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Location: 29 km SE from Machala, Ecuador
Calle Pampite s/n Edificio Officenter, of 214, CumbayaQuitoEcuador170901
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The Cangrejos and Gran Bestia deposits are gold-copper, silica-saturated, alkalic porphyry-style deposits. This type of deposit is found along paleo-subduction margins. The Cangrejos Project is largely underlain by a Miocene porphyritic dacite and a Cretaceous equigranular quartz diorite which is interpreted as being part of the El Oro metamorphic complex. Gold showings are associated with the Miocene porphyry and adjacent breccias and metamorphic rocks.Mineralization Gold-copper mineralization is associated with sulphides that occur as open-space breccia fill or as disseminations in former mafic phenocrysts. Total sulphide content is generally less than 5% and consists of chalcopyrite and pyrite with minor bornite, molybdenite and pyrrhotite. In drillhole C17-65, native copper is found on fracture surfaces at depths ranging from 142 m to 186 m. This is not very common and is probably due to strong oxidation along a fracture zone. The highest gold grades occur in calcic-sodic altered breccias at contacts between the PQD and the metamorphic complex. The best gold grades occur in breccias where the dominant clast type is EQD. The EQD is more mafic in composition, and gold is preferentially deposited in reducing (mafic) environments.Cangrejos Zone Current understanding of the surface geology of the Cangrejos Zone is limited because of a lack of outcrop exposures. Eastnortheasterly trending porphyritic rocks (PQD, iPQD, QD) intrude EQD and schists (SCH) of the metamorphic complex. The southeastern contact is steep, but the northwestern contact dips approximately 50° to the southeast and is defined by porphyry dikes. The edges of the porphyry are brecciated with dominant PQD clasts. These breccias extend at depth and may relate to breccia pipes that are associated with the intrusion of the porphyry. Breccias with dominant metamorphic clasts (EQD, SCH) occur at the edge of the porphyry.Drilling has defined a northeast-southwest-trending, steeply dipping zone of gold-copper mineralization which is commonly associated with hydrothermal breccias and quartz vein stockwork in the dacite porphyry. Gold-copper values are not restricted to these lithologies and can be found in all units except for the late-stage dikes. The mineralized zone extends for approximately 1,500 m in a northeasterly direction, has widths ranging from 70 m to 600 m, and has been defined to a depth of at least 600 m below surface. The zone remains open to expansion with further exploration to the west and at depth.Gran Bestia Zone As with Cangrejos, current understanding of the surface geology of the Gran Bestia Zone is limited to drill core data due to a lack of outcrop exposures. The majority of the Gran Bestia deposit is hosted in hydrothermal breccia. The approximate dimensions of mineralization at Gran Bestia are 700 m by 600 m and defined to a depth of at least 700 m. The geology of the southeastern portion of Gran Bestia is similar to the Cangrejos deposit where porphyritic dacite (PQD) and Quartz Diorite (QD) intrusions are present. Gold-copper mineralization occurs within the hydrothermal breccia and the PQD, with higher grades associated with breccias and quartz vein stockworks and the contact between the PQD and surrounding metamorphic country rock. The QD unit is largely unmineralized with only minor small exceptions.
