Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41 – 59

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Paleozoic orogenic gold deposits in the eastern Central Andes and

its foreland, South America
Yves Haeberlin *, Robert Moritz, Lluı́s Fontboté
Section des Sciences de la Terre, Université de Genève, Rue des Maraı̂chers 13, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
Received 14 January 2002; accepted 22 August 2002

Abstract

In the eastern Central Andes and its foreland (6j – 34jS), abundant quartz veins emplaced along brittle – ductile deformation
zones in Ordovician to Carboniferous granites and gneisses and in saddle-reefs in lower Paleozoic turbidites represent a
coherent group of middle to late Paleozoic structurally hosted gold deposits that are part of three major Au ( F Sb F W)
metallogenic belts. These belts, extending from northern Peru to central Argentina along the Eastern Andean Cordillera and
further south in the Sierras Pampeanas, include historical districts and mines such as Pataz – Parcoy, Ananea, Santo Domingo,
Yani – Aucapata, Amayapampa, Sierra de la Rinconada and Sierras de Córdoba. On the basis of the available isotopic ages, two
broad mineralization epochs have been identified, with Devonian ages in the Sierras Pampeanas Au belt (26j to 33j30VS), and
Carboniferous ages for the Pataz – Marañón Valley Au-belt in northern Peru (6j50V to 8j50VS). The absolute timing of the
southeastern Peruvian, Bolivian and northwestern Argentinian turbidite-hosted lodes, which form the Au – Sb belt of the
southern Eastern Andean Cordillera (12j to 26jS), is poorly constrained. Field relationships suggest overlap of gold veining
with Carboniferous deformation events. The northernmost belt, which includes the Pataz province, is over 160-km-long and
consists of sulfide-rich quartz veins hosted by brittle – ductile shear zones that have affected Carboniferous granitic intrusions.
Gold mineralization, at least in the Pataz province, occurred a few million years after the emplacement of the 329 Ma host
pluton and an episode of molassic basin formation, during a period of rapid uplift of the host units. The two southern belts are
associated with syn- to post-collisional settings, resulting from the accretion of terranes on the proto-Andean margin of South
America. The Au – Sb belt of the southern Eastern Andean Cordillera presumably formed in the final stages of the collision of
the Arequipa – Antofalla terrane and the Sierras Pampeanas Au belt is considered concurrent with the late transpressional
tectonics associated with the accretion of the Chilenia terrane.
The three Devono – Carboniferous Andean belts are the South American segments of the trans-global orogenic gold
provinces that were formed from Late Ordovician to Middle Permian in accretionary or collisional belts that circumscribed the
Gondwana craton and the paleo-Tethys continental masses. A paleogeographic map of the Gondwana supercontinent in its
Middle Cambrian configuration appears as a powerful tool for predicting the location of the majority of the Paleozoic orogenic
gold provinces in the world, as they develop within mobile belts along its border. The three South American belts are sited in the
metallogenic continuation of the Paleozoic terranes that host the giant eastern Australian goldfields, such as Bendigo – Ballarat
and Charters Towers, with which they share many features. When compared to deposits in the French Massif Central, direct
counterparts of the Andean deposits such as Pataz and Ananea – Yani are respectively the Saint Yrieix district and the Salsigne
deposit. Considering the ubiquity of the Au ( F Sb F W) vein-type deposits in the Eastern Cordillera and Sierras Pampeanas,

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yves.haeberlin@bluewin.ch (Y. Haeberlin).

0169-1368/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 1 3 6 8 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 1 0 8 - 7
42 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59
and the relatively little attention devoted to them, the Devonian and Carboniferous orogenic gold deposits in the eastern section
of the Central Andes constitute an attractive target for mineral exploration.
D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Orogenic gold deposits; Paleozoic; Eastern Central Andes; Peru; Bolivia; Argentina
1. Introduction
In the earth’s history, giant orogenic gold deposits
formed predominantly during four periods, Late
Archean, Early Proterozoic, middle to late Paleozoic,
and Mesozoic – Cenozoic, when plate tectonics
resulted in the accretionary assembly of superconti-
nents (Kerrich and Cassidy, 1994; Goldfarb et al.,
2000, 2001). The formation of lode-gold deposits in
Paleozoic times corresponds to a major epoch of
continental growth that started during the Late Ordo-
vician and continued until the Middle Permian, culmi-
nating with the formation of Pangea (Bierlein and
Crowe, 2000). During this period, the tectonic and
thermal evolution of the convergent plate boundaries
in accretionary and collisional orogen resulted along
the margins of Gondwana and of the peri-Tethys in the
concentration of one billion or more of gold ounces,
deposited in particular in the giant deposits, such as
Bendigo –Ballarat in eastern Australia, and Muruntau
and Kumtor in the Tien Shan (Bierlein and Crowe,
2000). Elsewhere and around-the-world, middle to late
Paleozoic orogenic phases were responsible for the
formation of abundant gold deposits, in the Southern
Appalachians, the Meguma terrane in Nova Scotia and
Newfoundland, the British Caledonides, the European
Variscides, the Inner Mongolia in China, the Buller
Terrane in New Zealand and southern South America
(Bierlein and Crowe, 2000; Goldfarb et al., 2000,
2001). The Paleozoic Andean belts, despite the com-
mon metallogenic heritage of the proto-Pacific margin
of Gondwana from eastern Australia via New Zealand
and Antarctica to South America (Sillitoe, 1992), are
commonly overlooked. Even in recent syntheses (Ker-
rich and Cassidy, 1994; McCuaig and Kerrich, 1998;
Goldfarb et al., 1998, 2001; Groves et al., 1998;
Bierlein and Crowe, 2000), only little attention has
been devoted to the orogenic gold class in the Andes.
Only Sillitoe (1992), in his notes on the gold and
copper metallogeny of the Central Andes, and Noble
and Vidal (1994), in their reinterpretation of the
historical auriferous deposits of Santo Domingo and
Ananea in Peru, draw attention to the existence of large
orogenic gold provinces in the Paleozoic rocks of the
Andes. More recently, the comprehensive re-evalua-
tion of several deposits, such as the numerous Bolivian
Sb – (Au) sediment-hosted mineralizations (Dill et al.,
1997; Dill, 1998), the Peruvian batholith-hosted Pataz
gold lodes (Haeberlin et al., 1999, 2000; Macfarlane et
al., 1999; Haeberlin, 2002), and the Au – Ag – W veins
in the Argentinian Sierras Pampeanas (Skirrow et al.,
2000), highlights that the exposures of early to middle
Paleozoic mobile belts, presumably from northern
Peru to central Argentina, are in fact host of a con-
tinent-scale series of belts of orogenic gold deposits
with subsidiary antimony and tungsten.
The scope of this article is to provide an overall
frame to the poorly known gold deposits related with
the middle to late Paleozoic evolution of the proto-
Andean margin. Several Mesozoic and Cenozoic
orogenic gold belts occur elsewhere along the Andean
Cordillera, e.g. in the Antioquia region in Colombia
(Utter, 1984; Shaw, 2000) and close to Nazca in Peru
(Noble and Vidal, 1994), but they are not considered
here. The first part of this paper is dedicated to the
Pataz –Marañón Valley Au belt, that is currently the
focus of extensive fieldwork, dating and geochemical
studies (Haeberlin et al., 1999, 2000; Macfarlane et
al., 1999; Haeberlin, 2002). In a second part, two
other geographically and tectonically disconnected
metallogenic belts are documented, the Peruvian –
Bolivian – Argentinian Au – Sb belt of the Eastern
Andean Cordillera (12j to 26jS), where only little
information is available relative to the large number of
occurrences, and the Argentinian Sierras Pampeanas
Au belt (26j to 33j30VS), in which combined
regional and metallogenic investigations were carried
out (Skirrow et al., 2000). For these two belts, we
present a geological and structural overview of the
different mines and districts as well as syntheses of
 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59 43

the mineralization styles, ore and alteration para-
geneses, and, if available, the fluid inclusion and
isotopic data. What is known about the timing and
the tectonic setting of the three auriferous belts is
reviewed, followed by a critique of the existing
genetic models. As synthesis, comparisons and con-
trasts are highlighted between the Andean belts and
the aforementioned peri-Gondwanian orogenic gold
provinces, and some perspectives are exposed for
future exploration and research.
For sake of simplicity, we adopt in this paper as well
as in the author citations the term ‘‘orogenic gold de-
posits’’ as defined by Bohlke (1982) and Groves et al.
(1998), instead of the mesothermal, shear zone-hosted,
structurally hosted, or lode-gold terms.
2. The Pataz –Marañón Valley Au belt
The Pataz –Marañón Valley Au belt is situated in the
Eastern Cordillera of the northern Peruvian Andes
(Fig. 1). This mineralized belt, mostly hosted in gran-
itic rock covers at least a 160-km-long region (7j20V–
8j50VS), extending first along the eastern side of the

Fig. 1. Situation of the Pataz province in the frame of the orogenic gold belts of the Eastern Andean Cordillera and Sierras Pampeanas.
44 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59

Marañón Valley from the Bolı́var to the Pataz district
(Schreiber, 1989; Schreiber et al., 1990; Haeberlin et
al., 1999, 2000; Haeberlin, 2002), then striking to the
southeast to the Parcoy (Vidal et al., 1995; Macfarlane
et al., 1999) and Buldibuyo districts. The later three
districts are part of the Pataz province (Fig. 2). A
northern extension of this belt is likely into the Balsas
district (6j50VS), where similar gold deposit occurren-
ces are documented (Sánchez, 1995). The poorly
known deposits in the Ongón area (8j10VS) southeast
of Pataz and in the Huachón area (10j40VS) east of
Cerro de Pasco (Noble and Vidal, 1994) could
also belong to this belt, although they are preferen-
tially hosted in metasedimentary rocks.
The Pataz province (Fig. 2) includes numerous
quartz– sulfide veins, located to the east of a major
NNW-striking lineament within a 1- to 5-km-wide
corridor, formed by the western margin and, in the
Parcoy district, also the eastern margin of the Mis-
sissippian calc-alkaline Pataz Batholith at the contact
with Upper Proterozoic to Ordovician volcano-sedi-
mentary rocks. Over the past 100 years, more than 16
underground mines, distributed over the entire prov-
ince produced a total of 6 million ounces of gold (Moz

Fig. 2. Schematic geological map of the Pataz gold province with the location of the main deposits.
 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59
Au), mainly from 1925 to 1960 and from 1980
onward. In 2000, the production of the province
amounted to 380,000 oz, which represents about 9%
of the gold produced in Peru. Grades in the mined ore
shoots vary between 7 and 15 g/t Au, and locally
reach about 120 g/t Au. Further resources are esti-
mated at >40 Moz Au for the 160-km-long mineral-
ized belt.
The auriferous veins of the Pataz province share
several typical field characteristics (Table 1), includ-
ing:
(1) Strong lithological and in particular rheological
control; they occur as continuous up to 5-km-long
quartz veins within or along the margin of the
Pataz Batholith, or as smaller, branching ore
shoots within folded Ordovician slates/hornfels.
(2) Constant vein strikes, in particular within the
batholith, where the quartz veins are emplaced
along N- to NW-striking brittle– ductile deforma-
tion zones, dipping 30j to 60j to the east to
northeast, and within reverse fractures. Three
subordinate vein sets include (i) E –W-striking,
shallow-dipping extensional veins, (ii) veinlets
concordant to bedding in the limbs of fold hinges
in the Ordovician slates/hornfels, and (iii) weakly
mineralized lenses within roughly E –W-striking
vertical faults with sinistral displacements.
(3) Consistent Au, Ag, As, Fe, Pb, Zn, F Cu, F Sb,
F (Bi –Te– W) metal association, and a two-stage
ore sequence, with a first paragenesis composed
of milky quartz, pyrite, arsenopyrite and ankerite,
and a second assemblage synchronous with a
brittle fracturing event composed of blue-grey
microgranular quartz, galena, sphalerite, chalco-
pyrite, Sb – sulfosalts, electrum and native gold. A
final post-sulfide paragenesis with calcite, dolo-
mite and white quartz in veinlets crosscuts the
earlier parageneses.
(4) Hydrothermal alteration of the wallrock, with
intense bleaching of plutonic wallrocks, due to
pervasive sericitization with minor chloritization,
carbonitization, and pyritization, and almost
invisible to weak sericitization and chloritization
in sedimentary host rocks.
The overall uniformity in H, O, C, S, and Pb isotope
composition of the ore, gangue and alteration minerals
45
within the entire province (Table 2) is consistent with a
large-scale fluid migration over several tens to hun-
dreds of kilometers (Haeberlin, 2002). Lead isotopes
suggest that the hydrothermal fluids acquired most of
their metal contents through interaction with the con-
duits and host rocks, in particular the Pataz Batholith,
and a non-negligible part from lower crustal rocks.
Similarly, Sr isotopes point to the involvement of a
radiogenic Sr source external to the pluton, either
leached from the Precambrian basement or from
deep-seated gneissic rocks. Fluid inclusion studies
(Table 1) indicate that the ore fluids related to the
early pyrite –arsenopyrite stage are CO2-free brines,
and they post-date low-salinity aqueous carbonic flu-
ids (1 –8 wt.% NaCl equivalent) associated with quartz
formation. The decrease of the fluid salinities (from 15
to 5 wt.% NaCl equivalent) with a concomitant drop of
the homogenization temperatures (from 270 to 140 jC)
during the gold stage reveals the ingress of a third
and dilute fluid in the hydrothermal system, most
likely downward migrating surface waters. This dilu-
tion and the associated drop in sulfur activity are
interpreted as the main mechanisms responsible for
gold precipitation. Gold deposition occurred at
330 F 50 jC according to oxygen and sulfur isotope
geothermometry (Haeberlin, 2002).
2.1. Age, geotectonic setting and genetic hypotheses
In the Pataz province, three mineral separates
from the sericite alteration intimately associated
with the gold-bearing lodes yield overlapping
40
Ar/39Ar plateau ages between 314 and 312 Ma
that are interpreted as the closest approximation,
although they are minima, of the mineralization age
(Haeberlin et al., 1999; Haeberlin, 2002). The 325 –
322 Ma 40Ar/39Ar plateau dates obtained for mus-
covite and biotite separates from an aplite dyke, i.e.
the youngest magmatic pulse of the Pataz Batholith,
represent the upper age limit of the mineralization
(Haeberlin, 2002). The main host rock and major
component of the Pataz Batholith, the granodiorite,
has a U/Pb zircon age of 329 F 1 Ma near Parcoy
(Vidal et al., 1995), and two consistent 40Ar/39Ar
biotite plateau ages of 329.2 F 1.4 and 328.1 F 1.2
Ma near Pataz (Haeberlin, 2002). To the north, the
prolongation of the Pataz Batholith, the Callangate
pluton near Bolı́var and the Balsas pluton near Balsas
 46
Table 1

Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59

Geological setting, structural characteristics, ore, gangue and alteration parageneses, and fluid inclusion data of the main Paleozoic orogenic gold deposits in the eastern Central Andes
and its foreland
Belts Pataz – Marañón Valley Southern Eastern Andean Cordillera Sierras Pampeanas
West-central
Northern Peru Southeastern Peru North Bolivia Central and Northwestern
Argentina
(Cordillera de Carabaya) (Cordillera Real) South Bolivia Argentina
Major district(s) Balsas, Bolı́var, La Rinconada, Yani – Aucapata Antofagasta, Incahuasi Sierra de la
Pataz, Parcoy, Santo Domingo Amayapampa, (Catamarca), Culampajá
Buldibuyo Santa Rosa de Sierra de la (Catamarca),
Capasirca, Rinconada – Sto. Sierra de las
Cebadillas, Domingo – Farillón Minas – Ulapes
Candelaria, Sucre (Jujuy) (La Rioja),
Rı́o Candelaria –
placers: Madre de placers: Beni basin San Ignacio
Dios basin (Córdoba)
Host rock(s) Carboniferous granitoids, lower Paleozoic Ordovician shales lower Paleozoic Ordovician shales Cambrian paragneiss
Ordovician slates, turbiditic sequences and sandstones turbiditicsequences and quartzites and migmatites,
Upper Proterozoic Ordovician granites,
phyllites Devonian mylonites
Age of veining z 314 – 312 Ma V Carboniferous V Carboniferous V Carboniferous V Carboniferous Sierra de las Minas:
(40Ar/39Ar sericite) folding folding folding folding 393 – 382 Ma,
>238 Ma old >226 Ma old Sierras de Córdoba:
(Lancelot et al., 1978) (Farrar et al., 1990) 378 – 351 Ma
Coasa Batholith Zongo intrusion (40Ar/39Ar sericite)
Tectonic setting close to NNW-striking close to a NW-striking related to related to close to first-order
first-order structures first-order structure anticlines anticlines structures, locally in
mylonite zone
Structural style brittle – ductile brittle quartz veins, ductile quartz vein(let)s, saddle reefs, brittle – ductile brittle – ductile
quartz veins, stockworks, bedded saddle reefs, bedded brittle – ductile quartz veins, quartz veins,
bedding-concordant massive sulfide layers, massive sulfide layers quartz vein(let)s saddle reefs shear zones,
vein(let)s stockworks stockworks, en
echelon gash veins
Ore mineralsa I: py – as F wf I: py – po – as – sch I: py – as – sch – Au I: py – as I: as – py – po – el Au – el – py F cp –
II: gn – sl – py – as – II: cp – sl – gn – ant – II: gn – sl – cp – po – IIa: ant – sl – jm – cp – II: gn – sl – py – gn – sl – as – po
Au F cp – po – el – fh Au F fh – mo Au F el Au F wf – gn cp – po – sfs – Au
IIb: ant – jm – py – III: ant – sfs
Au F sfs
Economic metal(s) Au F Ag Au – Sb Au – W Sb – Au Au Au F Ag F Cu
Au grades 5 – 30 g/t 10 – 25 g/t, up to up to 300 g/t 2 – 15 g/t, often as 0.5 – 40 g/t 0.2 – 25 g/t,
2 kg/t by-product up to 180 g/t
Gold production 380,000 oz/year 500,000 oz/year 100,000 oz/year ? f 100 oz/year ?
(including placers) (placers)
Gangueb milky qz I, grey-blue white qz I, blue-grey milky qz I, grey-blue milky qz, sid, ank, qz I, qz II, chl, milky qz,
qz II, ser, chl, fuch, qz II, chl, ser, ep, qz II, chl, alb, sid F bar ca F bar ser, ank, gr grey qz, ca
ank, dol, ca, sp sp, ank

Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59

Wallrock sericitization, chloritization, silicification, sericitization, chloritization, sericitization,
alteration chloritization, silicification, chloritization chloritization sericitization chloritization,
pyritization, sericitization, pyritization
silicification pyritization
Fluid inclusions early: H2O – NaCl – CO2 H2O – NaCl H2O – NaCl F CO2 H2O – NaCl – CO2
(1 – 8 wt.% NaCl (18 – 30 wt.% NaCl (5 – 15 wt.% NaCl (6 – 18 wt.%
equivalent) and equivalent) and equivalent) and NaCl equivalent)
syn: H2O – NaCl H2O – CO2 F NaCl H2O – CO2
(5 – 15 wt.% NaCl
equivalent)
References Schreiber (1989); Fornari et al. (1988); Tistl (1985); Lehrberger (1992); Sureda et al. Lazarte (1992);
Schreiber et al. (1990); Clark et al. (1990); Fornari and Hérail Richings (2000); (1986); Rı́os Gómez
Vidal et al. (1995); Fornari and Hérail (1991) for Sb-deposits: Zappettini and et al. (1992);
Macfarlane et al. (1999); (1991) Ahlfeld and Segal (1998) Lyons et al. (1997);
Haeberlin et al. Schneider-Scherbina Pieters et al. (1997);
(1999, 2000); (1964); Dill et al. Sims et al. (1997);
Haeberlin (2002) (1997); Dill (1998) Skirrow et al.
(2000)
a
Ore mineral abbreviations: as = arsenopyrite, ant = antimonite, Au = native gold, cp = chalcopyrite, el = electrum, fh = fahlore, gn = galena, jm = jamesonite, mo = molybdenite,
po = pyrrhotite, py = pyrite, sch = scheelite, sfs = sulfosalts, sl = sphalerite, wf = wolframite.
b
Gangue mineral abbreviations: alb = albite, ank = ankerite, bar = barite, ca = calcite, chl = chlorite, dol = dolomite, ep = epidote, fuch = fuchsite, gr = graphite, kf = k-feldspar,
qz = quartz (I: early, II: syn-gold), ser = sericite (hydrothermal muscovite), sid = siderite, sp = sphene.

47
48 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59

Table 2
Stable and radiogenic isotope compositions of the ore, gangue and alteration minerals for the main Paleozoic orogenic gold deposits in the
eastern Central Andes and its foreland
Belts Pataz – Marañón Valley Southern Eastern Andean Cordillera Sierras Pampeanas
Northern Peru Central and South Bolivia West-central Argentina
Studied district(s) Pataz, Parcoy Antofagasta, Cebadillas, Santa Sierra de las Minas – Ulapes (La
Rosa de Capasirca, Candelaria, Rioja), Rı́o Candelaria – San
Sucre Ignacio (Córdoba)
dD (SMOW, x ) sericite 60 to 39 (n = 12) sericite 125 to 86 (n = 5)
d18O (SMOW, x ) quartz 10.9 to 14.2 (n = 10) quartz 12.0 to 17.6 (n = 14)
sericite 7.3 to 9.9 (n = 8) sericite 8.4 to 13.4 (n = 5)
ankerite 8.9 to 9.8 (n = 5) ankerite 12.8 to 17.9 (n = 11)
siderite 14.5 to 19.2 (n = 6)
d13C (PDB, x ) ankerite 5.6 to 5.2 (n = 5) ankerite 16.5 to 7.9 (n = 11)
siderite 14.8 to 6.6 (n = 6)
d34S (CDT, x ) sulfide mineralsa 1.7 to 3.7 (n = 44) sulfide mineralsb 1.5 to 10.0 (n = 8)
Pb isotopes 206Pb/204Pb galena 18.35 – 18.46 (n = 21)
207
Pb/204Pb 15.62 – 15.69
208
Pb/204Pb 38.26 – 38.50
Sr isotopes 87Sr/86Sr ankerite 0.7096 – 0.7146 (n = 5)
References Vidal et al. (1995); Haeberlin (2002) Lehrberger (1992) Skirrow et al. (2000)
a
Sulfide minerals: arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, pyrite, sphalerite.
b
Sulfide minerals: galena, pyrite, sphalerite, sulfosalt.

yielded K/Ar biotite ages for granodiorites and gran-
ites ranging between 347 F 7 and 329 F 10 Ma
(Sánchez, 1995). The combination of these isotopic
ages (Fig. 3) suggests that the short-lived Au miner-
alization event post-dates the studied main magmatic
differentiation products of the Pataz Batholith (Hae-
berlin, 2002). This assumption, if confirmed region-
ally by supplementary U/Pb zircon ages, would
imply that there is no genetic link between gold-
bearing veining and the Pataz Batholith. This view is
consistent with the field and geochemical data sum-
marized above, and questions the magmatic models
proposed by Schreiber et al. (1990), Vidal et al.
(1995), Sillitoe and Thompson (1998), and Macfar-
lane et al. (1999). Similarly, neither volcanic record,
nor any regional metamorphism coincides in space
and time with the hydrothermal gold mineralization
event (Fig. 3).
At Pataz, and presumably in the Eastern Cordillera
north of 12jS, the regional setting prevailing during the
Mississippian immediately before gold ore formation is
characterized by widespread calc-alkaline plutonism
and molasse-type sedimentation in transtensional
basins with sporadic basaltic and gabbroic magmatic
episodes. The gold mineralization event occurred
after the igneous activity, during a period of rapid
uplift of the host basement. Indirect observations
supporting the uplift tectonics are the early deposi-
tion of eroded granitic clasts in the Mississippian
basins, following the denudation of the calc-alkaline
intrusions, and an emersion gap in the lower Penn-
sylvanian sedimentary sequences of the northern
Peruvian Eastern Cordillera (Haeberlin, 2002). This
interpretation is confirmed by the fluid inclusion
history and in particular the isochore calculations,
that indicate a sudden decompression during vein

Fig. 3. Timing of Paleozoic orogenic gold deposits in the eastern Central Andes and its foreland relative to the main orogenies and intrusions in
the three defined belts. Mineralization ages are derived from 40Ar/39Ar dates of the sericite alteration associated to the gold lodes for the Pataz –
Marañón Valley Au belt and the Sierras Pampeanas Au belt, and are on account of field relationships for the Au – Sb belt of the southern Eastern
Andean Cordillera.
Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59 49
50 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59
formation that can be related to a rapid uplift of the
host units (Haeberlin, 2002).
3. The Au – Sb belt of the southern Eastern Andean
Cordillera
The Au – Sb belt situated along the Eastern Andean
Cordillera from the north of Cuzco in Peru to the
south of Salta in northwestern Argentina (12j to
26jS, Table 1 and Fig. 1) includes lode-gold and
antimony deposits, generally hosted by lower Paleo-
zoic turbiditic sequences. The intrusion-related Sn –
W– Au vein-type deposits in southeastern Peru (Clark
et al., 1990) and epithermal Sb mineralization in
Bolivia (Dill et al., 1995, 1997) are not considered,
since they belong to Triassic – Early Jurassic and
Tertiary metallogenic epochs, respectively. Reported
and documented gold deposits and mines in the Au –
Sb belt of the southern Eastern Andean Cordillera
include Ananea and Santo Domingo in southeastern
Peru (Soler et al., 1986; Fornari et al., 1988; Clark et
al., 1990; Fornari and Hérail, 1991), Yani – Aucapata
in the Bolivian Cordillera Real (Tistl, 1985; Fornari
and Hérail, 1991), Amayapampa (Richings, 2000),
Antofagasta, Cebadillas, Santa Rosa de Capasirca,
Candelaria and Sucre (Lehrberger, 1992) in central
and southern Bolivia, Sierra de la Rinconada in north-
western Argentina (Sureda et al., 1986; Zappetini and
Segal, 1998), and Bolivian antimony vein-type depos-
its, such as San Bernardino, San Luı́s, Virgina, Chur-
quini, Huarojla, Chichena, San Carlos (Ahlfeld and
Schneider-Scherbina, 1964; Lehrberger, 1992; Dill et
al., 1997; Dill, 1998). Most of these deposits were
initially mined on a very small scale by the indigenous
population prior to the Spaniard conquest, and small-
scale mining continued through the Spanish colonial
period and then until modern times. The historic Santo
Domingo mine was one of the richest deposits, with
reported free gold wires and grades up to 2 kg/t Au
(Fornari et al., 1988). To our knowledge, corporate
mining is presently restricted to the Ananea region,
where both vein-type ores and fluvioglacial placers
are exploited ( f 100,000 oz/year, of which one-
eighth comes from the bedrock), and to the Amaya-
pampa area, where feasibility studies are in progress
(Richings, 2000). Furthermore, these primary deposits
are likely the dominant gold sources for the large
placer deposits of the Subandean Madre de Dios and
the Beni basins (Fornari et al., 1988; Sillitoe, 1992).
Yearly production from these placer deposits amounts
to f 400,000 oz in Peru and f 100,000 oz in
Bolivia, respectively.
At a regional scale, the turbidite-hosted deposits
generally occupy the flanks of regional anticlines or
subsidiary thrust faults close to major tectonic boun-
daries. The mineralized bodies show very different
geometries relative to folds, including straight cross-
cutting brittle– ductile veins and veinlets, saddle-reefs,
bedding-concordant veins, locally known as ‘‘man-
tos’’, and disseminated ores. In many places, the Au –
Sb mineralization appears to be in close spatial
relationship with dark layered rocks interpreted either
as black carbonaceous shales or chlorite-rich mylon-
ites (Fornari et al., 1988; Fornari and Hérail, 1991;
Lehrberger, 1992; Dill et al., 1997; Dill, 1998). Con-
trasting with the multiple shapes of the deposits, their
mineralogy is rather uniform with two to three suc-
cessive events in the ore paragenesis, consisting of
early pyrite– arsenopyrite and minor W-bearing min-
erals with milky quartz, and gold occurring as crack
fillings in the second stage with Pb –Zn – Cu-bearing
sulfide minerals, Sb-bearing minerals and blue-grey
microgranular quartz (Table 1). In most Bolivian
occurrences, antimony is the dominant metal and
stibnite, falhore, berthierite, and jamesonite, were
formed either towards the end of the second stage
and/or during a low-temperature third stage (Lehr-
berger, 1992; Dill et al., 1997; Dill, 1998). This Sb–
Au association, typical of shallow-level deposits
(McCuaig and Kerrich, 1998), has been widely docu-
mented in other Paleozoic orogenic gold belts, such as
in the French Massif Central (Bouchot et al., 1997), in
the Meguma terrane of Nova Scotia (Kontak et al.,
1996) and in the New England fold belt of eastern
Australia (Ashley and Craw, 2000). The presence of
scheelite-only deposits in the Yani district (Tistl,
1985) suggests that, in southeastern Peru and northern
Bolivia, deeper and higher-temperature parts of the
mineralized systems are also preserved. Nonetheless,
as shown by the homogeneous alteration styles and
assemblages, that consist of almost invisible to mod-
erate sericitization and chloritization (Clark et al.,
1990; Fornari and Hérail, 1991), most of the Au
deposits are emplaced under lower greenschist con-
ditions. Interestingly, and similarly to Pataz, the pres-
 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59
ence of abundant blue-grey fine-grained quartz is the
best guide for high-grade gold ores (Tistl, 1985;
Fornari et al., 1988; Clark et al., 1990; de Montreuil,
1995). Fluid inclusions have been studied in the Au –
Sb Bolivian deposits by Tistl (1985), Lehrberger
(1992), Dill et al. (1997) and Dill (1998). They have
described H2O – NaCl – CO2, CO2-rich, and H2O –
NaCl fluids (Table 1). However, it is unclear from
these contributions which inclusion type represents
the hydrothermal fluid responsible for the gold min-
eralization. Finally, carbon and oxygen isotope data
on late ferroan carbonates (Table 2) from five central
and southern Au – Sb Bolivian deposits suggest con-
tributions to the hydrothermal fluids of isotopically
light biogenic CO2 according to Lehrberger (1992),
possibly derived from organic matter trapped in the
neighboring sedimentary rocks.
3.1. Age, geotectonic setting and genetic hypotheses
There is no radiometric dating available yet on the
Au – Sb belt of the southern Eastern Andean Cordil-
lera, except an ambiguous 227 Ma K/Ar age from the
Yani district mentioned in Fornari and Hérail (1991).
This age, measured on muscovite coming from a mine
in the contact aureole of the Zongo intrusion, coin-
cides with two essentially identical U/Pb zircon ages
for the intrusion of 226 and 222 Ma (Farrar et al.,
1990). Therefore, it remains unclear whether it repre-
sents the age of the thermal metamorphism or that of
the hydrothermal event. The subsequent age discus-
sion is henceforth exclusively on account of indirect
arguments (Fig. 3).
Clark et al. (1990) noted that the slate-hosted Au –
Sb deposits in the Ananea region are locally over-
printed by Sn – W – Au intrusion-related mineraliza-
tions. The latter are dated at 143 F 10 Ma by K/Ar
in the Gavilán de Oro deposit. Therefore, Clark et al.
(1990) also favor a cogenetic interpretation, that is, a
Jurassic age for the Au – Sb lodes. As stated by Tistl
(1985) in the neighboring Yani district, the restriction
of these Au –Sb deposits to the Siluro– Ordovician
turbidites, and their total absence in nearby Permo-
Triassic and Jurassic (Lancelot et al., 1978; McBride et
al., 1983, 1987; Farrar et al., 1990) intrusive bodies,
makes a Jurassic age unlikely. We share this interpre-
tation and consider the Au – Sb deposits, from south-
eastern Peru to northwestern Argentina, to be
51
synchronous with, or to post-date the regional folding
and metamorphism affecting the Siluro –Ordovician
units (Fig. 3). In Peru and North Bolivia, these
deformations have been attributed on account of strati-
graphic constraints to the Late Devonian –early Mis-
sissippian ‘‘Eohercynian’’ orogeny (Laubacher, 1978;
Martinez, 1980; Dalmayrac et al., 1980). A 40Ar/39Ar
whole rock age of 347 Ma for a slate (McBride et al.,
1987) is in agreement with this interpretation. In
southern Bolivia, recent K/Ar determinations from
phyllosilicates of the Ordovician slates have provided
younger ages within the 320– 290 Ma interval, indi-
cating a late ‘‘Hercynian’’ orogeny (Jacobshagen et al.,
2002). Since the emplacement of the Au – Sb ores
overlaps in many deposits the waning stages of the
regional deformation and metamorphism (Lehrberger,
1992; Dill et al., 1997), the mineralizing event may be
mostly Carboniferous in age (Fig. 3). This orogenic
phase is related to the final collision of the Arequipa –
Antofalla terrane on the Amazonian craton (Martinez,
1980; Dalmayrac et al., 1980; Forsythe et al., 1993).
Accurate timing of the mineralizing event(s) requires
testing by isotopic dating.
Because of the age ambiguity, the formation of the
Au –Sb belt of the southern Eastern Andean Cordillera
is the subject of an ongoing controversy, analogous to
the conflicting ideas about sediment-hosted gold prov-
inces elsewhere. On account of their geographic but in
our view possible fortuitous spatial association,
Petersen (1960) initially proposed a genetic relation-
ship between the distal Au –Sb veins of Ananea and
the proximal Sn –W –Au granite-related veins of Con-
doriqueña in an intrusion centered-system. Corrobo-
rating this idea, Clark et al. (1990) estimated that the
gold-bearing fluids of the SE Peruvian deposits were
derived from granitoid magmas or from extensive
metamorphic aureoles surrounding batholiths. In con-
trast, French authors, influenced by the prevailing
genetic interpretations about the Salsigne deposit in
the early 1980s (Bonnemaison et al., 1986), postulated
that the Ananea deposits were syngenetic and exhala-
tive-sedimentary deposits (Fornari and Bonnemaison,
1984; Fornari and Hérail, 1991). According to the later
authors, the so-called ‘‘auriferous massive sulfides’’ or
‘‘mantos’’ were related to submarine hydrothermal
sources in an aborted rift environment. Tistl (1985),
although noting similarities with orogenic gold depos-
its in greenstone belts, suggested that the formation of
52 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59
the neighboring Yani lodes were due to remobilization
of sulfide mineral layers during contact metamor-
phism. For the central and southern Bolivian Sb – Au
deposits, Lehrberger (1992) adopted a comparable
metallogenic model, to account for the apparent asso-
ciation with black shales, invoking the mobilization of
metals by hydrothermal convective systems from
metal-enriched horizons, and their later precipitation
in structural traps. Dill et al. (1997) proposed for the
Bolivian sediment-hosted Sb deposits their generation
through metamorphogenic processes remobilizing pre-
concentrated Sb in the host environment, and further
classified them as a subgroup of the orogenic gold
class. Finally, accepting the genetic model proposed in
Fornari and Bonnemaison (1984), Zappettini and
Segal (1998) interpreted the Au saddle-reefs of the
Sierra de la Rinconada as resulting from exhalative
processes. The aforementioned genetic hypotheses are
not entirely satisfactory. The discordant geometries of
the mineralizations and the alteration overprints are not
compatible with the sedimentary-exhalative models.
Age constraints are not well established, but if our
interpretation about the middle to late Paleozoic age
for the mineralization is correct, it has the consequence
that the plutonic and contact metamorphic models are
questionable, since the intrusions are Triassic to Juras-
sic in age (Lancelot et al., 1978; McBride et al., 1983,
1987; Farrar et al., 1990; Fig. 3).
4. The Sierras Pampeanas Au belt
The Sierras Pampeanas in west-central Argentina
(26j to 33j30VS) have been a historical producer of
Au and W, yet the subject of few published studies on
their ore deposits. In the first major synthesis, Skirrow
et al. (2000) present a comprehensive metallogenic
framework based on a multidisciplinary approach,
including detailed mapping, and focus on the nature
of the abundant lode-gold deposits and occurrences. In
this Au belt, the main documented districts (Table 1
and Fig. 1) are from north to south, Sierra de la
Culampajá in Catamarca Province (Lazarte, 1992),
Rı́o Candelaria and San Ignacio (Sierras de Córdoba)
in Córdoba Province (Lyons et al., 1997; González
and Mas, 1998; Skirrow et al., 2000), Sierra de las
Minas in La Rioja Province (Rı́os Gomez et al., 1992;
Cangialosi and Baldis, 1995; Pieters et al., 1997;
Skirrow et al., 2000), and Santo Domingo in San Luı́s
Province (Sims et al., 1997; Skirrow et al., 2000).
Resources from the Candelaria and San Ignacio dis-
tricts are estimated at 60,000 and 40,000 oz of gold,
respectively (Skirrow et al., 2000).
In summary, and following essentially the field
observations presented in Skirrow et al. (2000), most
of the gold occurrences are situated in shear or
mylonitic zones within Cambrian to Devonian gneis-
sic and granitic rocks, generally in the vicinity of
transpressional structures. The deposits display a
diversity of structural styles, with mainly quartz veins
in brittle –ductile deformation zones, and subsidiary
stockworks, en-échelon gash veins and siliceous
zones. The mineralized structures show uniformly
low- to moderate-temperature alterations, with a prox-
imal intense sericitization and distal propylitization
and chloritization. The mineral assemblages consist
systematically of abundant milky and blue-grey
quartz, pyrite, gold/electrum, minor carbonate miner-
als, and in places minor chalcopyrite, galena, sphaler-
ite, arsenopyrite and rare pyrrhotite. In the southern
Sierras Pampeanas, fluid inclusion studies indicate
that H2O – CO2 – NaCl and H2O – NaCl fluids are
involved in the gold ore precipitation (González and
Mas, 1998; Skirrow et al., 2000). Deuterium and
oxygen isotope compositions (Table 2) reveal the
contribution to the hydrothermal fluids of either
Deuterium-depleted meteoric waters that have reacted
extensively with metasedimentary rocks, or fluids
derived from degassed magmas, or a mixture of both,
and oxygen isotope geothermometry indicate ore for-
mation temperatures around 300 jC (Skirrow et al.,
2000).
In addition to the lode-gold-bearing deposits,
three main styles of middle to late Paleozoic tung-
sten-bearing mineralizations, locally with significant
gold content, have been recognized in the southern
Sierras Pampeanas: (1) quartz – muscovite – tourma-
line veins containing wolframite, scheelite and sul-
fide minerals, (2) scheelite associated with calc-
silicate rocks, and (3) disseminated scheelite with
quartz veins in metasedimentary sequences (de
Brodtkorb and Brodtkorb, 1977; Skirrow et al.,
2000). Finally, Ag –Pb – Zn veins belonging to the
same metallogenic epoch are described in the El
Guaico district in Córdoba Province (Sureda, 1978;
Skirrow et al., 2000).
 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59
4.1. Age, geotectonic setting and genetic hypotheses
The 40Ar/39Ar step-heating ages of the sericite
alteration associated with the gold-bearing deposits
in the Sierra de las Minas and Rı́o Candelaria/San
Ignacio districts are in the range 393 – 382 and 378–
351 Ma, respectively (Skirrow et al., 2000; Fig. 3).
The younger gold metallogenic epoch overlaps
the f 365 Ma muscovite ages of W F Cu-bearing
vein- and replacement-type mineralizations in the
Aguas de Ramón district in Córdoba Province, and
the El Morro district in San Luı́s Province. At a
regional scale, the later Au and W deposits post-date
by 20 to 30 m.y. (see Goldfard et al., 2001) the 404 to
382 Ma (Stuart-Smith et al., 1999) peraluminous to
metaluminous granites, whereas the gold lodes in the
Sierras de las Minas are apparently a disconnected
event, broadly synchronous with this felsic magma-
tism (Fig. 3). The younger mineralizing event occurs
during the final stages of the Devonian Achalian
orogeny, an inferred collisional event resulting from
the accretion of the Chilenia terrane on the proto-
Andean margin (Sims et al., 1998; Stuart-Smith et al.,
1999). The second Au- and W-bearing veining over-
laps the 40Ar/39Ar age determinations from phyllosi-
licates of shear zones presented in Sims et al. (1998),
which yielded ages within the 376– 351 Ma interval
for the thrust and sinistral, strike-slip shearing tecton-
ics (Fig. 3). Based on the event chronology, the
collisional context, and the structural styles, most of
the gold could be attributed to the orogenic deposit
class. Exceptions are the Cu-rich Au deposits in the
Sierra de las Minas district, which, given their slightly
older ages overlapping with the intrusion ages, the
presence of significant Cu, and higher fluid salinity,
may represent a hybrid style with characteristics of
both the orogenic gold style and intrusion-driven
systems (Skirrow et al., 2000).
5. Discussion
5.1. Summary of the unifying features
The middle to late Paleozoic lode-gold deposits
with subsidiary Sb and W in the eastern Central Andes
and its foreland represent a coherent group of oro-
genic gold deposits with common regional, structural
53
and temporal features irrespective of the host terranes.
The documented deposits in the Pataz province, the
southern Eastern Andean Cordillera and the Sierras
Pampeanas formed late in the orogenic history, and
are hosted by subsidiary thrust faults in the hanging
wall of lithospheric-scale structures or within regional
anticlines. Small changes in the nature and style of the
individual deposits may reflect the local influence of
the host rocks, and in particular their rheological
properties and geochemical compositions. Thus, com-
petent granitic plutons host regular brittle – ductile
quartz veins, while anisotropic low-metamorphic tur-
biditic sequences present a variety of deposit geo-
metries, such as saddle-reefs, bedding-concordant
veins, stockworks and disseminated ores. Similarly,
the metal associations of the mineralized lodes are
also controlled by the host lithology, with preferen-
tially an Au, Ag, Pb, Zn, Cu, As (Pataz) and W
(Sierras Pampeanas) assemblage in granites, and an
Au, Sb, W assemblage in turbidites. In most of the
Andean deposits, as in the majority of Phanerozoic
deposits worldwide (Bierlein and Crowe, 2000),
arsenopyrite and minor scheelite and wolframite
appear early in the quartz –carbonate – pyrite veins,
gold and silver precipitate with the second-stage
galena – sphalerite – chalcopyrite paragenesis, and a
late stage stibnite and Sb– sulfosalt paragenesis typi-
cally in the shallower parts of the mineralizing sys-
tems. Alteration patterns with variable degrees of
sericitization, carbonitization and chloritization devel-
oped within narrow aureoles surrounding the gold-
bearing structures, indicating that these deposits
formed under lower- to mid-greenschist conditions.
The documented Andean deposits display many
characteristics, in particular their structural style, para-
genesis, metal association and alteration, similar to
other major Paleozoic orogenic gold provinces, such
as the Australian Lachlan and Thomson fold belts
(Solomon and Groves, 1994; Foster et al., 1998;
Ramsay et al., 1998; Bierlein et al., 2000), the French
Massif Central (Bouchot et al., 1997), and the Cana-
dian Meguma terrane (Ryan and Smith, 1998). In our
view, analogues of the Pataz deposits may be the Saint
Yrieix district in the French Massif Central (Bouchot
et al., 1989) and the Charters Towers – Etheridge ore-
field in eastern Australia (Peters and Golding, 1989;
Bain et al., 1998). Similarly the Ananea district and
the neighboring southern Yani district can be com-
54 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59
pared to the Salsigne deposit in France (Lescuyer et
al., 1993).
5.2. Timing of mineralization
According to relative ages of the collisional events,
and isotopic ages of intrusions and ore-related alter-
ations, two broad episodes of gold veining are recog-
nized during Paleozoic times in the eastern Central
Andes, and are consistent with the separate tectonic
evolution of the main cordilleran domains, whereby
the ages become younger to the north: Devonian in
the southern Sierras Pampeanas Au belt and Carbon-
iferous for the northern Pataz – Marañón Valley Au
belt (Fig. 3). A third episode, mostly Carboniferous,
was inferred on account of field relationships for the
Au –Sb belt of the southern Eastern Andean Cordil-
lera (Fig. 3). The northernmost deposits at Pataz were
formed in an uplifting region characterized by calc-
alkaline plutonism and molasse-type sedimentation in
transtensional basins. The two southern belts formed
within collisional settings related to terrane accretions
onto Precambrian to early Paleozoic cratons to the
east. Despite the broad spatial relationship between
felsic intrusions and a large number of the Central
Andean orogenic gold deposits, there is no evidence
in most documented deposits for a genetic link
between both events. With the possible exception of
the small Au – Cu deposits in the Sierra de las Minas,
the available data indicate that the plutons either pre-
or post-date the lode-gold mineralizations, and gen-
erally only served as a favorable rheological host for
extensive vein opening. In fact, all three Andean gold
belts, despite their separate histories, were formed
during or shortly after the late stages of the evolution
of orogens (Fig. 3), coevally with either regional uplift
or transpressional strike – slip tectonics (Skirrow et al.,
2000; Haeberlin, 2002). This late-kinematic timing
and the convergent plate boundary location are fully
consistent with the orogenic gold class concept as
defined in Groves et al. (1998).
5.3. The circum-Gondwana orogenic gold belt
On the basis of recent advances in isotopic dating
of the deposits, Bierlein and Crowe (2000) and Gold-
farb et al. (2001) pointed out that the circum-Gond-
wana margin and the continental masses around the
closing paleo-Tethys Ocean account for the location
of most of the middle to late Paleozoic gold orogenic
provinces in the world. These include gold districts in
the Lachlan, New England, Hodgkinson and Thomson
fold belts in eastern Australia, Westland in New
Zealand, the Southern Appalachians, the Meguma
province in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the
British Caledonides, the European Variscides with
the Iberian, French Central and Bohemian Massifs,
the Tien Shan in Central Asia and the Inner Mongolia
in Northeast China. The tectono-thermal processes
generating gold deposits in these provinces took place
from the Late Ordovician to the Middle Permian, a
long period characterized by global continental
growth on the Gondwana supercontinent and on the
paleo-Tethys continental masses (Goldfarb et al.,
2001). In this perspective, the auriferous belts of the
Pataz –Marañón Valley, the southern Eastern Andean
Cordillera and the Sierras Pampeanas are the South
American pieces of this trans-global belt of orogenic
gold deposits (Fig. 4).
A paleogeographic reconstruction of the Gond-
wana supercontinent in its Cambrian configuration
(Fig. 4) reveals, at a very large scale, the regions that
are the most prospective hosts of middle to late
Paleozoic orogenic gold provinces, since these will
develop subsequently within terranes along its margin.
Most of the major known middle to late Paleozoic
orogenic gold provinces in the world, with the notable
exception of the Uralides, which resulted from the
collision of Kazakstania and Euamerica, and other
East Russian provinces (Goldfarb et al., 2001), can be
placed on the reconstruction of Fig. 4. The paleogeo-
graphical reconstruction of the Gondwana superconti-
nent during Cambrian times may be used as a
predictive tool for locating previously unrecognized
orogenic gold provinces and districts that may have
form during Paleozoic times. Based on this recon-
struction, the Ross Orogen in the Antarctic continent,
the Mauritanides in Northwest Africa, Indochina and
Burma appear potentially among the most prospective
regions for the discovery of new Paleozoic orogenic
gold resources (Fig. 4).
5.4. Exploration and research perspectives
Unlike epithermal systems, relatively little atten-
tion has been devoted in the Andes to the attractive
 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59 55

Fig. 4. Paleogeographic sketch of the Gondwana supercontinent at Middle Cambrian times after Courjault-Radé et al. (1992), with the circum-
Gondwana and peri-Tethys location of the mobile belts that will host major middle to late Paleozoic orogenic gold provinces. The ages of the
gold belts are after Goldfarb et al. (1998, 2001) and Groves et al. (1998). Other prospective areas are highlighted with question marks.

potential of the Devonian and Carboniferous oro-
genic gold belts. Considering the ubiquity of the Au
( F Sb F W) lodes, some of them known since the
Inca epoch (15th – 16th centuries) or even earlier, it
should be emphasized that the eastern section of the
Central Andes offer stimulating perspectives for the
discovery of new deposits and for the re-evaluation
of old mining areas, either in Peru, Bolivia or
western Argentina. For mineral exploration, the
brittle– ductile quartz veins in Ordovician to Car-
boniferous batholiths and the saddle-reefs in the
lower Paleozoic anticlines represent the most prom-
ising targets for high-grade orogenic gold deposits
with subsidiary antimony and tungsten. From an
economic point of view, the relatively high-grade
intrusion-hosted deposits are suited to selective
mining (e.g. Pataz), and perhaps the large-tonnage
turbidite-hosted deposits, even in disseminated form,
could represent targets for bulk mining (e.g.
Amayapampa).
In view of the paucity of the regional and
metallogenic studies in the Paleozoic Bolivian and
Peruvian Andes, we are aware that the aforemen-
tioned models, in particular for the Au – Sb belt of
56 Y. Haeberlin et al. / Ore Geology Reviews 22 (2002) 41–59
the southern Eastern Andean Cordillera, are inevi-
tably fragmentary and poorly constrained, and
should be considered merely as preliminary working
hypotheses. A better understanding of the origin and
of the geodynamic environment of the Andean
orogenic gold deposits requires far more detailed
and multidisciplinary approaches with geological
and structural mapping, geophysical surveys, metal-
logenic studies as well as efficient dating of the
metamorphic, igneous and hydrothermal events.
Additional support for unraveling the histories of
the Andean deposits may be provided by the
features common to many Paleozoic orogenic gold
belts worldwide.
6. Conclusions
Significant lode-gold resources with subsidiary
antimony and tungsten occur in the eastern Central
Andes and its foreland (6 – 34jS) either along
brittle – ductile deformation zones in Ordovician to
Carboniferous granites and gneisses, or as saddle-
reefs in lower Paleozoic turbiditic sequences. These
auriferous mineralizations represent a coherent ser-
ies of belts of middle to late Paleozoic orogenic
gold deposits, among which Pataz, Ananea, Yani
and Amayapampa are the best known examples,
which extend from northern Peru to central Argen-
tina along the Eastern Andean Cordillera and fur-
ther south in the Sierras Pampeanas. Two broad
mineralization epochs have been identified, with
Devonian ages in the Sierras Pampeanas Au belt
(26j to 33j30VS), and Carboniferous ages for the
Pataz – Marañón Valley Au belt in northern Peru
(6j50V to 8j50VS). The absolute timing of the
southeastern Peruvian, Bolivian and northwestern
Argentinian turbidite-hosted lodes, which form the
Au –Sb belt of the southern Eastern Andean Cor-
dillera (12j to 26jS), is poorly constrained. Field
relationships suggest some overlap of gold veining
with Carboniferous deformation events. These
Andean belts are the South American segments of
trans-global orogenic gold provinces that were
formed from the Late Ordovician to the Middle
Permian in accretionary or collisional belts that
circumscribed the Gondwana craton and the paleo-
Tethys continental masses.
Acknowledgements
The research on the Pataz gold deposits was
launched in 1996 under the proposal of W. Sologuren,
and benefited from the assistance of the Peruvian
mining company Cı́a Minera Poderosa S.A., Lima.
This work was also supported by grants Nos. 20-
47260.96 and 20-54150.98 of the Swiss National
Science Foundation. We are especially grateful to V.
Bouchot and R. Goldfarb for their valuable comments
on an early version of the manuscript. We also thank
V. Maksaev and R. Skirrow for their helpful and
constructive reviews, which led to a substantial
improvement of our manuscript.
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