Field Trip Report - Society of Economic Geologists

[email protected]
Field trip to Fruta Del Norte (Epithermal Au/Ag) &
Mirador (Porphyry Cu-Au).
March 16th to March 19th 2016
PREPARED BY:
LUIS MIGUEL NAVARRETE
President SEG Student Chapter
Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito – Ecuador
Table of contents
Abstract
2
Participants
3
Intinerary/ Timetable
4
Geological Map of Zamora Region (Drobe et al., 2013)
6
Thursday March 17th, Visit Fruta del Norte epithermal gold–silver deposit
7
Friday March 18th, Visit Mirador Porphyry Copper - Gold deposit
9
Benefits to students
11
Acknowledges
11
1
Abstract
From March 16 to March 19, 2016, the SEG Student Chapter visited Fruta del Norte
epithermal Au-Ag deposit and Mirador Porphyry deposit. The field trip took place
southeast of Ecuador in the Cordillera del Cóndor on the border with Peru. Eighteen
people participated in this field trip: fifteen students and three professors. Fruta del Norte
Deposit is an Intermediate sulphidation epithermal system which is in charge of the
company Lundin Gold Inc., second we went to Mirador Project which it is being
developed by the company Ecuacorriente S.A. This field trip could carry out thanks to
Stewart R. Wallace Funding Program of the Society of Economic Geologists which we
want to acknowledge for support us.
Fruta del Norte epithermal gold–silver deposit (Intermediate sulphidation epithermal system)
Figure 1. SEG Student Chapter Members in Las Peñas Camp – Fruta del Norte.
First Row (Left to right): Bernardo Beate (Academic Advisor EPN SEG F 2008), Fabian Villares
(Geology Professor EPN), Cristian Romero, Daniel Salguero, Joselyn Rojas, Marcelo Cajas, Wilmer
Merino, Paul Cornejo, Ricardo Cartagena, Jhonny Lozada, Elena Angulo, Karla Morales, Hugo Carrasco,
Osman Poma (Geology Professor SEG Member). Second Row (Left to right): Milton Gonzaga, Paul
Buenaño, Kelly Alvarado, and Luis Navarrete.
2
Mirador Porphyry Copper - Gold deposit
Figure 3. Participants in Mirador Project with Juan Leon (Senior Geologist of Mirador) and Bernardo Beate
(Academic Advisor EPN SEG F 2008).
Participants
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Name
Luis Miguel Navarrete
Milton Agustín Gonzaga
Hugo Fernando Carrasco
Marcelo Israel Cajas
Paul Buenaño
Cristian Romero
Wilmer Merino
Elena Angulo Romero
Kelly Alvarado
Paul Cornejo
Karla Morales Leiva
Jhonny Lozada
Affiliation
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
3
13
14
15
16
17
18
Ricardo Cartagena
Joselyn Rojas
Daniel Salguero
Ing. Bernardo Beate
Ing. Osman Poma
Ing. Fabián Villares
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Student Chapter Member
Academic Advisor EPN SEG F 2008
Geology Proffessor SEG Member
Geology Proffessor EPN
Timetable/Itinerary
Date
Wednesday
March 16th
Thursday
March 17th
Friday
March 18th
Saturday
March 19th
Activity
Depart from Quito at 6 am to Yantzaza by
EPN Bus.
Arrive to Yantzaza at 11 pm.
Depart from Yantzaza at 7 am to Lundin
Gold Las Peñas Camp in small local bus.
Arrive to Las Peñas Camp at 10 am.
Visit Fruta del Norte Deposit
(Epithermal Au/Ag) from 10 am to 4 pm
(included induction).
Depart from Las Peñas Camp at 4:30 pm
to El Pangui by road.
Arrive to El Pangui at 6 pm.
Depart from El Pangui at 7:30 am to
Mirador Camp by EPN bus.
Arrive to Mirador Camp at 9:30 am.
Visit Mirador Deposit (Porphyry CuAu) from 9:30 am to 4 pm (included
induction).
Depart from Mirador Camp at 4 pm.
Arrive to El Pangui at 6 pm.
Depart from El Pangui at 6 am to Quito by
EPN bus.
Arrive in Quito at 8 pm.
Overnight
Yantzaza
El Pangui
El Pangui
4
MIRADOR
Fruta del Norte Project and
Mirador Project Localization Map
Zamora-Chinchipe Province Ecuador
Modified from Fortress Minerals Corp.
Technical Report October 21, 2014
Image 1. Location Map of FDN Project and Mirador Project.
5
Geological Map of Zamora Region (Drobe et al., 2013)
6
Thursday March 17th, Visit Fruta del Norte epithermal gold–silver deposit
(Intermediate sulphidation epithermal system)
Program
07h20 Depart from Yantzaza to FDN
08h00 Arrive to FDN – Los Encuentros Camp
Registration and minibus permission to enter Las Peñas Camp
10h00 Arrive to FDN – Las Peñas Camp Contact: Cristina Quintanilla
Induction
General information
Presentation by Luis Morales: “Depósito Fruta del Norte”
Lunch
Regional and local geology
include litostratigraphy,
structure, and mineralization.
Field visit
Tour to discovery outcrop (Silicification in Suarez Fm conglomerate)
Core shack: access to drill core for core examination
16h00 Depart of Las Peñas Camp
Figure 5. SEG Student Chapter Members in discoverer outcrop of Fruta del Norte epithermal Au/Ag deposit.
7
Fruta del Norte Project
Fruta del Norte Project is comprised of three concessions and covers an area of approximately
5,000 hectares and is located approximately 80 kilometers east of the City of Loja, which is the
fourth largest city in Ecuador.
Fruta del Norte (FDN) is among the largest and highest grade undeveloped gold projects in the
world with 7.26 million oz (23.5 million t at 9.59 g/t Au) Indicated and 2.55 million oz (14.5
million t at 5.46 g/t Au) Inferred. Substantial potential is there to expand existing resource.
FDN can move quickly through feasibility to a production decision, over US$300mm in
exploration and development spending completed to the end of 2015, including over 160km of
drilling. Feasibility study due for completion Q2 2016.
Fruta del Norte is an intermediate sulphidation epithermal Au/Ag deposit that is hosted by
volcanic rocks of Misahuallí Formation of Jurassic age, formed during the early stages of a
transtensional pull apart basin. The deposit is buried by up to 400 m of late-mineral basinal
volcaniclastic rocks, tuffs and lavas of the Suárez Formation and further capped by post-mineral
Early Cretaceous quartz sandstones of the Hollín Formation.
Epithermal clasts in a silicified conglomerate, andesite with pyrite and silification were the trace
in the FDN discovery. The paleosurface (sinter) is persevered around 200 m of depth and this was
found in the two last perforation that Aurelian made.
The orebody is 1,670m along strike x 700m down dip x 150m-300m wide. This is bounded by
two faults to the east and west.
Southern limits of the mineralization along the fault system remain open.
Mineralization is characterized by quartz sulphide & carbonate stockwork veining and brecciation
over broad widths of 100m-150m in central and northern parts of the system.
The bulk of the gold is microscopic and associated with quartz, carbonates, and sulphides. Much
of the gold is “free milling” but the mineralization is moderately refractory with approximately
40% of the gold locked in sulphides. However coarse visible gold is common.
References:
Depósito Fruta del Norte, 2016, Departamento de Geología, Lundin Gold.
Henderson, R.D., 2009, Fruta del Norte Project, Ecuador: National Instrument 43-101 Technical
Report, prepared for Kinross Gold Corporation.
Roa, K., Leary, S., Stewart, P., Nicolson, B., San Martin, A., 2014, Presented for the Society of
Economic Geologists, Keystone, CO, USA. September 27 - 30, 2014, The geochemical footprint
of a giant: the Fruta del Norte epithermal Au/Ag deposit, Cordillera del Cóndor, Ecuador. - See
more at: http://fdngold.com/#sthash.WWfhEWBS.dpuf
8
Friday March 18th, Visit Mirador Porphyry Copper - Gold deposit
Program
07h30 Depart from El Pangui to Tundayme – Mirador Camp
08h45 Arrive to Tundayme – Mirador Camp
Contact in Quito: Laura Zurita
Contact in El Pangui: Marta Masana
Registration
Induction
Presentation by Juan León: “Proyecto Minero Mirador”
Tour Mirador Camp and Mirador Porphyry outcrops
Geochemistry, geology,
lithology, alteration and
mineralization.
Lunch
Core shack: access to drill core
16h15 Depart of Mirador Camp
Figure 6. A group of SEG Student Chapter Members with Juan Leon (Senior Geologist of Mirador) and Bernardo
Beate (Academic Advisor EPN SEG F 2008) in Mirador Porphyry outcrop.
9
Mirador Project
The Mirador porphyry copper-gold deposit is located in the province of Zamora-Chinchipe, in
southeast Ecuador. The concessions are approximately 340 km south of Ecuador’s capital city of
Quito and 70 km east-southeast of the city of Cuenca. The eleven concessions are in two blocks
and cover an area of 9230 hectares.
The Mirador porphyry Cu-Au district is located in the southernmost sector of the northern Andean
Cordillera, in Zamora-Chinchipe province, southeastern Ecuador. The district contains two
significant porphyry Cu-Au ± Ag ± Mo deposits, Mirador and Mirador Norte, and an
interconnected series of narrow, mineralized structures known collectively as Chancho.
In the advanced exploration were made 245 diamond drill holes around 71.765m drill core to
Mirador and in Mirador Norte a total of 145 diamond drill holes around 38.282m drill core.
Mirador has 600 Mt 0,5% Cu and 0,18 g/t Au both measured and indicated resources. Mirador
Norte has 370 Mt 0,49% Cu and 0,09 g/t Au indicated resources.
The copper-gold-silver mineralization of the Mirador deposit is hosted by Late Jurassic granite
and porphyries of the Zamora Batholith. Mineralization is mainly disseminated and fine-fracture
controlled chalcopyrite with supergene chalcocite increasing copper grades within an enrichment
blanket of variable thickness. The host rock within the mineralized zone is mainly equigranular
Zamora granite/granodiorite, with some minor leucogranite dikes along the west and southwest
margins, and rare diabase dikes up to two meters in width.
To the south of the Mirador deposit, quartz sandstone of the Cretaceous Hollin Formation forms
50-m to 80-m high cliffs. This resistant unit unconformably overlies the Jurassic intrusive rocks
of the Zamora batholith and covers the southern limits of the Mirador alteration/mineralization
complex.
The host rock, alteration, and mineralization at the Mirador deposit are characteristic of a
calcalkaline porphyry copper system. Copper deposits of a similar style are widespread in the
Cordilleras of North and South America.
References:
Drobe, John, Lindsay, D., Stein, H., Gabites, J., 2013, Geology, Mineralization, and
Geochronological Constraints of the Mirador Cu-Au Porphyry District, Southeast Ecuador:
Economic Geology, v. 108, pp. 11–35.
Proyecto Minero Mirador, 2016, Presentation by ECSA.
10
Benefits to students
We chose this place because are an important projects inside our country and we think that as
students of geology with a special interest in economic geology we must know this kind of
projects through field trips in which we can have a better understanding of our resource-rich
environment and the mineralization that contains.
This kind of field trips could also help to link the students with professional geoscientists in
industry.
Stewart R. Wallace fund spending
The student chapter of Escuela Politécnica Nacional was awarded 1 500USD from the SEG
through the Stewart R. Wallace grant.
Minibus rental to FDN
Fuel for EPN Bus
Accommodation 16/03/2016, Hotel Oriental – Yantzaza
Accommodation 17/03/2016, Hostal Dozule – El Pangui
Accommodation 18/03/2016, Hostal Dozule – El Pangui
Feeding
Travel insurance
Banner and flag
Total
Save
USD
200
95
200
ECSA
ECSA
415
320
90
1320
180
Note: ECSA = Ecuacorriente S. A.
Acknowledgments
The Chapter wants to acknowledge the substantial financial support by the Student Chapter
Stewart R. Wallace Funding Program of the Society of Economic Geologists. We also thank the
hosting companies (Lundin Gold and Ecuacorriente S. A.) and geologists who put a lot of effort
into preparation of this activity, spent time with us in the field and welcomed us. We also
gratefully acknowledge to Bernardo Beate, Osman Poma and Fabian Villares to lead us in this
field trip and share their knowledge.
Photos by: Osman Poma and Milton Gonzaga
11