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Contrasting fluids and reservoirs in the contiguous Marcona and Mina Justa iron oxide–Cu (–Ag–Au) deposits, south-central Perú

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Abstract

The Marcona–Mina Justa deposit cluster, hosted by Lower Paleozoic metaclastic rocks and Middle Jurassic shallow marine andesites, incorporates the most important known magnetite mineralization in the Andes at Marcona (1.9 Gt at 55.4% Fe and 0.12% Cu) and one of the few major iron oxide–copper–gold (IOCG) deposits with economic Cu grades (346.6 Mt at 0.71% Cu, 3.8 g/t Ag and 0.03 g/t Au) at Mina Justa. The Middle Jurassic Marcona deposit is centred in Ica Department, Perú, and the Lower Cretaceous Mina Justa Cu (Ag, Au) prospect is located 3–4 km to the northeast. New fluid inclusion studies, including laser ablation time-of-flight inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-TOF-ICPMS) analysis, integrated with sulphur, oxygen, hydrogen and carbon isotope analyses of minerals with well-defined paragenetic relationships, clarify the nature and origin of the hydrothermal fluid responsible for these contiguous but genetically contrasted deposits. At Marcona, early, sulphide-free stage M-III magnetite–biotite–calcic amphibole assemblages are inferred to have crystallized from a 700–800°C Fe oxide melt with a δ18O value from +5.2‰ to +7.7‰. Stage M-IV magnetite–phlogopite–calcic amphibole–sulphide assemblages were subsequently precipitated from 430–600°C aqueous fluids with dominantly magmatic isotopic compositions (δ34S = +0.8‰ to +5.9‰; δ18O = +9.6‰ to +12.2‰; δD = −73‰ to −43‰; and δ13C = −3.3‰). Stages M-III and M-IV account for over 95% of the magnetite mineralization at Marcona. Subsequent non-economic, lower temperature sulphide–calcite–amphibole assemblages (stage M-V) were deposited from fluids with similar δ34S (+1.8‰ to +5.0‰), δ18O (+10.1‰ to +12.5‰) and δ13C (−3.4‰), but higher δD values (average −8‰). Several groups of lower (<200°C, with a mode at 120°C) and higher temperature (>200°C) fluids can be recognized in the main polymetallic (Cu, Zn, Pb) sulphide stage M-V and may record the involvement of modified seawater. At Mina Justa, early magnetite–pyrite assemblages precipitated from a magmatic fluid (δ34S = +0.8‰ to +3.9‰; δ18O = +9.5‰ to +11.5‰) at 540–600°C, whereas ensuing chalcopyrite–bornite–digenite–chalcocite–hematite–calcite mineralization was the product of non-magmatic, probably evaporite-sourced, brines with δ34S ≥ +29‰, δ18O = 0.1‰ and δ13C = −8.3‰. Two groups of fluids were involved in the Cu mineralization stage: (1) Ca-rich, low-temperature (approx. 140°C) and high-salinity, plausibly a basinal brine and (2) Na (–K)-dominant with a low-temperature (approx. 140°C) and low-salinity probably meteoric water. LA-TOF-ICPMS analyses show that fluids at the magnetite–pyrite stage were Cu-barren, but that those associated with external fluids in later stages were enriched in Cu and Zn, suggesting such fluids could have been critical for the economic Cu mineralization in Andean IOCG deposits.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported logistically by Shougang Hierro Perú SA, Chariot Resources and Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration Ltd. which gave permission for this publication, and by National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada operating grants to Alan H. Clark and T. Kurtis Kyser and equipment grants to the latter. Dr. Louise Corriveau and Dr. Mark Barton are thanked for their comments which have greatly improved this paper. Kerry Klassen provided expert assistance in the stable isotope analysis. LA-TOF-ICPMS analysis was carried out in collaboration with April Vuletich and Rui Zhang at Queen’s University. Discussions with Gregory Lester, Allan Montgomery and Jorge Benavides provided considerable insight.

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    Present address: ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposit Research (CODES), University of Tasmania, Private Bag 126, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia

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  1. Department of Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada, K7L 3N6

    Huayong Chen, T. Kurtis Kyser & Alan H. Clark

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Chen, H., Kyser, T.K. & Clark, A.H. Contrasting fluids and reservoirs in the contiguous Marcona and Mina Justa iron oxide–Cu (–Ag–Au) deposits, south-central Perú. Miner Deposita 46, 677–706 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-011-0343-x

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