Project Information
- Ore Deposit: Hydrothermal, IOCG, Porphyry
- Commodity: Copper, Gold
- Research Themes: Copper, Gold Deposits
- Location: San Matías Project, Cordoba Department, NW Colombia
- Project Status: Completed
- Students: Julian Manco Parra
- Start Date: 2017
- End Date: 2020
San Matías District (SMD) in northwestern Colombia host a range of newly discovered mineral deposits and presents challenges as to the most appropriate mineral deposit models and their relationships. This project has unravelled the magmatic and hydrothermal evolution of this Cu-Au mining district, with a specific emphasis on the ore genesis of the El Alacrán Cu-Au deposit.
The San Matías Project (SMP) in the Córdoba Department is an increasingly important Cu-Au mining district in Colombia, hosted by allochthonous volcano-sedimentary rocks of oceanic affinity. It comprises two main mineralization styles: 1) Cu-Au replacement mineralization (e.g. El Alacrán), and 2) multiple porphyry Cu-Au prospects (e.g. Montiel E, Costa Azul, etc).
At El Alacrán Deposit (36.1Mt@0.72{4f68512a01b6c7d7b16fb2c0178fca0ea196e8717437457c5f4289110417847b} CuEq indicated resources), Cu-Au replacement mineralization is hosted in a west-dipping Cretaceous volcano-sedimentary succession with spatially-related sills and capped by a post-mineral? diorite intrusion. It exhibits mixed characteristics from different deposit types, including Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS), Skarn and Iron-Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) deposits, and its distinctive mineralogy and mineralization styles cannot be compared with any other documented mineral deposit in Colombia or within the Northern Andes.
Porphyry Cu-Au mineralization is observed in multiple prospects to the East of El Alacrán Deposit, and is associated with Late Cretaceous quartz diorite intrusions.
The timing and nature of magmatism and the controls on the styles of ore-forming events are pooly understood. Knowledge of these controlling factors has the potential to shift our metallogenic understanding of the region and improve exploration success by identifying the more prospective areas.
This MSc research project, sponsored by Cordoba Minerals Corp. and High Power Exploration Inc., will provide a detailed characterization of Cu-Au mineralization at El Alacrán Deposit and its particular geological context. Additional complete petrographic, lithogeochemical, isotopic and geochronological characterization of intrusions at El Alacrán Deposit and the porphyry Cu-Au centres of the SMP, will provide critical information to confirm/discard the potential genetic relationship between both types of mineralization and their associated magmatism. A robust exploration model will be a significant contribution to improve district- to deposit-scale exploration success.
Preliminary Results
- New updated district-scale geological map integrating field observations, regional geophysics and petrographic and geochemical characterization of magmatic rocks
- New paragenetic sequence porposed for the El Alacrán Deposit mineralization
- New geochronology data for magmatism and mineralization in the SMP
Posters and Presentations
Manco-Parra, J., Leal-Mejía, H., Hart, C.J.R., Schmidt, E., and Boyd, G., 2018. Mineral Paragenesis of the El Alacrán Deposit Cu-Au Mineralization, San Matías Project, Córdoba Department, Colombia. Poster presented at the MDRU Open Day, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Manco-Parra, J., Leal-Mejía, H., Hart, C.J.R., Schmidt, E., and Boyd, G., 2018. Mineral Paragenesis of the El Alacrán Deposit Cu-Au Mineralization, San Matías Project, Córdoba Department, Colombia. Poster presented at the SEG2018 Conference, Keystone, CO, USA.
Manco-Parra, J., Leal-Mejía, H., Hart, C.J.R., Schmidt, E., Foster, Ch. N., and Boyd, G., 2018. Magmatismo del Cretáceo tardío en el Proyecto San Matías (SMP), Córdoba, Colombia. Oral presentation at the XIII Semana Técnica de Geología, Ingeniería Geológica & Geociencias (STG). Manizales, Colombia.
Manco-Parra, J., Leal-Mejía, H., Hart, C.J.R., Boyd, G., and Espada, E., 2018. Late Cretaceous Cu-Au Mineralization at the El Alacrán deposit, San Matias Project (SMP), Córdoba-Colombia. Poster presented at the AME RoundUp 2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Technical Reports
Leal-Mejía, H., and Hart, C.J.R, 2017. U-Pb and Re-Os Geochronology Results for the San Matias Project, NW Colombia. Technical report prepared for Cordoba Minerals Corp. MDRU-Mineral Deposit Research Unit, The University of British Columbia.
For more on the Geology, Geochronology & Geochemistry of the El Alacrán Deposit, San Matías Project, NW Colombia or other MDRU Colombia Metallogeny projects, please contact Hildebrando Leal-Mejía or Craig J.R. Hart
