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U-Pb, Re-Os, and Ar/Ar geochronological constraints on the Cerros Taguas deposit, northern El Indio belt (29°S): implications for the timing of high-sulfidation and porphyry-style mineralization

Mineralium Deposita, ISSN: 1432-1866, Vol: 60, Issue: 4, Page: 787-809
2025
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Article Description

Cerros Taguas is one of the high-sulfidation epithermal Au-Ag deposits (131.35 Mt @ 0.29 g/t Au, 8.8 g/t Ag, 0.11% Cu) of the Taguas project, located in the northern sector of the El Indio belt (~ 29°S), Central Andes, Argentina. Zircon LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating of a rhyolitic tuff that hosts Au-Ag mineralization constrain the timing of volcanism to the middle Miocene (12.14 ± 0.14 to 11.85 ± 0.26 Ma). Above 3800 m.a.s.l., the rocks display advanced argillic alteration, characterized by alunite + pyrophyllite + dickite ± diaspore ± topaz. Hypogene alunite associated with epithermal Au-Ag mineralization yielded a Ar/Ar plateau date of 9.5 ± 0.4 Ma. Below 3800 m.a.s.l., the presence of sericitic alteration (muscovite + illite + quartz) and a molybdenum halo associated with molybdenite-bearing B-type and pyrite ± quartz D-type veins suggests a transition from epithermal to porphyry-style mineralization. Molybdenite in quartz-dominated B-type veins and molybdenite ± quartz veins cross-cutting the rhyolitic tuff yielded ID-NTIMS Re-Os dates of 10.60 ± 0.06 and 10.48 ± 0.05 Ma. A nominally older molybdenite ID-NTIMS Re-Os date (11.10 ± 0.11 Ma) was obtained for the hydrothermal cement of a breccia. The timing of molybdenum mineralization at Cerros Taguas was broadly coeval with the emplacement of inter-mineralization porphyritic stocks and slightly older than molybdenite mineralization in the nearby Valeriano and El Encierro porphyry deposits. The occurrence of a porphyry-style mineralization at Cerros Taguas reflects the prospectivity for porphyry deposits beneath Miocene-age volcanic rocks and advanced argillic alteration zones in the northern sector of the El Indio belt.

Bibliographic Details

Laura Maydagán; María Agustina Cócola; Andrea Montoya; Federico Mateos; Martín Gonzalo Vallejos; David Selby; Sergio Palma; Guillermo Delle Vedove; Raúl Alvarez Cifuentes

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Earth and Planetary Sciences

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