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Rio Blanco |
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Peru |
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Cu Mo
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Super Porphyry Cu and Au
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The Rio Blanco porphyry copper deposit lies in the lower Andes of far northern Peru, 5 km from the border with Ecuador, approximately 800 km north of Lima, ~260 km NNW of Cajamarca and 150 km east of the Pacific coast (#Location: 4° 51' 44"S, 79° 23' 50"W).
The Rio Blanco mineralisation was discovered in 1994 through regional reconnaissance stream sediment and rock chip sampling work undertaken by Newcrest Mining of Australia. Follow-up work indicated the presence of a mineralised porphyry with stronger copper than gold potential. As Newcrest's principal interest was in gold, the project was optioned to Cyprus Amax in 1996, who completed over 5000 m of diamond drilling in 18 holes. This drilling intersected significant supergene enriched copper mineralisation at Henry's Hill. However, following Cyprus Amax's was acquisition by Phelps Dodge Corporation, the option was relinquished and the rights to the project reverted to Newcrest. In 2000, Gitennes Exploration Inc. acquired the Newcrest Peruvian assets divestment package, including the Rio Blanco project, which was optioned to Monterrico Metals plc in 2001. In 2003, after further encouraging drill results, Monterrico negotiated the acquisition of 100% of the Rio Blanco project. Monterrico became a 70% subsidiary of Xiamen Zijin Tongguan Development Co. Ltd in 2007.
For detail of the broad regional setting and geology of the Peruvian Andes, see the separate Peruvian Andes record.
Rio Blanco lies at the northern extremity of the Cajamarca mineral belt in the Western Cordillera of the northern Peruvian Andes, a generally north-south trending belt of Oligocene to Miocene porphyry copper deposits that extends for 350 km from Cajamarca in the south to the Ecuadorian border and includes two geochemically distinct groups of deposits along this trend namely: i). porphyry Cu-Mo deposits which include La Granja, Michiquillay, El Galeno, Cañariaco and Rio Blanco; and ii). porphyry Cu-Au deposits which include Cerro Corona, Minas Conga and La Carpa.
These systems are mostly associated with dacite to monzonite to diorite intrusions, which intrude sediments and volcanic rocks of Mesozoic to Early Tertiary age.
The geology of the Rio Blanco district is dominated by the granodioritic Portocello batholith, one of a series of Tertiary batholiths that characterise southern Ecuador and northern Peru, intruding a sequence of siliceous Palaeozoic metasediments, composed principally of phyllites, with lesser quartzites and gneisses. The Rio Blanco Porphyry Complex has convoluted, ill-defined, and brecciated contacts with the Portocello Batholith, and is in faulted contact with the phyllites.
The multi-phase Rio Blanco Porphyry Complex has a quartz porphyry core (exposed in Quebrada Majaz), which intruded an earlier feldspar porphyry complex. Igneous breccia is extensively developed within the porphyry complex, and appears to have formed around the margins of the quartz porphyry during intrusion. This breccia constitutes an important locus for the higher grade copper mineralisation in the Henry's Hill segment of the deposit. To the north of the quartz porphyry core at Quebrada Majaz, an extensive area of phreato-magmatic breccia is poorly exposed on steep, almost inaccessible cliffs which have formed where the breccia was silicified, and are almost featureless. The USGS MRData database (viewed 2016) quotes the age of the main mineralised intrusion as 16 Ma.
The mineralisation at Rio Blanco is surrounded by a relatively low pyrite, but otherwise intense phyllic alteration zone over an area of some 5 km2 which overprints a potassic zone. The phyllic alteration is centred on the Rio Blanco Porphyry Complex and only extends for around 100 m into the granodiorite of the batholith, while to the north it extends into the country rock phyllites.
The phyllic zone has been overprinted by a widespread argillic phase, although only around 5 to 15% of the rock by volume is represented by clays. The diagnostic argillic minerals are kaolinite, alunite (not abundant) and pale epithermal rutile, with rare andalusite and some enargite.
Hydrothermal alteration and geochemical sampling indicates that the mineralised system covers an area of up to 25 km2.
The Rio Blanco deposit has a well-developed supergene blanket in which the dominant mineral is covellite, overlain by a dominantly goethitic leached cap. The supergene blanket is developed in an area of strong relief, with the better accumulations below a steep ridge at the Henry's Hill sector where the best intersections are 50 to 150 m below the crest of the ridge.
The oxidation profile from the surface downwards may be summarised as follows:
i). Leached Cap - generally containing <0.2% S, which is typically 50 to 150 m thick, but varies from 10 to 240 m, and is represented by almost complete oxidation, dominantly goethitic.
ii). Transition Zone - which is typically a few to a few tens of metres in thickness, and is irregular in shape and interfingers with both the leached cap and supergene sulphide zone. It contains oxides, mainly goethite but also hematite, and supergene covellite, chalcocite and digenite, with little or no malachite, azurite, cuprite or neotocite. Average copper grades are generally less than those of the corresponding hypogene ore.
iii). Supergene Zone - which varies from a few to as much as 240 m in thickness, with the best developments following the trace of the crest in the Henry's Hill segment of the deposit. Perched supergene sulphides indicate an earlier extensive blanket which has been destructively dissected. The dominant supergene sulphides are covellite (typically with relict chalcopyrite cores), chalcocite and digenite.
iv). Mixed Zone - which is usually a few metres thick, but locally may be as much as a few tens of metres. It contains chalcopyrite with covellite, chalcocite, digenite and rare bornite.
v). Hypogene Zone - which is characterised by chalcopyrite with minor amounts of covellite and bornite.
Within the secondary enrichment zone the ore is characterised by chalcocite and covellite, occurring as disseminations, in veinlets and as fracture fillings, forming halos and sub-halos around chalcopyrite crystals and as patinas coating pyrite crystals. The ratio of chalcocite:covellite is around 1.2:1. Pyrite is abundant in the supergene blanket, while molybdenum grades are similar to those of the underlying hypogene ore.
Published resources and reserves at a 0.4% Cu cut-off are (Monterrico Metals plc, website 2016):
Measured Resource - 146 Mt @ 0.73% Cu, 0.0235% Mo,
Indicated Resource - 670 Mt @ 0.56% Cu, 0.0234% Mo,
Inferred Resource - 441 Mt @ 0.52% Cu, 0.0216% Mo,
Total Resource - 1257 Mt @ 0.57% Cu, 0.0228% Mo,
Comprising:
Total Supergene Resource - 358 Mt @ 0.69% Cu, 0.0134% Mo
Total Hypogene Resource - 899 Mt @ 0.52% Cu, 0.0265% Mo
The resource includes:
Proven Reserve - 133 Mt @ 0.74% Cu, 0.0232% Mo,
Probable Reserve - 365 Mt @ 0.59% Cu, 0.0210,
Total Reserve - 498 Mt @ 0.63% Cu, 0.0216% Mo
Total Mineral Resources, inclusive of Ore Reserves, (Zijin Mining Website viewed April, 2024) were estimated to be;
- 11.32 Mt of contained copper metal @ an ore grade of 0.47% Cu; and 0.485 Mt of contained molybdenum metal at an ore grade of 0.02% Mo, which equates to a tonnage and grade resource of:
2408 Mt @ 0.47% Cu, 0.02% Mo.
In 2024, the planned operation was held by Zijin Mining (51%); TongLing Nonferrous Metals Group Holding Co., Ltd. (35%); and Xiamen C&D Inc. (14%).
This record is mostly summarised from details on the Monterrico Metals plc, website at http://www.monterrico.com in 2007 and 2016.
The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 2007.
This description is a summary from published sources, the chief of which are listed below.
© Copyright Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd. Unauthorised copying, reproduction, storage or dissemination prohibited.
Rio Blanco
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Selected References:
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Chen, N., Pratt, W., Mao, J., Xie, G., Moisy, M., Santos, A., Guo, W., Zheng, W. and Liu, J., 2022 - Geology and Geochronology of the Miocene Rio Blanco Porphyry Cu-Mo Deposit, Northern Peru: in Econ. Geol. v.117, pp. 1013-1042.
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Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd (PorterGeo) provides access to this database at no charge. It is largely based on scientific papers and reports in the public domain, and was current when the sources consulted were published. While PorterGeo endeavour to ensure the information was accurate at the time of compilation and subsequent updating, PorterGeo, its employees and servants: i). do not warrant, or make any representation regarding the use, or results of the use of the information contained herein as to its correctness, accuracy, currency, or otherwise; and ii). expressly disclaim all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or conclusions contained herein.
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