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Mineralium Deposita

, Volume 52, Issue 1, pp 1–34 | Cite as

The high-grade Las Cruces copper deposit, Spain: a product of secondary enrichment in an evolving basin

  • Fernando TornosEmail author
  • Francisco Velasco
  • John F. Slack
  • Antonio Delgado
  • Nieves Gomez-Miguelez
  • Juan Manuel Escobar
  • Carmelo Gomez
Article
First Online:

Abstract

The Las Cruces deposit (Iberian Pyrite Belt) includes a large, high-grade cementation zone capped by unusual rocks that contain carbonates, galena, iron sulphides, and quartz. Between the Late Cretaceous(?) and Tortonian, the volcanogenic massive sulphides were exhumed and affected by subaerial oxidation that formed paired cementation and gossan zones. Onset of Alpine extension produced accelerated growth of the cementation zone along extensional faults, leading to formation of the high-grade copper ore at ca. 11 Ma. Later, replacement of the overlying gossan by sulphide- and carbonate-rich rocks beneath sealing marl sediments is thought to have involved microbial processes, occurring between the Messinian (ca. 7.2 Ma) and today. Isotope data show that the cementation zone formed by the mixing of descending acidic waters derived from oxidation of the massive sulphides, with upwelling geothermal waters flowing at temperatures above 100 °C. The C, O, and Sr isotope values of the mineralization (87Sr/86Sr 0.7101–0.7104) and of the local groundwater (0.7102–0.7104) reflect equilibration with basement rocks, and indicate that influence on the ore-forming process by marl-equilibrated water (0.7091–0.7093) or Miocene seawater (0.7086–0.7092) was negligible. The high sulphur isotope values of the sulphides in the biogenic zone (most +19 to +24 ‰) are well above those of the primary sulphides (δ34S ca. −6.8 to +10.3 ‰) and likely reflect formation of the biogenic sulphides by reduction of aqueous sulphate in the groundwaters. Sulphur isotope values of the cementation zone (δ34S ca. −2.4 to +21.7 ‰) are also consistent with some contribution of sulphur from the biogenic reduction of aqueous sulphate.

Keywords

Pyrite Chalcopyrite Galena Massive Sulphide Bornite 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Spanish project SEIDI CGL 2011-23207 to FT and FV, the grant IT762-13 (GIC12/104) of the Basque Government to FV and, in its initial stages, by ProMine EU project FP7-NMP-2008-LARGE-2 228559. We would like to thank Cobre Las Cruces SA (First Quantum Minerals) for granting access to the open pit mine and allowing sampling of drill cores and waters. Special thanks are given to Ivan Carrasco, Juan Carlos Baquero, Antonio Francos, José Gómez, and Gobain Obejero for continuous support and sharing knowledge of the mine. We also acknowledge Carmen Conde, Cesar Menor, and Juan Carlos Videira for fruitful discussions and advice on the geology and mineralogy of the deposit. We additionally thank Carlos Ayora (CSIC), Baruch Spiro (Natural History Museum, London), and Ricardo Amils, Monika Oggerin, Nuria Rodriguez, and Enoma Omoregie (all Centro de Astrobiología, CSIC-INTA) for comments and suggestions on geomicrobiology, Clemente Recio (Universidad de Granada) for help in the stable isotope data, and Terry Spell for suggestions on interpretation of the Ar-Ar ages. We are also indebted to the technicians from the laboratories (including Sgiker of the University of the Basque Country) for their help with the analyses presented in this research. Finally, we thank Erik Melchiorre, Albert Gilg, and Bernd Lehmann for the thoughtful review and editing of the manuscript.

Supplementary material

126_2016_650_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (106 kb)
ESM Table 1 Isotopic composition of water in Las Cruces deposit (PDF 106 kb)
126_2016_650_MOESM2_ESM.pdf (48 kb)
ESM Table 2 Representative whole-rock analyses of samples from biogenic zone and related rocks (PDF 47.7 kb)
126_2016_650_MOESM3_ESM.pdf (97 kb)
ESM Table 3 Ar-Ar geochronological data for secondary acidic alteration zone. All data are reported at 1σ uncertainty level, unless noted otherwise (PDF 96.6 kb)
126_2016_650_MOESM4_ESM.pdf (74 kb)
ESM Table 4 Electron microprobe analyses of enargite (PDF 74.4 kb)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA)MadridSpain
  2. 2.Dpto. de Mineralogía y Petrología, Facultad de Ciencia y TecnologíaUniversidad del País Vasco UPV/EHUBilbaoSpain
  3. 3.U.S. Geological Survey, National CenterRestonUSA
  4. 4.Laboratorio de Biogeoquímica de Isótopos EstablesInstituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-UGR)GranadaSpain
  5. 5.LeónSpain
  6. 6.Cobre Las Cruces S.A.SevilleSpain

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