Candelaria and the Punta del Cobre District Chile: VMS or epigenetic

hydrothermal deposits?
Richard A. LEVEILLE* and Robert MARSCHIK**.
*Phelps Dodge Exploration Corporation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
**Mineralogy Department, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Introduction
Since the publication of Camus (1980), the origin of the iron oxide-copper-gold
deposits of the Punta del Cobre district (production plus reserves:
approximately 120 Mt of 1.5% Cu, 0.2 to 0.6 g/t Au, and 2 to 8 g/t Ag) near
Copiap, Chile, has been the subject of lively debate within the geological
community of Chile. Based on the exposures of strata-bound mantos and
underlying breccia/vein/stockwork mineralization available in the mines of the
district at that time, he proposed that the orebodies were syngenetic
submarine exhalative deposits. Camus provocative model has been widely
circulated in the geological literature and continues to be tested and evaluated
by geologists who work in and visit the district, especially since the discovery
of the Candelaria deposit by Phelps Dodge in 1987 (Ryan et al., 1995). At 400
Mt of 1% Cu, 0.2 g/t Au, and 4.5 g/t (Martin et al., 1997) it is by far the most
important orebody known in the district. Due to its complex silicate
mineralogy, strong stratigraphic control and structural setting, it has, if
anything, added fuel to the ongoing genetic controversy surrounding the district
deposits.
Geology of the District
Stratified rocks in the area southeast of Copiap were deposited in an Early
Cretaceous backarc basin. A transition between a continental andesitic
volcanic arc, represented by the Bandurrias Formation, to the west and
northwest, and marine carbonate rocks of the Chaarcillo Group, to the east and
southeast, is preserved in this part of the basin. Underlying the Chaarcillo
Group is the pre-Upper Valanginian Punta del Cobre Formation, which has been
divided into two units (Marschik and Fontbot, in review). The upper unit (up to
>800 m) consists of volcaniclastic breccias, conglomerates and tuffaceous
rocks with lenses of massive andesitic volcanic rocks. The basal unit (>600 m)
is composed of massive andesitic volcanic rocks, known locally as the Lower
Andesites, and albitized dacite domes that overlie the andesites in the
eastern part of the district. Early to mid-Cretaceous dioritic-granodioritic
plutons (119 to 97 Ma; Arvalo, 1994, 1995) of the Copiap Batholith intrude

2
the backarc sequence on the western edge of the district. The contact
metamorphic aureole in the intruded bedded rocks averages 2.5 km in width
(Tilling, 1962). The known important orebodies of the district, prior to the
discovery of Candelaria in 1987, were located just outside (to the east of) the
contact aureole. The Candelaria deposit, in contrast, is located about 1 km to
the east, i.e. within of the contact aureole of the batholith, with the result that
its host rocks have been subjected to much more intense thermal
metamorphism, metasomatism and deformation.
The bedded rocks of the district are deformed by a SE verging fold-thrust
system known collectively as the Tierra Amarilla Anticlinorium (Arvalo and
Grocott, 1997). Both the bedded sequence and the batholith are cut by a dense
set of NNW to NW striking high angle faults with evidence of both strike-slip
and dip-slip movements displacement. Near the contact with the batholith, the
upper part of the Lower Andesites and the Bandurrias Formation preserve
evidence of ductile shearing expressed in NNE trending, typically 50W dipping
zones of intense foliation.
Thermal metamorphism, alteration and mineralization
Within the contact metamorphic aureole, limestones of the Chaarcillo Group
are converted into proximal garnet scapolite skarns that zone outward into
marble. Shaley (tuffaceous?) beds intercalated with limestones near the base
of the Chaarcillo Group, and volcaniclastic rocks in the upper part of the
underlying Punta del Cobre Formation were converted into proximal pyroxenescapolite skarns or biotite, quartz, and pyroxene hornfels. Further outboard
from the contact, these same units are characterized by a chlorite-carbonate
albite epidote alteration assemblage. Albite-chlorite-carbonate alteration is
focussed around the contact between the upper volcaniclastic unit and the
dacite domes of the Punta del Cobre Formation. The Lower Andesites are
intensely biotite-quartz-magnetite altered, with this style of alteration
extending much further outboard (to the east) of the intrusive contact than
visible alteration in the overlying rocks. Local areas of intense actinolitization
overprint all rock types within the contact zone.
It is important to note that chalcopyrite mineralization is one of the latest
events recorded in the paragenetic sequence of the district. It cross-cuts, and
thus post-dates, all of the major metamorphic and metasomatic assemblages
described above that are clearly zoned outboard of the contact of the Copiap
Batholith with the bedded rocks (Marschik and Leveille, 1998). The most
important orebodies in the district are encountered at the intersection of NNW
to NW faults with the contact between the volcaniclastic sediments or tuffs of
the upper unit of the Punta del Cobre Formation (Manto Horizon), and the
underlying dacite domes or Lower Andesites of the same formation. Roughly

3
stratabound
lens-like
bodies
(mantos)
of
banded
chalcopyrite-pyritehematite are centered on these intersections at Punta del Cobre, whereas at
Candelaria,
banded
magnetite-amphibole-K-feldspar-pyrrhotite-pyritechalcopyrite mineralization is present. These mantos were what originally
inspired Camus (1980) stratiform exhalative interpretation of mineralization.
Mineralization extends downward from this level for about 300 m (). In this
interval, at Punta del Cobre, mineralization takes the form of curious molar
shaped breccia bodies hosted in the dacite domes and in the Lower Andesites.
The breccia bodies taper downwards into vein-like roots. Underlying the highgrade manto at Candelaria are zones of widely spaced stockwork, veinlets,
and breccia in-fill of chalcopyrite-pyrite magnetite quartz anhydrite
sphalerite minor calcite. Ore associated alteration superimposed on early
biotite-quartz-magnetite alteration of the Lower Andesites consists largely
of actinolite K-feldspar or albite biotite alteration (Ullrich and Clark,
1997). In the Punta del Cobre district, hematite grades downward into
magnetite in the breccias and veins, with common textures of magnetite
replacing
and
pseudomorphing
hematite.
Alteration
is
predominantly
albitization-chloritization
carbonatization
in
the
upper
levels,
grading
vertically (and locally laterally) into pervasive K-feldspar-chlorite and/or
biotite
alteration
in
intermediate,
and
fracture-controlled
actinolite
alteration
on
the
previously
pervasive
biotite-quartz-magnetite
altered
andesite wallrocks in the lower parts. Late calcite specular hematite
minor chalcopyrite in veins and breccia in-fill are found in both areas.
Exposures of mineralization that extended above the manto horizon of the upper
unit of the Punta del Cobre Formation were rare or non-existent in the early
1980s, however, with additional mine development they have become more
common. At the Carola mine, chalcopyrite veins and veinlets can be seen
cutting above the manto into the overlying green tuffaceous rocks. Within the
contact metamorphic aureole of the batholith, copper mineralization occurs as
replacement bodies, open-space filling and breccia in-fill in pyroxenescapolite skarns formed after tuffaceous or shaley beds of the upper unit of
the Punta del Cobre Formation and in garnet skarns formed after Valanginian
limestones of the Chaarcillo Group and in magnetite replacements of all preexisting lithologies. Veins and veinlets with iron-copper mineralization that
are geochemically identical to mineralization in the underlying Lower
Andesites, are fairly common cutting all the way through the section into
limetones of the Chaarcillo Group as well.
Geological Evolution
Ullrich and Clark (1997) used biotite-garnet Fe-Mg exchange geothermometry
to estimate a 500-600C temperature of formation for early (pre-

4
chalcopyrite) alteration in tuffs within the upper volcaniclastic unit of the
40
39
Punta del Cobre Formation at Candelaria. Age dating ( Ar/ Ar incremental
heating) of biotite from the early biotite-magnetite-quartz stage of alteration
in the Lower Andesites of the Punta del Cobre Formation gave an inverse
isochron age of 114.91.0 Ma (all errors reported at 2), which is consistent
with a Rb-Sr ischron of 116.82.7 Ma based on seven potassically altered whole
40
39
rock samples (Marschik et al., 1997a). The same study gave an Ar/ Ar total
fusion weighted mean age of 111.61.4 Ma (2 analyses) for ore related
40
39
hydrothermal
biotite.
Ar/ Ar plateau ages for amphibole (commonly
associated with chalcopyrite) from Candelaria, reported by Ullrich and Clark
(1998), were 111.70.8 Ma. These ages suggest that hydrothermal alteration
associated with the metallic mineralization at Candelaria-Punta del Cobre was
coeval with the emplacement of the Copiap Batholith (K-Ar ages 119 to 97
Ma). This is consistent with the hypothesis that batholith intrusion and
metallic mineralization are genetically related.
Lead isotopic analyses of samples of mineralization from Candelaria and the
Punta del Cobre district, as well as from samples of the batholith, show very
similar Pb isotope signatures, suggesting a common Pb source for both the
sulfide mineralization and the batholithic rocks (Marschik et al, 1997b, c).
34
Sulfur isotope ratios of sulfides fall into a range of S CDT values from -0.7 to
+2.9, compatible with an igneous, to modified igneous, source for sulfur
(Marschik et al., 1997b, c).
Ullrich and Clark (1998) measured homogenization temperatures for
hypersaline fluid inclusions in quartz from Candelaria ranging from >396C to
>202C. Saline fluid inclusions (29-34% NaCl equiv ) were also found in calcite, a
paragenetically late mineral in all deposits of the district. These homogenized
between 125 to 175C (Marschik et al., 1997a) and 175 to 236C (Rabbia et
al., 1996). Carbon and oxygen isotope values from calcite studied by Rabbia et
13
al. (1996) are -8.7 to -9.4 C (PCB) and +15.4 to +15.9 18O (SMOW),
respectively. Calculated isotopic compositions of a fluid in equilibrium with
18
this calcite indicate O values between +4.6 and +7.7 for a temperature
range of 175 to 235C. These values are consistent with fluids that contain an
important magmatic component or with fluids equilibrated with magmatic
silicates at high temperature.
Conclusions
There is an increasing body of evidence from field mapping, core logging,
petrographic, geochemical, and geochronological studies that hydrothermal iron
oxide-copper-gold mineralization at Candelaria and in the Punta del Cobre
district is epigenetic, significantly post-dating the deposition of the Lower

5
Cretaceous host rocks. It was the culminating event in a long history of
thermal metamorphism and metasomatism related to the intrusion of the Early
to mid-Cretaceous Copiap Batholith. The available data is consistent with ore
fluids that contain a significant magmatic component. However, it cannot be
excluded that external fluids (e.g., formation waters, basinal brines etc.)
circulating around the cooling batholith were also involved in the alteration
and mineralization processes that formed the Candelaria-Punta del Cobre iron
oxide-copper-gold deposits.
There is a marked zonation in the district regarding metallic
mineralization and alteration mineral assemblages. Contact metamorphic
assemblages appear to be stratigraphically controlled, whereas hydrothermal
alteration in general is discordant. However, particular alteration mineral
assemblages (e.g., biotite-quartz-magnetite or albite-chlorite-carbonate) at a
more local scale are largely confined to particular litho-stratigraphic units.
Copper mineralization is focussed on the intersections of generally NNW to NW
structures with the favorable contact between the upper volcaniclastic unit of
the Punta del Cobre Formation and the underlying massive volcanic rocks of the
same formation. Copper orebodies are found both inside and outside of the
contact metamorphic aureole, and while also showing strong stratigraphic
control, they also transgress stratigraphy and earlier metamorphic/alteration
assemblages.
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6
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Reference
Leveille, R.A. and Marschik, R. (1999): Candelaria and the Punta del Cobre
District Chile: VMS or epigenetic hydrothermal deposits? Primer Congreso
Internacinal de Propectores y Exploradores, Lima Per, 27 al 30 de abril de
1999.