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Location: 80 km NW from Arequipa, Peru
Calle Dante Alighieri B-1 Urb. Los Pinos, CercadoArequipaPeru
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Zafranal represents a classic example of an Andean style porphyry copper, gold, and molybdenum deposit. Porphyry copper-gold mineralization occurs within a large roughly east-west trending hydrothermally altered zone that is more than 7 kilometres in length and as much as 1.7 kilometres in width in a north-south direction. Copper occurs within veins and stockworks and as disseminations in both the Zafranal Main zone and Victoria deposits. At the Zafranal Main zone deposit, primary (hypogene) mineralization is overlain by zones of secondary enrichment mineralization. Copper mineralization has been categorized, based on copper solubility, into leached, mixed, oxide, supergene and primary zones. Zafranal Main zoneDrilling on the Zafranal Main zone has demonstrated continuous mineralization over a strike length of at least 2,500 m, widths of between 500 to 800 m, and over a vertical range of up to 1,000 m. The types of copper mineralization are described as follows: Leached cap and secondary enrichmentThe large altered and mineralized area at Zafranal has a subdued colour anomaly. The deposit has been intensely leached with a well-developed leached cap over the top of the supergene-enriched horizon at depth. Very little hypogene sulfide mineralization is present in outcrop, having been strongly leached and/or altered. At surface all forms of sulfides are absent except for occasional pyrite along with chalcopyrite in some more silicified rocks where acid ground waters could not invade the rock and oxidize and leach it. The best supergene enrichment zone is generally associated with phyllic alteration consisting of a sericite + quartz + chlorite/biotite + clays + pyrite assemblage. The thickness of this zone can reach up to 150 m – averaging 75 m throughout the deposit – with grades up to 7% Cu. Copper oxides of chrysocolla, neotocite, malachite and azurite generally occur above the main supergene enriched blanket and below the leached cap. This type of oxide copper mineralization is associated with an intense phyllic alteration (sericite + quartz + clays). Oxide mineralization can be up to 50 m thick. The leached cap itself is 30 m to 200 m thick. The copper-oxide zone defines former supergene enrichment zones (paleoblanket) preserved within the oxidized leach zone. Primary sulfide mineralizationHypogene mineralization occurs as veins, stockworks, and disseminations in the Zafranal diorite and microdiorite units. The Zafranal diorite at surface contains consistent background copper amounts (typically between 1,000 ppm and 1,500 ppm Cu) and typically presents the highest surface geochemical anomalies on the property. At deeper levels higher-grade hypogene mineralization is closely associated to the intrusive contact with the cross cutting microdiorite. The overlying enriched blanket is much smaller than the underlying hypogene mineralization, though with much higher grades. Primary sulfide mineralization at the Main zone is hosted mainly by the microdiorite and the Zafranal diorite. This primary mineralization is related to a potassic alteration zone with a quartz secondary biotite-chlorite assemblage. Chalcopyrite is by far the most abundant copper species here and occurs both as disseminations and in veinlets. A- type and B-type veins (quartzchalcopyrite-pyrite and quartz-chalcopyrite-molybdenite respectively) are abundant at Zafranal and average copper grades range from 0.15% to 0.5% Cu, locally increasing up to 1% Cu. Victoria zone Mineralization at Victoria is predominantly hypogene and occurs as a tabular body parallel to the main foliation, suggesting that it predates or is contemporaneous with the principal deformation event. Chalcopyrite occurs both as fine-grained disseminations and as patches associated with veins and stockworks. Mineralization within the Victoria zone measures approximately 900 m along strike and up to 500 m width and drilling encountered it down to depths of up to 400 m below surface.
