1 938 1.4 1.9 0.3 0.1 <0 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 0.1 158 <0 0.9 18.2
<0.1 924 1.1 1.5 0.3 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0.1 0.0 <0 <0 <0.1 175 <0 0.6 16.6
<0.1 1002 1.1 1.7 0.2 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 195 0.0 0.6 16.5
<0.1 826 1.1 1.8 0.3 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 171 <0 0.6 15.3
<0.1 1113 1.6 3.4 1.7 <0.1 0.1 <0.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.2 209 <0 0.7 14.7
<0.1 911 0.8 1.3 0.3 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0.1 <0 0.1 <0 <0.1 209 <0 0.4 13.3
<0.1 831 0.6 1.0 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0 <0 <0.1 174 <0 0.4 14.4
<0.1 684 0.5 0.8 0.1 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0 <0 <0 <0 <0.1 116 0.0 0.4 19.3
<0.1 3894 2.1 4.4 2.6 0.7 0.4 0.5 0.1 <0 0.1 <0 <0.1 423 <0 0.5 17.0
<0.1 3222 1.5 3.3 2.2 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 323 <0 0.5 18.0
<0.1 861 0.7 0.8 <0.1 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 116 <0 0.6 24.8
<0.1 751 0.6 0.8 0.1 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0 0.0 <0 <0 <0.1 132 <0 0.5 16.9
1.3 866 6.2 9.4 1.4 <0.1 0.1 0.2 <0.1 0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.3 148 0.2 4.2 4.1
0.4 876 14.6 23.2 4.8 0.3 0.2 <0.2 0.2 <0.1 <0.2 <0 <0.4 191 0.4 7.6 9.0
<0.1 2010 7.8 17.8 6.5 1.2 0.6 0.7 0.4 0.1 0.1 <0 <0.1 160 <0 4.8 13.3
<0.2 1378 9.9 21.3 6.4 1.1 0.6 0.9 1.0 0.2 0.1 <0 <0.1 122 <0 8.1 18.7
0.5 255 2.0 4.5 1.0 0.2 0.1 <0.1 0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 38 <0 5.3 11.4
<0.2 1570 5.9 12.6 3.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 1.1 0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.2 200 <0 2.9 10.9
<0.1 1383 7.4 16.7 5.6 0.7 0.7 1.1 1.3 0.2 <0.1 <0 <0.1 112 <0 6.6 21.6
<0.2 60 0.8 2.3 1.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 <0 <0.2 10 0.5 8.0 21.5
<0.5 122 1.2 2.5 0.9 <0.6 <0.2 <0.3 <0.3 0.1 <0.2 0.0 <0.5 69 <0.1 1.7 3.5
0.3 153 1.5 3.6 1.1 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 <0.3 61 0.3 2.4 5.3
<0.2 126 1.5 4.2 1.1 0.3 0.1 <0.1 0.2 0.1 <0.1 <0 0.1 32 0.5 4.8 8.7
<0.3 54 0.8 1.9 1.0 <0.2 0.1 <0.2 <0.1 0.1 0.1 <0 <0.2 24 0.2 3.3 7.8
<0.1 69 1.0 2.3 0.9 0.2 0.1 <0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 <0 <0.1 20 0.2 4.9 7.4
<0.1 111 1.9 4.6 1.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 <0.1 <0 <0.1 45 0.1 4.2 5.4
<0.2 430 1.2 2.9 1.1 <0.2 0.1 <0.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.4 4 <0 27.1 7.6
<0.1 201 0.3 0.7 0.4 <0.1 0.3 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.2 4 0.4 9.0 11.1
0.1 54 0.1 0.2 0.2 <0.1 0.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 1 0.0 5.5 13.1
0.3 433 1.2 2.6 0.7 0.3 0.2 0.8 0.3 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.2 131 0.2 0.9 0.7
0.3 453 1.8 3.2 0.9 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.3 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.4 172 0.3 1.1 0.8
<0.2 412 0.2 0.4 0.2 <0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.2 54 <0 0.3 0.4
<0.2 522 0.4 0.7 0.3 <0.1 0.2 0.4 0.2 <0 <0 <0 <0.2 69 <0 0.5 0.4
3.7 530 2.6 4.2 1.0 <0.1 0.1 0.3 0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.2 222 0.2 1.2 0.6
0.5 710 5.5 11.4 4.8 1.0 0.4 0.6 0.3 0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.2 753 0.0 0.7 0.8
0.2 700 3.1 6.4 1.6 0.3 0.2 0.2 <0 <0 0.0 <0 <0.1 376 <0 0.8 1.0

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 1392 CHANG ET AL.

APPENDIX 3

Sample no. Easting Northing Elevation (m) Mn Fe Cu As Se Sr Zr Ag

MK04-107 263975 1864390 1252 <1 43 <1.7 4 <4 450 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-107 263975 1864390 1252 <0.9 87 <1.7 4 <3.7 346 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-39A 265566 1864031 1409 <1.1 160 <1.5 <1.7 <3 144 0.2 <0.2
MK04-39A 265566 1864031 1409 <4.8 256 <6.3 <5.5 <11.7 484 <0.1 <1
MK04-39A 265566 1864031 1409 <5.2 260 <6 <5 <9.8 426 0.2 <0.9
MK04-39A 265566 1864031 1409 <1.1 20 <1.1 2 <2.3 656 0.4 <0.2
MK04-39A 265566 1864031 1409 <1 41 1 2 <1.7 1067 0.2 <0.2
MK04-65A 264727 1863522 1343 <0.7 102 3 33 <3.3 1613 <0.1 <0.2
MK04-65A 264727 1863522 1343 <1 103 3 96 <3 2143 <0 <0.2
MK04-65A 264727 1863522 1343 <2.2 321 11 237 <11.8 3618 <0.1 <0.5
MK04-65A 264727 1863522 1343 <1.2 26 <2.3 18 <4.8 1455 <0.1 0.4
MK04-65A 264727 1863522 1343 <1.1 <16.2 <1.6 <3.1 <4.8 413 <0 <0.3
MK04-65A 264727 1863522 1343 <0.9 107 4 84 <4.9 2231 0.1 <0.2
U89-34-630 266223 1863616 872 <1.6 <11.8 <1.2 <1.8 <2.3 690 <0 <0.2
U89-34-630 266223 1863616 872 <0.9 <12.5 <1.2 <2.2 <2.9 414 <0.1 <0.2
U89-34-630 266223 1863616 872 <1.7 <31.7 <3.2 <4.3 <5.7 453 <0.1 <0.4
U89-34-630 266223 1863616 872 <0.7 <13.1 <1.4 <1.8 <2.7 917 <0.1 <0.3
U89-34-630 266223 1863616 872 1.0 126 2 <2 <3.4 3291 0.1 <0.2
U89-34-630 266223 1863616 872 <3.1 94 <5 <6 <7.5 2150 0.2 <0.6
U89-34-630 266223 1863616 872 0.9 <15.3 <1.4 <2.2 <3 759 <0 <0.2
U89-34-630 266223 1863616 872 <2.7 <42 <4.6 <6.8 <6.4 182 <0.1 <0.6
U91-42-156 266429 1864037 696 <1.2 735 2 2 <2.4 1903 <0.1 <0.2
U91-42-156 266429 1864037 696 1.2 558 1 2 <1.7 3285 0.1 <0.2
U91-42-156 266429 1864037 696 <2.3 341 <3.8 <3 <7.5 3411 0.1 <0.4
U91-42-156 266429 1864037 696 <1.8 79 <2 <1.7 <4.1 951 0.1 <0.2
U91-42-156 266429 1864037 696 <1.1 291 <1 <1.2 <3.5 3660 0.1 <0.2

Notes: Ca content is not shown; refer to the microprobe analyses (Table App. 2); numbers after symbol “<” are detection limits

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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT 1393

(Cont.)

100*
Sb Ba La Ce Nd Sm Eu Gd Dy Er Yb Lu Au Pb Bi La/Pb Sr/Pb

0.2 762 3.2 6.1 1.8 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.2 358 <0 0.9 1.3
<0.2 683 2.2 4.0 1.4 0.2 0.1 0.1 <0 <0 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 291 <0 0.8 1.2
0.4 35 8.0 16.0 2.3 <0.2 <0 <0.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.2 16 0.1 51.2 9.2
0.5 153 8.4 24.5 2.1 <0.4 <0.2 <0.4 <0.3 <0.2 <0.3 <0.1 <0.6 76 0.1 11.0 6.3
1.9 107 8.8 21.1 2.2 <0.5 <0.2 <0.5 0.2 <0.2 <0.4 <0.1 <0.5 42 <0.1 20.9 10.1
0.1 169 8.8 17.2 2.6 0.2 0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 57 <0 15.3 11.4
<0.1 270 12.5 23.3 4.0 0.2 0.2 0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 88 <0 14.1 12.1
0.4 638 2.6 3.8 0.8 0.1 0.0 <0.1 0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.2 859 0.1 0.3 1.9
3.2 1019 3.1 4.5 0.6 <0.1 0.1 <0.1 0.1 0.0 <0 <0 <0.1 1951 1.2 0.2 1.1
8.7 1361 6.3 9.6 1.3 <0.3 <0.1 <0.3 0.2 <0.1 <0.2 <0 <0.3 3616 3.3 0.2 1.0
0.5 657 2.5 3.7 0.4 <0.1 0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 0.1 <0 <0.1 737 0.3 0.3 2.0
<0.2 244 0.1 0.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.2 265 <0 0.1 1.6
2.7 862 3.2 4.9 0.8 <0.1 0.1 0.1 <0.1 <0 0.0 <0 <0.2 1662 0.9 0.2 1.3
<0.1 368 2.4 5.0 1.7 0.2 0.2 <0.1 <0 <0 <0 <0 <0.1 94 <0 2.5 7.4
<0.2 345 1.6 3.7 0.9 <0.1 0.2 <0.1 <0 <0 <0 <0 <0.1 38 <0 4.3 10.9
<0.3 364 1.7 3.5 0.9 <0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 <0.1 <0.2 <0 <0.2 59 <0.1 3.0 7.7
<0.1 351 3.2 6.7 1.5 0.2 0.2 <0.1 <0.1 0.0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 54 <0 5.9 16.9
<0.1 986 14.5 31.7 9.8 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.1 <0.1 <0 <0 <0.2 228 0.1 6.4 14.5
<0.5 569 6.4 15.2 4.9 0.5 0.3 <0.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0.2 <0 <0.4 149 <0.1 4.3 14.4
<0.2 1292 1.4 3.4 0.9 <0.1 0.4 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 16 <0 8.9 47.9
<0.4 148 1.1 2.2 0.9 <0.3 <0.1 <0.2 <0.2 <0.1 <0.2 <0 <0.4 26 <0.1 4.3 7.0
<0.2 409 1.4 2.2 0.2 <0.2 0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 0.1 73 0.2 1.9 26.0
<0.1 619 3.4 5.6 0.9 <0.1 0.1 <0.2 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 166 0.6 2.1 19.9
<0.3 572 4.0 7.8 1.3 <0.4 0.1 <0.3 <0.2 <0.1 <0.2 <0 <0.3 173 0.3 2.3 19.7
<0.2 127 1.3 1.8 0.3 <0.2 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.2 49 0.0 2.7 19.3
<0.1 660 1.2 1.9 0.2 <0.1 0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0 <0.1 <0 <0.1 89 0.1 1.3 41.2

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 1394 CHANG ET AL.

APPENDIX 4

Examples of Normalized Hull Quotient Short Wavelength Infrared (SWIR) Spectra of Alunite, Including Huangite

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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT 1395

APPENDIX 5

a b

c d
Surface and underground samples. a. Alunite Ag content. Values below detection limits are treated as 0. c.-d. Whole-rock
geochemistry of selected samples (Cu <0.1 wt % and Au <100 ppb and alunite bearing). c. Whole-rock Ag/Au ratio decreases
toward intrusive center. d. Whole-rock Ag content decreases toward intrusive center.

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 1396 CHANG ET AL.

APPENDIX 6

a b

c
Surface and underground samples. a. Alunite Sr content increases toward intrusive center. b. Alunite Sr/Pb ratio increases
toward intrusive center. c. Whole-rock Sr/Pb ratio of selected samples (Cu <0.1 wt % and Au <100 ppb and alunite bearing)
increases toward intrusive center.

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 EXPLORATION TOOLS FOR PORPHYRY & EPITHERMAL DEPOSITS, MANKAYAN Cu-Au DISTRICT 1397

APPENDIX 7

a b

c
Surface and underground samples. A. Alunite La content increases toward intrusive center. b. Alunite La/Pb ratio in-
creases toward intrusive center. c. Whole-rock La/Pb ratio of selected samples (Cu <0.1 wt % and Au <100 ppb and alunite
bearing) increases toward intrusive center.

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 1398 CHANG ET AL.

APPENDIX 8
Whole-Rock Composition Analysis Protocols (Anglo American package AA group LITHO, ACME Lab, Vancouver, Canada)

Detec. Method Detec. Method Detec. Method

Unit limit code Unit limit code Unit limit code

SiO2 % 0.02 G4A Cs ppm 0.1 G4B Mo ppm 0.01 G1F-MS

Al2O3 % 0.03 G4A Ga ppm 0.5 G4B Cu ppm 0.01 G1F-MS
Fe2O3 % 0.04 G4A Hf ppm 0.5 G4B Pb ppm 0.01 G1F-MS
MgO % 0.01 G4A Nb ppm 0.5 G4B Zn* ppm 0.1 G1F-MS
CaO % 0.01 G4A Rb ppm 0.5 G4B Ag ppb 2 G1F-MS
Na2O % 0.01 G4A Sn ppm 1 G4B Ni ppm 0.1 G1F-MS
K2O % 0.04 G4A Sr ppm 0.5 G4B Co ppm 0.1 G1F-MS
TiO2 % 0.01 G4A Ta ppm 0.1 G4B Mn* ppm 1 G1F-MS
P2O5 % 0.01 G4A Th ppm 0.1 G4B As ppm 0.1 G1F-MS
MnO % 0.01 G4A U ppm 0.1 G4B Au ppb 0.2 G1F-MS
Cr2O3 % 0.001 G4A V ppm 5 G4B Cd ppm 0.01 G1F-MS
Ba ppm 0.5 G4A W ppm 0.1 G4B Sb ppm 0.02 G1F-MS
Ni ppm 10 G7TD Zr ppm 0.5 G4B Bi ppm 0.02 G1F-MS
Sc ppm 0.1 G4A Y ppm 0.1 G4B Cr* ppm 0.5 G1F-MS
LOI % 0.1 G4A La ppm 0.5 G4B B* ppm 1 G1F-MS
Total C % 0.02 G4A Ce ppm 0.5 G4B Tl ppm 0.02 G1F-MS
Total S % 0.02 G4A Pr ppm 0.02 G4B Hg ppb 5 G1F-MS
Nd ppm 0.4 G4B Se ppm 0.1 G1F-MS
Sm ppm 0.1 G4B Te ppm 0.02 G1F-MS
Eu ppm 0.05 G4B Ge* ppm 0.1 G1F-MS
Au_G3B ppb 2 G3B Gd ppm 0.05 G4B In ppm 0.02 G1F-MS
Pt_G3B ppb 3 G3B Tb ppm 0.1 G4B Re ppb 1 G1F-MS
Pd_G3B ppb 2 G3B Dy ppm 0.05 G4B Be* ppm 0.1 G1F-MS
Ho ppm 0.05 G4B Li* ppm 0.1 G1F-MS
Er ppm 0.05 G4B Pd* ppb 10 G1F-MS
Tm ppm 0.05 G4B Pt* ppb 2 G1F-MS
Yb ppm 0.05 G4B
Lu ppm 0.01 G4B

Method G4A-G4B: A 0.2-g sample split is fused at 1,000°C with 1.5 g of a 80:20 lithium metaborate/tetraborate mix; the cooled bead is digested in
100 mL of 5% HNO3; ICP-ES analysis determines major element concentrations reported as the common oxides; loss on ignition (LOI) is reported as wt
% loss on a 1-g split when ignited at 1,000°C; LECO analysis determines total C and S on a 0.2-g sample split; the same whole-rock fusion solution is ana-
lyzed by ICP-MS (Perkin Elmer Elan 6000) to determine absolute concentrations of these trace elements
Method 1F-MS: A 1-g subsample is digested in 6 mL of hot (95°C) modified Aqua Regia (1:1:1 HCl:HNO3:H2O) for 1 h, cooled, and made to 20 mL
vol with 5% HCl; solution is analyzed by ICP-MS (Perkin Elmer Elan 6000 or 9000); *some minerals of these elements may be only partly attacked; this
method is effective in dissolving sulfides and other minerals soluble in strong acid such as alunite and carbonates but it may only dissolve silicates partially;
comparing a granitic standard (TASGRAN), a basaltic standard (TASBAS), a soil power standard (GXR-2), and a copper mill-head powder standard (GXR-
4) reveals that the ACME results are 0 to 70% lower than accepted values; in particular, Pb is 18 to 69% lower, but if Pb is mostly in alunite, then the error
should be smaller as alunite will dissolve; mercury is 1 to 10% lower
Method G3B: A 30-g sample split is custom mixed with PbO fire assay fluxes and fired for 45 min at 1,050°C; molten Pb + slag is poured into an iron
mold, cooled, and Pb button recovered; heating at 950°C in an MgO cupel renders an Ag ± Au, Pt, Pd bore bead; the bead is parted in hot HNO3,
digested by adding HCl, and aspirated into a Jarrel Ash Atomcomp 875 ICP-ES to determine Au, Pt, and Pd; upper limits = 10 ppm
Method G7TD: A 0.5-g sample split is digested in 20 mL of 4-Acid solution (HNO3:HClO4:HF:H2O) at 200°C and taken to dryness; residue is dissolved
in 16 mL of 50% HCl at ~95°C for 1 h then made to volume in a 100-mL volumetric flask with 5% HCl; ICP-ES analysis determines total Ni

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