Quebrada Blanca, Chile An Enriched Porphyry Copper Deposit

Early disseminated copper mineralization at Quebrada Blanca, Chile, accompanied 38 million year old quartz monzonite stocks and dikes. Early mineralization was followed by hydrothermal mineralization, mineralized breccias, and post-mineral faulting. After supergene leaching and enrichment, Quebrada Blanca was buried under late Tertiary gravels, and then partially re- exposed in Quaternary time. Based on work to date the orebody appears to contain more than one hundred million tons of plus one percent secondarily enriched copper ore, overlying several hundred million tons of protore averaging more than 0.5% copper. A source of industrial water appears to have been located. Pilot scale metallurgical tests, mine planning, and feasibility studies are in progress.