©2004 Society of Economic Geologists

Special Publication 11, 2004, pp. 259–277

Chapter 14

Geology and Development History of the Antamina Copper-Zinc Skarn Deposit, Peru
STEWART D. REDWOOD,†,*
Inmet Mining Corporation, P.O. Box 18-0465, Lima 18, Peru

Abstract
Antamina, the world’s largest copper-zinc skarn deposit, entered production in 2001. This paper describes
the development of the geologic model for the feasibility study (1996–1998). Antamina is located in the east-
ern part of the Western Cordillera of northern Peru at latitude 9º 32' S and longitude 77º 03' W and 4,200 to
4,800 m in elevation.
Antamina has a long history of exploration and is a case study of successful creation of an orebody from a
mineral resource. While small-scale mining is recorded intermittently since 1860, the first serious exploration
was not begun until a century later by Cerro de Pasco Corporation (1952–1970), followed by a Minero Peru-
Geomin (Romania) partnership, which conducted a feasibility study (1970–1976) with a reserve of 128.6 mil-
lion metric tons (Mt) at 1.6 percent Cu and 1.3 percent Zn.
Privatization of the project was won by Compañía Minera Antamina in 1996. This consortium undertook a
major exploration program and completed a full feasibility study in 1998 that defined a minable, open-pittable
resource of 500 Mt at 1.2 percent Cu, 1.0 percent Zn, 0.03 percent Mo, and 12 g/t Ag within a global resource
of 1,500 Mt. Production is by open pit and flotation at 70,000 t/d, producing 270,000 t of copper and 162,000
t of zinc in concentrates per year. This makes Antamina the seventh largest copper and the third largest zinc
mine in the world.
Antamina is located in the polymetallic belt of central Peru, which comprises copper, zinc, silver, lead and
gold deposits related to mid to late Miocene calc-alkaline stocks. The regional geologic setting comprises Late
Jurassic to Late Cretaceous siliciclastic to carbonate sequences in a northwest-trending foreland fold-thrust
belt of mid-Eocene age, the Incaic II deformation phase. Antamina is hosted by calcareous siltstone and mud-
stone of the Late Cretaceous Upper Celendin Formation. Skarn mineralization forms a shell over and around
a quartz monzonite porphyry stock of late Miocene age, which itself hosts subeconomic porphyry copper-
molybdenum mineralization. The skarn body is approximately 2,500 m long in a northeasterly direction and up
to 1,000 m wide, with a known vertical extent of 1,000 m. The skarn consists mainly of andraditic garnet. It is
symmetrically zoned around the intrusion from proximal brown garnet endoskarn and exoskarn outward to
green garnet exoskarn, with peripheral wollastonite-diopside exoskarn. Significant copper mineralization is
hosted by endoskarn. Retrograde chlorite skarn and hydrothermal breccia are minor.
Metals are zoned laterally from a central copper-only zone to a peripheral copper-zinc zone. Chalcopyrite is
distributed throughout all skarn zones. Appearance of sphalerite approximately coincides with the transition
from brown to green garnet. The copper-zinc zone thins at depth and originally appears to have closed over the
top of the intrusion, although most of it has been eroded. The main copper mineral in the wollastonite-diop-
side skarn is bornite, and this zone also has elevated gold values. Silver, lead, and bismuth values are highest in
the outer part of the copper-zinc zone and adjacent marble. Molybdenite occurs in the intrusion and adjacent
skarn, as well as being abundant in the wollastonite-diopside skarn. Sulfides were deposited during the late pro-
grade and retrograde phases and occur disseminated interstitial to garnet; as irregular massive sulfide zones;
and as veinlets. The deposit was unroofed by glaciation and is exposed in a glacial valley; hence there is no sig-
nificant oxidation or enrichment.
Antamina is an oxidized calcic copper skarn related to a calc-alkaline quartz monzonite porphyry stock con-
taining subeconomic porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralization. The outer zinc zone is unusually well de-
veloped. Features that appear to have contributed to Antamina’s world-class status include a possible mantle
origin of the intrusions, the basin-margin setting of the host sedimentary rocks, favorable structural prepara-
tion, limited retrograde alteration, and partial preservation of the intrusion roof zone.

Resumen
Antamina, el yacimiento de cobre-zinc tipo skarn más grande del mundo, comenzó la producción en el año
2001. Este artículo, describe el desarrollo del modelo geológico elaborado para el estudio de factibilidad (1996-
98). Antamina se ubica en la parte este de la Cordillera Occidental del norte de Perú con una latitud de 9º 32’
S y longitud de 77º 03’ W a una altura de 4,200 a 4,800 m. sobre el nivel del mar.
Antamina tiene una larga historia de exploración y es un ejemplo de la transformación exitosa de un recurso
mineral a un depósito económico. Aunque hay informes de la minería pequeña desde el año 1860, los
primeros trabajos serios de exploración comenzaron un siglo después por Cerro de Pasco Corporation (1952-
70), seguido por una asociación entre Minero Perú y Geomin (Romania), que completaron un estudio de
† E-mail: stewart@goldquestcorp.com

*Present address: GoldQuest Mining Corporation, Balboa Plaza no. 516, Balboa Avenue, P.O. Box 832-1784, World Trade Center, Panama, Panama.

\ 259
260 STEWART D. REDWOOD

factibilidad (1970-76) en base de una reserva mineral de 128.6 millones de toneladas métricas con 1,6 por
ciento de Cu. y 1.3 por ciento de Zn.
Compañía Minera Antamina ganó la licitación para la privatización del proyecto en 1996. Este consorcio eje-
cutó un programa grande de exploración y completo un estudio de factibilidad en 1998 que definió un recurso
mineral minable por cielo abierto con 500 millones de toneladas métricas con 1,2 por ciento de Cu, 1,0 por
ciento de Zn, 0,03 por ciento de Mo y 12 gramos por tonelada de Ag. contenido en un recurso global de 1,500
millones de toneladas métricas. La explotación es por cielo abierto y flotación con una capacidad de 70,000
toneladas métricas por día para producir 270,000 toneladas métricas de cobre y 162,000 toneladas métricas de
zinc en concentrados por año. Esto logra colocar a Antamina como la séptima mina más grande de cobre del
mundo y la tercera por zinc.
Antamina se encuentra en la faja metalogénica polimetálica del centro del Perú, que comprende yacimien-
tos de cobre, zinc, plata, plomo y oro relacionados a pequeños intrusivos calco-alcalinos de edad mioceno me-
diano a superior. La geología regional consiste en estratos siliciclásticos a calcáreos de edad jurásico tardío a
cretácico tardío en una faja de pliegues y sobreescurrimientos de cuenca de antepais de orientación nor-oeste
de edad eoceno mediano de la fase de deformación Incaico II. Antamina se hospeda en siltitas calcáreas y
lodolitas calcáreas de la formación Celendín de edad cretácico superior. El skarn tiene la forma de una cáscara
por encima y alrededor de un stock porfídico de cuarzo monzonita de edad mioceno tardío que tiene mineral-
ización tipo porfido de cobre y molibdeno sub-económico. El cuerpo de skarn tiene dimensiones aproximadas
de 2,500 m de largo en sentido noreste y hasta 1,000 m de ancho, y tiene una extensión vertical conocido de
1,000 m. El skarn consiste principalmente de granate andradítico. El skarn tiene una zonación simétrica alrede-
dor de la intrusión comenzando con endoskarn y exoskarn de granate café seguido por exoskarn de granate
verde y luego exoskarn de wollastonita y diopsida en el margen exterior. El endoskarn contiene mineralización
de cobre significativo. Skarn clorítica retrógrada y brecha hidrotermal son de menor importancia.
Los metales también demuestran una zonación lateral desde una zona central de solo cobre hacia una zona
exterior de cobre y zinc. La calcopirita se encuentra distribuida por todas las zonas del skarn. La aparencia de
la esfalerita coincide aproximadamente con la transición de granate marrón a granate verde. La zona de cobre
y zinc se pone más delgada en profundidad y originalmente se interpreta que se formó una capa por encima
de la intrusión, aunque la mayor parte ha sido erosionada. El mineral principal de cobre en el skarn de wollas-
tonita y diopsida es la bornita y esta zona también tiene valores elevados en oro. Los valores de plata, plomo y
bismuto también son lo más alto en la parte exterior de la zona de cobre, zinc y en el mármol adyacente. La
molybdenita ocurre en el intrusivo y en el skarn adyacente y también se encuentra en cantidades abundantes
en el skarn de wollastonita y diopsida. Los sulfuros fueron depositados en la ultima parte de la fase progrado y
durante la fase retrogrado, y se encuentran en forma diseminada intersticial al granate, en zonas de sulfuros
masivos, y también en vetillas. El yacimiento fue expuesto por erosión glaciar y aflora en un valle glaciar, por
esto no hay oxidación ni enriquecimiento significativo.
El modelo geológico de Antamina es un skarn tipo cálcico oxidado de cobre relacionado a un intrusivo por-
firitico de cuarzo monzonita que contiene mineralización de cobre y molibdeno tipo porfido. La zona exterior
de zinc esta muy bien desarrollado. Algunos factores que pueden haber contribuido al estatus mundial de An-
tamina son el posible origen en el manto de los intrusivos, el origen favorable de las rocas sedimentarias, hués-
pedes en el margen de una cuenca sedimentaria, buena preparación estructural, la falta de alteración ret-
rograda, y la preservación parcial del techo del yacimiento.

Introduction Antamina lies in the District of San Marcos, Province of

THE ANTAMINA DEPOSIT, the world’s largest skarn deposit of
both copper and zinc, entered production in 2001. The de-
posit has a long exploration history and is a case study of suc-
cessfully creating an ore deposit from a mineral resource.
This paper describes development of the geologic model for
Antamina made during the feasibility study (1996–1998) and
is based on the results of extensive diamond drilling, geologic
mapping, and mineralogic studies. This geologic model was
the basis for the resource calculation and production deci-
sion. Parts of this work have been described previously by
Redwood (1998, 1999, 2003) and O’Connor (1999). Research
initiated during the feasibility study was described by Love
and Clark (1998a, b) and Love et al. (2000, 2001, 2003a, b,
2004).
Antamina is located in the central Andes of northern Peru
at latitude 9° 32' 17" S and longitude 77° 03' 51" W, between
4,300 and 5,073 m in elevation, and 270 km north of Lima
and 130 km east of the Pacific Ocean (Fig. 1). The topogra-
phy is characterized by steep northwest trending ridges,
deep canyons, and short glacial valleys with lakes. Politically,
Huari and Department of Ancash. The nearest town is San
Marcos, 10 km to the west at an elevation of 2,964 m (Fig. 1).
The altitude zone is subalpine with annual precipitation of ap-
proximately 960 mm, an average annual temperature of 6°C,
and a temperature range of –7° to +16°C. There is a mild
rainy season between October and April, while the rest of the
year is drier with more extreme temperatures and some snow.
The vegetation zone is wet Páramo or high-altitude tall grass-
land transitional to Puna high-altitude grassland, with the
land used for grazing and subsistence farming.
History
Copper was mined at Antamina in pre-Spanish times (Rai-
mondi, 1873) and the deposit name means copper mine, de-
rived from anta meaning copper in Quechua and the Spanish
mina or mine. Antamina is only 10 km east of the ruins of one
of the oldest civilizations in the Americas at Chavín de Huán-
tar (ca. 3,000–2,200 yr B.P.), where gold and silver artefacts
have been found (Fig. 1). However, Antamina is not men-
tioned in any of the Spanish colonial mining records.

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 260

 ANTAMINA Cu-Zn SKARN DEPOSIT, PERU 261

78°W MAG ISTRAL 77°W 76°W

Co
rd
ill
er
a
Sa
Co

nt

Bl
rd
Chimbote

an
Ri
ill
San Marcos

ve
er

ca
r
a PI ER I N A AN TAMI NA
Chavin de Huantar
Huaraz
Ne
gr
a

Punta Lobi tos, HU A N Z A LA

10°S Huarm ey

CE RR O DE
RAUR A P AS CO

11°S

Road
Mineral Deposit

12°S

LIMA
0 50 100 km

FIG. 1. Location of Antamina, Peru.

The first description of Antamina was by the Italian natu-
ralist Antonio Raimondi who visited the area in November
1860 as part of a study of the mineral deposits of the Ancash
Department for Henry Meiggs, who planned a railway. The
first known operator was Carlos Pflucker who in 1859 to 1860
dug a 25-m-deep shaft and an adit but had abandoned them
by the time Raimondi visited and described several other
mines. Argentiferous galena from one mine was being
smelted at Juproc, 5 km to the southwest (Fig. 2), to produce
lead ingots weighing about 34 kg and containing 24 oz of sil-
ver (Raimondi, 1873, p. 542–548). The smelter used local coal
and quenual wood, and the ruins can still be seen.
In 1903, Vicente Lezameta started mining at Antamina and
produced copper mat with a grade of 32 percent. He re-
turned in 1912 to 1914 and made an unsuccessful attempt to
leach copper (Diez Canseco, 1920). With the start of the

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262 STEWART D. REDWOOD

CELENDIN FORMATION CHIMU FORMATION THRUST

JUMASHA FORMATION ANTAMINA SKARN NORMAL FAULT

ANTICLINE
PARIATAMBO, CHULEC AND QUARTZ MONZONITE
PARIAHUANCA FORMATIONS PORPHYRY
SYNCLINE
CARHAUZ AND LINEAMENT
SANTA FORMATIONS

FIG. 2. Geology of the Antamina district (after Glover, 1997).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 262

 ANTAMINA Cu-Zn SKARN DEPOSIT, PERU 263

Great War in 1914 there was a search for new copper deposits
by Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation and several well-
known geologists visited Antamina, including E. Diez
Canseco (Diez Canseco, 1920), Donald J. McLaughlin, and J.
L. Glidden. A. H. Means visited in 1925 for Northern Peru
Mining and Smelting Company (Asarco), which drilled eight
diamond holes totaling 780 m in search of porphyry copper
mineralization. The peripheral silver, lead, and zinc vein de-
posits, such as Fortuna, Rosita de Oro, and Casualidad (Fig.
3), were mined on a small scale after World War II and were
in production in 1948 to 1949 when Bodenlos and Ericksen
(1955) mapped them for the U.S. Geological Survey; they
were mined intermittently until 1998.
The first significant exploration of Antamina was carried
out by Cerro de Pasco Corporation between 1952 and 1970
(Terrones, 1958; Petersen, 1965). The company focused on
the Laberinto zone (Fig. 3) where the steep slopes on the east
side of the valley allowed easy underground access by means
of adits on several levels. They drilled 32 diamond holes for a
total of 3,200 m, of which 18 were from surface and the rest
underground. They drifted and crosscut 4,300 m, drove raises
totaling 220 m, and dug 19 trenches for 2,064 m. The objec-
tive was a high-grade copper deposit and they defined over 1
Mt at >3 percent Cu plus a lower grade reserve of 10 Mt (Ter-
rones, 1958; Petersen, 1965).
Antamina was expropriated from Cerro de Pasco Corpora-
tion on October 30, 1970, and transferred to the state com-
pany, Empresa Minera del Perú S.A. (Minero Perú), which in
1973 formed the Empresa Minera Especial Antamina SRL in
partnership with Geomin (49%), the mining agency of the

MONZONITE PORPHYRY INTRUSION

GARNET SKARN (BROWN)

GARNET SKARN (GREEN)

DIOPSIDE-WOLLASTONITE SKARN
FORTUNA CASUALIDAD
MARBLE

LIMESTONE

8,946,000N

LAKE
ANTAMINA
B
ROSITA DE
ORO

TACO
70
OSCARINA
55

8,945,000N
80

50

84

LABERINTO
N VALLEY

B'

8,944,000N

USU PALLARES
274,000 E

275,000 E
273,000 E

0 250 500

Meters

FIG. 3. Geology of the Antamina copper-zinc skarn deposit, showing locality names (after Hathaway, 1997).

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 263

264 STEWART D. REDWOOD
government of Romania. This consortium carried out a sys-
tematic exploration program resulting in a full feasibility
study. The work consisted of 100 diamond drill holes totaling
12,000 m on a grid in the Taco area (Fig. 3), 920 m of new un-
derground development, rehabilitation of 3,300 m of old
workings, and metallurgical testwork, with a pilot plant at
Catac, 120 km from the property (Fig. 1). The feasibility
study, completed in 1976, anticipated an initial open pit pro-
ducing 10,000 t/d of ore for seven years, followed by 20,000
t/d for 13 yrs. The initial study was revised in 1978, 1979, and
1982 at lower production rates of 2,500 to 5,000 t/d, with the
objective of limiting capital investment.
Due to its inability to finance the project, Empresa Minera
Especial Antamina was disbanded in December 1981 and the
project reverted to Minero Perú. In 1992, Minero Perú at-
tempted to market Antamina, and the following year the
property was transferred to Empresa Minera del Centro del
Perú S.A. (Centromín Perú) to become part of its privatiza-
tion package. The reserves (proven and probable) were 128.6
Mt at 1.61 percent Cu, 1.33 percent Zn, 17.7 g/t Ag, and 0.04
percent Mo, with a resource (“prospective and potential re-
serves”) of 542.2 Mt.
Exploration and mine development
The public bid on July 12, 1996, was won by Inmet Mining
Corporation and Rio Algom Ltd., both of Canada, in a 50-50
joint venture. Compañía Minera Antamina S.A. was formed
and the contract signed on September 6, 1996. The success-
ful offer comprised US$20 million in cash on signing, a work
commitment of US$13.5 million over two years, followed by
a decision to exercise the option to acquire 100 percent by
making an investment commitment of US$2.5 billion within
five years from the date of signing. Thirty percent of any un-
spent difference was to be paid to Centromín at the end of
the fifth year. Between August 1996 and July 1997, a major
exploration program was carried out to define reserves, and a
full feasibility study was completed in March 1998. A total of
103,704 m of diamond drilling was carried out in 271 holes,
and a 230-m drift for bulk metallurgical sampling was exca-
vated. A reverse-circulation drill program was carried out for
condemnation purposes (3,410 m) and geotechnical drilling
also completed. Detailed geologic maps were made, airborne
magnetic and radiometric surveys were purchased, and
ground magnetic and induced polarization (IP) surveys were
carried out.
Subsequent to the feasibility study, Inmet sold its interest
in Antamina on July 13, 1998 to Noranda Inc. and Teck Cor-
poration. Mitsubishi Corporation bought 10 percent on
March 25, 1999. Current ownership of Antamina is BHP-Bil-
liton plc (Rio Algom Ltd.) 33.75 percent, Noranda Inc. 33.75
percent, Teck Cominco Ltd. 22.5 percent, and Mitsubishi
Corporation 10 percent.
The feasibility study defined a resource (measured, indi-
cated and inferred) of 990 Mt at 1.2 percent Cu, 1.0 percent
Zn, 0.03 percent Mo, and 13 g/t Ag at a cutoff of 0.7 percent
Cu equiv. This is contained within a global resource (all cate-
gories, 0 percent Cu equiv cutoff) of 1.5 Bt, which is open at
depth. The deepest hole cut 722 m at 1.7 percent Cu and 1.35
percent Zn, which also remains open at depth. A pit was de-
signed around the measured and indicated resource of 760
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 264
Mt to give a diluted minable resource of 500 Mt at 1.2 per-
cent Cu, 1.0 percent Zn, 0.03 percent Mo, and 12 g/t Ag.
Based on this resource, an open-pit mining operation of
70,000 t/d for 20 yrs, with an average stripping ratio of 2.7 to
1, was planned. The decision to develop the project was an-
nounced on September 16, 1998. Construction was com-
pleted on May 31, 2001, and the first copper-zinc concentrate
was shipped on July 12, 2001. Commercial production was
achieved on October 1, 2001, four months ahead of schedule.
The total construction cost was US$2,148 million. Payment of
US$111.5 million, the balance of the investment commit-
ment, was made to Centromín on August 5, 2002. Subse-
quent to the feasibility study, the revised proven and proba-
ble mineral reserve was 559 Mt at 1.24 percent Cu, 1.03
percent Zn, 0.029 percent Mo, and 13.71 g/t Ag (0.7% Cu
equiv cutoff; Compañía Minera Antamina press release,
Canada Newswire, Antamina project update, November 27,
2000).
The ore is treated by flotation to produce 1.3 Mt of con-
centrate per year, making Antamina the third largest concen-
trate producer in the world (after the Chuquicamata and Es-
condida mines). Planned annual metal production is 270,000
t (600 Mlb) of copper and 162,000 t (360 Mlb) of zinc. Aver-
age annual production for the first 10 yrs was planned to be
306,000 t (675 Mlb) of Cu and 283,000 t (625 Mlb) of Zn,
making Antamina the world’s seventh largest copper pro-
ducer and the third for zinc. Six concentrates are produced,
copper-low bismuth, copper-high bismuth, zinc, molybdenite,
lead-bismuth, and bornite, with planned recoveries of 93 per-
cent Cu, 77 percent Zn, 45 percent Mo, and 75 percent Ag.
The concentrates are transported 300 km by pipeline to a new
port at Punta Lobitos in Huarmey (Fig. 1). Average cash costs
per pound of copper, net of byproduct credits, were projected
at US$0.35/lb. In the first full year of production (2002), An-
tamina boosted Peru’s gross domestic product by 1.4 percent
and increased mining exports, which account for more than
half the country’s exports, by 30 percent. The mine increased
Peruvian copper production by 35 percent and zinc output by
50 percent. Peru now ranks as the world’s third largest zinc
producer and fifth largest copper producer.
Regional Geology
Antamina is located in the easternmost part of the Western
Cordillera, east of the Cordillera Blanca (Fig. 1). The regional
geology has been described by Cobbing (1985), Cobbing et
al. (1996), Jaillard and Soler (1996), and Benavides-Cáceres
(1999), and the following summary is based on their work.
The Eastern Cordillera, which lies east of Antamina, is Pale-
ozoic and older in age, formed of late Precambrian schists
(Marañon Complex) in the north and thick early Paleozoic
marine sedimentary rocks in the south. The Western
Cordillera is Mesozoic and Tertiary and constitutes the An-
dean orogenic belt (sensu stricto). It is formed of Mesozoic,
ensialic, extensional, marginal basins related to eastward sub-
duction and extends the length of the Andes (Western
trough). The basin is bounded by Precambrian craton to both
east (Marañon Complex) and west (Arequipa Massif in south-
ern Peru and Outer Shelf High offshore northern Peru). A
western sub-basin, the Huarmey basin, has up to 9,000 m of
submarine volcanic rocks of mainly basaltic and andesitic
 ANTAMINA Cu-Zn SKARN DEPOSIT, PERU 265

composition, the Casma Group, with no observed base. While
the oldest volcanic rocks date from the Triassic in northern
Peru, the main volcanism was Albian. This sub-basin was
closed in the mid-Cretaceous Mochica tectonic phase and
was intruded along its axis by the Late Cretaceous Coastal
batholith granitoids, which crop out in the western parts of
the Western Cordillera to the coast.
An eastern sub-basin, the Chavin basin, was separated from
the Huarmey basin by a horst, the Santa belt, with a thinner
sedimentary sequence. Sedimentation took place between
the Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous (Table 1). The oldest
sedimentary rocks are dark slate and quartzite of the Late
Jurassic Chicama Formation, which crop out in the western
parts of the sub-basin. These are followed upward by thick
deltaic sandstone, shale, and coal, with a thin marine lime-
stone (Early Cretaceous Goyllarisquisga Group), and then by
a marine transgressive sequence of thick marine carbonate
(Early to Late Cretaceous Pariahuanca, Chulec, Pariatambo,
Jumasha, and Celendin Formations; Table 1). The sub-basin
was not affected by the closure of the Huarmey basin in the
mid Cretaceous, but uplift resulted in molassic red-bed sedi-
mentary rocks (Casapalca Formation) to the east in the
Chavin basin during the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene. The
Antamina deposit is hosted by the Celendin Formation on the
eastern platform of the Chavin basin. The basin is bounded to
the east by a basement high (Marañon high) with a much
thinner Mesozoic sedimentary sequence and farther east by
Mesozoic sandstone and carbonate deposited in an external
foreland basin (Eastern basin) onlapping the Brazilian Shield,
which forms the Subandean zone fold-thrust belt.
The Chavin basin was deformed by the Incaic II folding
phase in the middle Eocene (43–42 Ma). There was extensive
folding and reverse faulting throughout the basin, and forma-
tion of a foreland fold-thrust belt in the eastern part, the plat-
form along the boundary with the Marañon high (Marañon
fold-thrust belt or imbricated zone; Wilson et al., 1967; Mé-
gard, 1984). Antamina is located in this fold-thrust belt.
Following the deformation, an erosional surface developed
across the Chavin and Huarmey basins and Coastal batholith,
on which up to 3,000 m of subaerial volcanic rocks accumu-
lated during the Tertiary (Calipuy Group) in a belt 40 km
wide, forming the Cordillera Negra (Fig. 1). During the
Miocene there were four short compressive pulses (Quechua
I, II, III, and IV) at ca. 17, 10 to 9, 7 to 5, and 2 Ma, separated
by tectonically neutral or extensional periods (McKee and
Noble, 1982; Sébrier and Soler, 1991). In the mid- to late
Miocene, the Cordillera Blanca batholith was intruded in the
eastern part of the Western trough to form the Cordillera
Blanca (ca. 13.7–6.3 Ma; Cobbing, 1998; Fig. 1). Concur-
rently there was widespread magmatism (medium to high K
calc-alkaline) across the Western and Eastern Cordilleras to
form small stocks, including that at Antamina (Sébrier and
Soler, 1991).
Metallogeny
Antamina lies in the eastern part of the polymetallic belt of
central Peru, which is located in the Western Cordillera be-
tween lat 6° and 14° S and limited at both ends by transverse,
arc-normal structures. Mineralization comprises zinc, lead,
silver, copper, and gold, mainly in hydrothermal deposits re-
lated to calc-alkaline high-level intrusions of mid- to late
Miocene age (Soler et al., 1986; Noble and McKee, 1999; Pe-
tersen, 1999). The belt was traditionally known for major
zinc, lead, and silver mines at Cerro de Pasco, Milpo, Cas-
apalca, and Morococha (Peterson, 1965). Porphyry copper
and copper-gold deposits also occur at Toromocho, Michi-
quillay, La Granja, and Cerro Corona (Noble and McKee,
1999), and in the past decade the belt has become a major

TABLE 1. Stratigraphy of the Antamina District

Period Epoch Age Age (Ma) Group Formation Thickness (m) Lithology

Santonian 87.5–84 Celendin 115–225 Marl, nodular limestone, thinly bedded, fossiliferous;
Late Coniacian 88.5–87.5 Antamina deposit
Turonian 91–88.5
Cenomanian 97.5–91 Jumasha 200–800 Gray limestone, massive, thickly bedded 1–2 m,
micritic, poorly fossiliferous, dolomitic in parts

Pariatambo 100–200 Dark-gray marl and limestone, bituminous, thinly

bedded
Albian 113–97.5 Dark-gray chert nodules abundant at top
Chulec 100–200 Thinly bedded shelly limestone, marl, yellow-cream
color
Cretaceous Early Pariahuanca 54– 210 Massive shelly limestone, 1- to 2-m beds, calcareous
sandstone at base
Aptian 119–113 Yellowish color
Farrat 20 White sandstone
Barremian 124–119 Carhuaz 1,300– 500 Shale, silty shale, thin quartz sandstone beds,
Goyllarisquisga

brown-purplish; disconformable
Hauterivian 131–124 Gray shales and coal at base
Santa 150–341 Blue-gray shelly limestone, 0.1- to 1-m beds, chert
nodules, parts dolomitic
Valanginian 138–131 Chimu 600–685 Quartz sandstone, white; dark shale and coal at base
Oyon 100 Shale, siltstone, sandstone, coal; important thrust plane
Berriasian 144–138
Jurassic Late Tithonian 152–144 Chicama >1,500 Gray slate, quartzite, sandstone

Notes: Based on Benavides (1956), Cobbing et al. (1996), and Wilson (1963); time scale from Anon (1998)

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266 STEWART D. REDWOOD

gold producer with discovery of high-sulfidation epithermal
deposits like Yanacocha (Harvey et al., 1999) and Pierina
(Volkert et al., 1998). The deposits of the belt are character-
ized by large amounts of ancillary metals, including bismuth,
cadmium, selenium, tellurium, antimony, indium, mercury,
germanium, tin, tungsten, molybdenum, and arsenic (Soler et
al., 1986).
Antamina Geology
The Antamina deposit is 2,500 m long, in a northeasterly di-
rection, and up to 1,000 m wide (Fig. 3). The minable reserve
is located in the widest, northern part. The orebody is located
between elevations of 4,350 and 3,900 m, to which depths the
reserves are calculated. However, the entire mineralized
skarn has a vertical extent of >1,000 m between outcrops as
high as 4,650 m and the bottom of the deepest drill hole at
3,632 m. The shape of the outer limit of the skarn body shows
no significant change with depth.
Geomorphology and overburden
The Antamina deposit underlies a 4,000-m long, 600 m-deep,
U-shaped glacial valley, which is surrounded by concordant
mountain peaks at 4,600 to 4,700 m in elevation (max 5,073
m), remnants of the Puna land surface (Figs. 4–6). The head
of the valley had a cirque lake, Lake Antamina, which was
drained before mining (Figs. 3–6). The cirque was formed
during a young glacial advance and is separated from the
main valley father downstream by a rock ridge, Taco ridge
(Figs. 3, 5). Mineralization crops out on Taco ridge and con-
tinues beneath Lake Antamina; it then strikes east and crops
out on the valley side east of the lake (Oscarina zone; Figs. 3,
6), with an offshoot continuing east through the ridge to
Rosita de Oro (Figs. 3, 6). Southwest of Taco ridge, the de-
posit continues beneath the Antamina valley to crop out along
the southern slope of the valley as far as the Usu Pallares
hanging valley (Figs. 3, 5).
The valley contains two moraines representing two stages
of glaciation. The older moraine is pyritic and the younger is
limonitic and, in places, the two are separated by a ferricrete
layer. The lower valley slopes are mantled by lateral moraine,
talus, and colluvium. In the Laberinto and Oscarina areas
(Fig. 3), ferricrete is up to several meters thick, with slope-
parallel layers resting on pyritic bedrock. The upper, steep
valley sides are either bare rock or covered by talus deposits
and, locally, thin soil. Lake Antamina has a U-shaped bathy-
metric profile, with steep sides, a flat 50-m-deep bottom, and
>32 m of soft, bedded, silt-clay lake sediments. The main val-
ley has pyritic moraine on bedrock, overlain by thin peaty sed-
iments. Overburden thickness is up to 36 m. At the south-
western end of the valley there are rock-fall deposits, with
blocks up to 25 m in size.
The preglacial topography is interpreted as the Puna surface
(younger than 14.5 Ma) at around 4,700 m, with peaks >5,000
m. A shallow river valley probably existed at Antamina, formed

FIG. 4. Oblique air photograph looking northeast along the Antamina valley in 1997 before mining. The skarn deposit
crops out on Taco ridge (with drill roads) southwest of the lake and continues southwest beneath the valley, then along the
southern edge of the valley to the Usu Pallares hanging valley (lower right with drill roads). From Taco ridge, the deposit
continues diagonally under the lake and crops out on the eastern side of the head of the valley (Oscarina) and through the
ridge (where the road cuts) to Rosita de Oro. The skarn deposit is hosted by indurated calcareous sediments of the Upper
Celendin Formation, which crops out along the valley sides. The highest peaks (Cerro Contonga, 5,073 m, foreground left)
are Jumasha Formation limestone.

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 ANTAMINA Cu-Zn SKARN DEPOSIT, PERU 267

FIG. 5. View looking west over the Antamina deposit in 1997 before mining, to show the oxidized outcrop of the skarn on
Taco ridge left of the lake. The skarn continues beneath the lake to the Oscarina area on the valley side, from where the pho-
tograph was taken. Upper Celendin Formation calcareous sedimentary rocks underlie the valley sides and are overlain by Ju-
masha Formation limestone, which forms the Cerro Contonga peak (5,073 m). The Cordillera Blanca is in the distance.

as a headwater during the Valley (post-14.5 to pre-6 Ma) and
Canyon (post-6 Ma) periods (Wilson et al., 1967; Tosdal et al.,
1984). During the main Pleistocene glaciation, ice accumula-
tion carved out the Antamina valley and internal hanging val-
leys. The Antamina deposit was probably unroofed during the
first glaciation, which exposed the fresh sulfides in the older
moraine. In the following interglacial period there was oxida-
tion of exposed sulfides forming ferricrete. This oxidation zone
was partly removed by the second cirque glacier, as shown by
the limonitic moraine formed during this stage.

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268
FIG. 6. View of Antamina deposit, looking south in 1998 before mining. The skarn deposit can be seen cropping out at
Taco (right of the lake), Laberinto (valley side below the anticline), and Oscarina (valley side above the lake) as far as Rosita
(pass on left). The Antamina anticline (right) is a prominent culmination in one of the lower sheets of the thrust duplex in
Upper Celendin Formation that hosts Antamina.
Stratigraphy
The Antamina deposit is hosted by the Upper Celendin
Formation, over which the Jumasha Formation has been
thrust from the west (Figs. 2, 4, 5, 7). To the west, the
Carhuaz Formation is in thrust contact with the Celendin and
Jumasha Formations (Figs. 2, 7). East of Antamina, the Ce-
lendin Formation forms the core of a gently southeast plung-
ing regional synclinorium (Fig. 7).
The Jumasha Formation comprises several hundred meters
of massive, pale-gray, cliff-forming limestone with 36 to 51
percent CaO (Table 2). It is overlain by the Lower Celendin
Formation, a thin (100 m?) transitional unit of interbedded
limestone and calcareous siltstone with 53 to 54 percent CaO
(Table 2).
The Antamina skarn is developed in the Upper Celendin
Formation, formed of fine-grained calcareous siltstone or
claystone and argillaceous limestone with 18 to 42 percent
CaO (Table 2). The Upper Celendin is several hunderd me-
ters thick in the Antamina area due to structural thickening
by thrusting, but due to the lack of marker beds the true
thickness is unknown. The Upper Celendin is recessive
weathering and forms rounded topography with little out-
crop. However, at Antamina, there is a 3,000-m-wide thermal
aureole around the intrusion, which indurated the sedimen-
tary rocks beyond the skarn zone, resulting in atypical cliffs
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STEWART D. REDWOOD
(Figs. 4–7). As a result, the nonrecessive host rocks were orig-
inally considered to belong to the Jumasha Formation (Wil-
son et al., 1967). The key field evidence is provided by in-
durated beds traceable laterally from the deposit into the
typical, soft-weathering Upper Celendin Formation. Where
unaltered and unweathered, the Upper Celendin Formation
is medium to dark gray, medium hard, and highly calcareous.
Outcrops commonly have a beige color and, in road cuts, ex-
hibit spheroidal weathering. The rock fractures in a charac-
teristic blocky pattern with rough fractures. Bedding is poorly
developed on a scale of 1 to 3 m and is enhanced by the ef-
fects of the thermal metamorphism. The rock is generally
structurally featureless but may have slumped intervals up to
tens of meters thick or concordant bedding on a centimeter
scale. Other minor features include nodular beds, brachiopod
shell debris, brown shale intercalations, crossbedded lami-
nated siltstone or fine-grained sandstone interbeds, stroma-
tolitic beds, and a distinctive dark-gray to black facies with
wavy, centimeter-scale bedding (bioturbation or slumping),
abundant shells, and bands of black chert nodules. Stylolites
are commonly observed in drill core, where they are marked
by scapolite concentrations when thermally metamorphosed.
Karst features, including solution cavities and carbonate
deposited as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and travertine
terraces in stream beds, are well developed in the Jumasha
and Lower Celendin limestones. The Upper Celendin is
268
 K sc e Celendin Formation Hornfels

K sj Antamina skarn
Jumasha Formation

0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
Antamina intrusions
K isp Pariatambo, Chulec & Pariahuanca Formations

K ic h Carhauz & Santa Formations

K ic h i Chimu Formation

Antamina
Lake

269
A A'

OSCARINA

LABERINTO

USUPALLARES
Ksce
ANTAMINA Cu-Zn SKARN DEPOSIT, PERU

K sc e

ANTAMINA THRUST
TUCUSH SYNCLINE

4500 4500
CHOCOPAMPA SLIDE

K sj
4000 4000
K sj K sc e
K ic h i Kic h i
K ic h i
? K sj K sc e K sj
3500 K sj 3500

0 1 2
section A - A'
Kilometres

FIG. 7. Long section A-A' through the Antamina skarn deposit, showing district geology and structure (after Glover, 1997). Location of section is shown in Figure 2.
269
270 STEWART D. REDWOOD

TABLE 2. Limestone Analyses from Antamina District

Jumasha Fm. Lower Celendin Fm. Upper Celendin Fm.

Sample no. 65201 65202 LS03 LS04 LS01 LS02 LS05 65203 65204 65205 65206

SiO2 (%) 18.23 2.83 0.47 0.20 13.56 19.87 27.62 33.80 28.15 15.70 38.63
TiO2 (%) 0.12 0.12 0.02 0.02 0.18 0.31 0.46 0.48 0.50 0.32 0.56
Al2O3 (%) 1.88 0.65 0.20 0.17 4.02 6.65 8.53 9.34 8.49 5.09 10.48
Fe2O3 (%) 0.53 0.29 0.19 0.18 1.81 3.14 3.84 3.60 2.39 1.61 4.34
MnO (%) 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.04 0.05 0.07 0.05 0.03 0.03 0.09
MgO (%) 7.02 1.11 1.51 0.81 2.43 2.66 2.74 2.70 2.30 2.24 2.89
CaO (%) 35.82 51.44 53.44 54.50 41.56 35.35 29.20 24.08 26.91 39.40 18.03
Na2O (%) 0.05 <0.01 0.06 0.03 0.20 0.32 0.49 0.65 0.61 0.25 0.25
K2O (%) 0.11 0.25 0.04 0.02 0.66 0.57 1.53 1.40 1.47 0.57 2.22
P2O5 (%) 0.07 0.08 0.00 0.02 0.07 0.08 0.10 0.18 0.15 0.10 0.21
LOI (%) 34.24 41.71 43.66 43.69 34.47 28.27 23.84 28.77 26.32 32.67 20.68
Total (%) 98.08 98.49 99.81 99.79 99.84 99.89 99.93 99.05 97.32 97.98 98.38
C total 9.56 11.96 0.06 0.03 0.08 0.06 0.05 5.71 6.50 9.10 5.07
CO2 (%) 34.20 42.42 43.30 43.51 33.82 28.16 23.47 20.23 22.91 32.30 17.82
SO3 total n/a n/a 0.21 0.13 0.84 2.62 1.51 n/a n/a n/a n/a

Notes: Samples prefixed by 65 analyzed by Intertek Testing Services Bondar Clegg and Co. Ltd., Vancouver; analyses by X-ray fluorescence on borate bead;
loss on ignition (LOI) gravimetric at 1,000°C; total carbon by Leco; total Fe as Fe2O3; samples prefixed by LS analyzed by Fuller Company, Bethlehem, Penn-
sylvania; K2O and Na2O by flame atomic absorption; Mn reported as Mn2O3; LOI at 900°C; SO3 total by Leco induction furnace; trace pyrite in samples
65201, LS01, LS02, LS05, and 65205

much less susceptible to karstic weathering and no karst fea-
tures are seen at surface in the mine area. However, under-
ground cavities in Celendin limestone with high water flow
were encountered during drilling in the Laberinto, Valley,
and south Taco areas (Fig. 3).
Structure
Antamina is located in the northwestern-trending Marañon
fold-thrust belt, which is generally only 10 km wide but in the
Antamina area attains 40 km (Fig. 2). The northeast-vergent
thrust sequence developed during the middle Eocene Incaic
II phase (43–42 Ma; Mégard, 1984). The structural setting of
Antamina was clarified by mapping carried out by Glover
(1997, 1998a-c), Hathaway (1997,1998a, b), and Redwood
(1997; Figs 2–3, 7). The deposit is located in a transition zone
between deep-water clastic sedimentary rocks with upright
folding to the west and shelf carbonate with fold-thrust de-
formation to the east (Fig. 7). A series of 50° to 60° south-
west-dipping thrust ramps developed at this tectonic transi-
tion and brought successively deeper parts of the stratigraphy
into contact with the carbonate sequence (Figs. 4, 7). The
structure is inferred to represent a major fault zone and to be
a reactivated basin-margin fault.
The Antamina skarn deposit is located within a thrust du-
plex formed by at least six flat-lying thrust sheets of the Upper
Celendin Formation, with Pariatambo Formation rocks in
some of the lower sheets (Fig. 7). The sole thrust is not ex-
posed but the roof thrust is partly preserved on the highest
peaks as imbricate sheets of flat-lying Jumasha limestone. The
latter has been thrust eastward over the Celendin Formation.
Within the duplex, a prominent culmination in one of the
lower thrust sheets forms the Antamina anticline (Fig. 6). To
the west, the duplex is cut by the Antamina thrust, a thrust
ramp fault with a 50° southwest dip, which juxtaposes Ju-
masha limestone against the Upper Celendin Formation
(Figs. 4–5, 7). The thrust appears to be younger and out of
sequence but is likely to have undergone reactivation as a nor-
mal fault (Fig. 7).
The Antamina intrusion and skarn are controlled by three
northeast-striking lateral thrust ramps that are downthrown
to the northwest, resulting in different structural levels on ei-
ther side of the Antamina valley (Fig. 8). A tear fault is ex-
posed at the head of the valley beneath a thrust flat. The
hanging wall formed a flexure over the ramp resulting in
strata locally plunging 20° northwest, opposite to the regional
fold plunge. These lateral ramps are interpreted to mark the
site of an old basement structure that during reactivation
propagated upward through the deformed platform sequence
of the fold-thrust belt.
Porphyry intrusion and skarn mineralization accompanied a
minor extensional event, which may be correlated with the
Quechua II phase. Localized extension on the southeastern
side of the Antamina valley was accommodated by listric fault
reactivation of frontal thrust ramps and by strike-slip move-
ment along lateral thrust ramps. Several minor intrusive
sheets were controlled by the listric faults. Within both the
skarn and intrusions there are abundant zones of brittle de-
formation and slickensided fracture surfaces. However, no
significant postmineral fault displacements have been identi-
fied.
Porphyry stock
The skarn deposit is developed around the Antamina intru-
sion (9.8 Ma; McKee et al., 1979; 10.34–10.27 Ma; Love et al.,
2003a), a multiphase, quartz monzonite porphyry. Numerous
intrusive phases were identified during core logging, with rel-
ative ages being shown by grouping them as early-, inter-,
late- and postmineral in timing, in addition to several dike
phases (Sillitoe, 1997). All the quartz monzonite porphyry
phases contain phenocrysts of plagioclase, quartz, biotite, or-
thoclase, and lesser hornblende; some have megacrysts of or-
thoclase up to 10 cm long. Intrusions within each relative age

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 ANTAMINA Cu-Zn SKARN DEPOSIT, PERU 271

NE SW

ANTAMINA
O
OSCARINA ANTICLINE USU PALLARES

TA
TACO
T ACO
CO
O

ANTAMINA LAKE

meters
0 1,000

Approximate Scale

Hanging-wall sequence Footwall sequence

Thrust flat Monzonitic porphyry intrusion
Frontal ramp Antamina skarn deposit
Lateral ramp Fracture-controlled skarn
mineralization
Northwesterly plunge of
Antamina anticline
over lateral ramp
FIG. 8. Schematic block diagram of the Antamina copper-zinc skarn deposit, showing localization of intrusion and min-
eralization along lateral ramp, looking southeast (after Glover, 1997).

group tend to have evolved to more potassic compositions, as
shown by orthoclase phenocrysts or megacrysts in the later
phases. Early mineral intrusions form the central part of the
stock, with inter- and late mineral intrusions emplaced
around the margins. A late mineral intrusion forms the main
Valley and Usu Pallares dikes (Fig. 3).
The intrusive bodies comprise broad northeast-trending
dikes that converge to form a stock at depth. The roof of the
intrusion and some overlying skarn are preserved, with out-
crop widths of 70 to 800 m. At the 3,900-m level, the intrusion
forms an almost circular stock 800 m in a northeast direction
by 750 m across. The stock has a northeastern-trending spur
at the northeastern end of the Lake zone (350 m long × 150
m wide) and a southwestern-trending spur below the valley to
the southwest (500 m long × 50–170 m wide). In total, the in-
trusions are 1,700 m long at this level. Exoskarn forms a shell
400 to 300 m wide around the intrusions.
Porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralization
The Antamina stock is overprinted by porphyry copper-
molybdenum mineralization, but the grades are typically
less than the cutoff (0.7% Cu equiv) and no resource was
calculated. Where the intrusion has grades exceeding the cut-
off, it is transformed to endoskarn and was included within
the skarn domain in the geologic model.
The early, inter-, and late mineral intrusive phases were af-
fected by potassic alteration, which decreases progressively in
intensity as the phases become younger. In core, the potassic
alteration is characterized by fine-grained, red-brown hy-
drothermal biotite in the groundmass and metastable black
biotite phenocrysts. Thin sections also show K-feldspar in the
groundmass, as coronas to plagioclase, and in veinlets. A- and
B-type quartz veinlets containing pyrite, chalcopyrite, and
molybdenite accompany the potassic assemblage. Veinlet
density is highest in the oldest intrusions and decreases pro-
gressively as they become younger.
Phyllic alteration is poorly developed although widespread.
It is generally characterized by weak to moderately intense al-
teration of plagioclase, biotite (magmatic and hydrothermal),
and porphyry groundmass. The altered plagioclase has a pale
to strong green, beige, or white color. The alteration assem-
blage includes sericite, muscovite, clay, chlorite, and calcite.
The sericitic alteration is sporadically developed, and rem-
nants of preexisting magmatic and potassic alteration miner-

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272 STEWART D. REDWOOD

als are abundant. Silicification may occur, typically as a sel-
vage to D-type quartz-pyrite veinlets, which are abundant
only in the Oscarina area (Fig. 3), where they are narrow (1
cm) and parallel. An unusual variety of phyllic alteration is
found locally, typified by leached quartz phenocrysts in a
strongly silicified groundmass, with purple to colorless fluo-
rite found in veinlets and as fillings of the leached quartz
vugs.
There is no definable zone of propylitic alteration at Anta-
mina, although chlorite and calcite are present in parts of the
phyllic alteration assemblage and, locally, the biotite is chlori-
tized.
Hydrothermal alteration has been dated at 10.18 to 9.75
Ma (Love et al., 2003a).
Skarn Geology
The skarn is remarkably well zoned symmetrically outward
from the Antamina stock as follows (Fig. 9): (1) brown garnet
endoskarn with chalcopyrite; (2) brown garnet exoskarn with
chalcopyrite; (3) green garnet exoskarn with chalcopyrite and
sphalerite; (4) wollastonite-diopside exoskarn with bornite,
sphalerite, and anomalous bismuth; and (5) recrystallized
limestone and marble with veins or mantos of wollastonite-
green garnet skarn with zinc, lead, and silver.
Garnet endoskarn
Endoskarn is readily identifiable on the basis of brown gar-
net pseudomorphic of a porphyry igneous texture, and the
10,000E
presence of porphyry relics. The outer contact zone tends to
be a hybrid, plagioclase-rich monzonite porphyry (contami-
nated by limestone assimilation) with abundant xenoliths of
marble or garnetite. Endoskarn forms a minor part of the
total skarn and is typically developed only over a few meters
at the margins of certain intrusions. The inner limit of garnet
development in the stock is gradational, with plagioclase and
groundmass minerals being selectively replaced. Postmineral
intrusions crosscut the garnetite and have sharp contacts.
Endoskarn is most abundant in the roof of the intrusion, in
upper levels in the Lake and Taco areas (Fig. 3), and porphyry
with as little as 5 to 20 percent garnet carries good copper
grade (>1% Cu). This roof zone is interpreted as comprising
numerous narrow, discontinuous dikes in limestone, with per-
vasive garnet replacement of limestone and pervasive to par-
tial garnet development in the intrusion. In such zones, the
partly garnetized intrusions are grouped as brown garnet
skarn for the purposes of the geologic model. Antamina is un-
usual in having ore in the endoskarn, which is not simply por-
phyry copper mineralization.
Garnet exoskarn
The main skarn variety is massive garnet skarn or garnetite.
The color is consistently zoned from deep red-brown closest
to the intrusion (mapped and logged as brown garnet skarn)
to apple green near the marble contact (green garnet skarn).
The color zonation is a continuum and there is no sharp con-
tact between the colors. Some garnet crystals are also color
10,500E

11,000E
B B'

NW Ag, Pb, Zn SE

4,600 m 4,600 m

Cu (bn), Bi, Au

Zn Zn
4,400 m
Ag, Pb, Zn Cu 4,400 m

MARBLE AND Mo
LIMESTONE
WOLLASTONITE - DIOPSIDE
SKARN
4,200 m 4,200 m
GREEN GARNET
EXOSKARN

BROWN GARNET
EXOSKARN
BROWN GARNET
4,000 m ENDOSKARN 4,000 m
Ag, Pb, Zn Ag, Pb, Zn
PORPHYRY
INTRUSION
Zn ± Bi Zn ± Bi
Cu Cu
0 100 200 m
Mo

FIG. 9. Cross section B-B' of the Antamina copper-zinc skarn deposit, showing zonation of skarn and metals. Line of sec-
tion is shown in Figure 3. All Cu present as chalcopyrite except for bn = bornite.

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 ANTAMINA Cu-Zn SKARN DEPOSIT, PERU
zoned, and veinlets of one color of skarn can be seen cross-
cutting the other. Microprobe analyses show no significant
compositional differences between the two color types and
both can be classified as andradite (grossular 0–28%, andra-
dite 72–100%; Table 3; R. Lehne, pers. commun., 1996; Love
et al., 2000). The garnets tend to be zoned from grossular-rich
cores to andradite-rich rims, reflecting a decrease in alu-
minum and an increase in ferric iron. The endoskarn garnets
are distinctive in composition, being richer in aluminum and
lower in ferric iron, and are of grandite composition (grossu-
lar 33–58%, andradite 37–62%; Love et al., 2000).
Most of the brown garnetite and all of the green garnetite
are exoskarn, as shown by remnant bedding features clearly
visible both underground and in surface outcrops. Some gar-
netite contains small, elongate vugs oriented parallel to the
relict bedding. Both types of garnet are andradite. Some
green diopside is associated with the green garnet skarn
(Love et al., 2000) but is usually difficult to distinguish in
core. The texture of the garnetite varies from fine (<1mm) to
coarse grained (>10 mm) and from massive and hard to vuggy
with euhedral crystals. The massive, fine-grained garnetite
occurs in the Oscarina area (Fig. 3) and is a hard, microgran-
ular aggregate of garnet, diopside, and wollastonite cut by
sheeted quartz veinlets but with low metal values because of
its low permeability. The medium-grained garnetite is com-
monly disaggregated in drill core and crumbly underground.
The disaggregation, more common in brown garnetite, ap-
pears to be due to dissolution of minor interstitial calcite dur-
ing retrograde hydrothermal activity. The coarse-grained gar-
netite is of medium hardness and is generally vuggy and easy
to drill. The porosity of garnetite is explained by the volume
reduction, resulting from the change of limestone to garnet.
For this reason the garnet is euhedral and the garnetite has an
inherent porosity that makes it a good ore host.
Magnetite exoskarn
Zones of massive magnetite, up to several meters wide,
occur in the garnetite. The magnetite formed relatively early
and is cut by chalcopyrite veinlets. It also occurs as pseudo-
morphs after tabular and/or bladed specular hematite crys-
tals, which indicates either a decrease in oxygen fugacity or
an increase in temperature of the hydrothermal fluid over
time.
TABLE 3. Garnet Analyses
Mineral Brown garnet skarn Green garnet skarn
Analyses 35 points 46 points
SiO2 (%) 34.06–35.36 34.17–35.69
CaO (%) 31.60–33.75 31.02–34.28
FeO (%) 25.68–28.32 20.83–28.88
Al2O3 (%) 0.87–2.14 0.10–5.95
MgO (%) 0.00–0.11 0.02–0.39
MnO (%) 0.13–0.87 0.10–1.24
TiO2 (%) 0.00–0.11 0.00–1.08
Notes: Samples from drill hole CMA-001 at 269.40 m (brown garnet
skarn) and 35.0 m (green garnet skarn); analyses carried out by electron mi-
croprobe in 1996 at the Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum (R. Lehne, pers. com-
mun., 1996)
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273
Wollastonite-diopside exoskarn
This exoskarn comprises white, fibrous wollastonite with
diopside and coarse-grained pink and green garnet. The diop-
side has an unusual mineral habit consisting of large (up to 20
mm), circular crystals with radial texture, cross fractures, and
a dull brown-green color. Retrograde alteration products in-
clude vesuvianite, calcite, quartz, and steatite. Apatite, fluo-
rite, muscovite, ilvaite, epidote (allanite), cordierite, and
sphene are also sporadically developed. The diopside-wollas-
tonite skarn is located on the margins of the deposit and is
best developed in the south Laberinto area (Figs. 3, 6). Bor-
nite is associated with the diopside-wollastonite skarn and was
introduced after prograde skarn formation together with
trace chalcopyrite in interstitial sites and quartz veinlets. Geo-
chemically this marginal zone is enhanced in both gold and
bismuth.
Marble
Limestone adjacent to the exoskarn is recrystallized to
coarse, equigranular marble of white to light-gray color. Mar-
ble formation was accompanied by bleaching of the precursor
limestone. The marble zone is typically 200 to 250 m wide, al-
though it can narrow to as little as 10 m. The marble adjacent
to the exoskarn contact has narrow skarn zones (green garnet,
wollastonite, sulfides) controlled by bedding or fractures for
up to tens of meters into the marble. These skarn veins often
have ore-grade lead, zinc, and silver. The inner marble zone
typically contains disseminated scapolite as small, oblate
black crystals. In certain areas, notably at the head of Lake
Antamina (Fig. 3), there is a zone of selective skarn alteration
in marble and/or limestone beyond the exoskarn contact. This
is controlled by bedding permeability and porosity, with stro-
matolitic limestone beds altered to garnet but micritic lime-
stone interbeds unaltered. Outboard from the main marble
zone, there may be a zone of selective marble formation
within the limestone that is controlled by bedding porosity-
permeability. Traces of disseminated and fracture-coating
pyrite occur in the marble and limestone for distances of up
to 4,000 m from the edge of the skarn. This represents a
pyrite halo around the deposit, similar to that around many
porphyry copper deposits.
Hornfels
Hornfels is preserved in some marginal parts of the deposit,
notably on the peaks east of Laberinto (Fig. 3). The early
hornfels tends to be biotite rich, whereas later hornfels is py-
roxene rich and replaced by garnetite.
Retrograde skarn
Retrograde alteration of garnetite is variably developed
outward from veinlet selvages, stockworks, and breccias, and
as a pervasive replacement. Where pervasive, the retrograde
alteration was logged as chlorite skarn, a rock that is typically
disaggregated. Retrograde alteration commonly comprises
hydrothermal breccias in which clasts of garnetite and vein
quartz occur in a matrix of retrograde minerals, including sul-
fides. The clasts are angular to subrounded with little dis-
placement; exotic clasts are absent. Breccias are controlled by
steep fractures, but were not separated during resource mod-
eling because they do not form discrete, mappable bodies.
273
274 STEWART D. REDWOOD
Retrograde assemblages include chlorite, epidote, actinolite,
quartz, calcite, sericite, clay, and pyrite. Chalcopyrite is abun-
dant and molybdenite commonly occurs in quartz veinlets.
Sulfide and Metal Distribution
Sulfide mineralization postdates garnetite formation and
occurs in three forms: (1) interstitial to garnet crystals, (2)
massive sulfide zones, and (3) crosscutting veinlets. There
are two main stages of sulfide mineralization, prograde and
retrograde. In the prograde stage, sulfide minerals occur
with minor calcite as late additions to prograde skarn, as ev-
idenced by a lack of accompanying retrograde alteration.
The main sulfide minerals are chalcopyrite and pyrite, with
the addition of sphalerite in the zinc zone. Pyrrhotite also
occurs locally. Sulfide minerals are a major component of
the retrograde skarn, where they are dominated by pyrite
and chalcopyrite. The massive sulfide zones are irregular in
shape and size, varying from a few centimeters to 10 m in
thickness. Underground they are irregular and amorphous
in shape, rather than forming veins or replacements of lime-
stone beds; hence, there is extreme variability of ore grades
over distances of only a few meters (e.g., between twinned
drill holes). A single drill hole may repeatedly intersect
zones of massive sulfides interspersed with garnetite. Metal
distribution shows a symmetrical lateral zonation outward
from (1) a central molybdenum zone with low copper, (2)
followed by the principal copper zone, (3) an outer copper-
zinc halo, (4) with a discontinuous marginal copper (bor-
nite)-zinc-bismuth zone, and (5) a peripheral silver-lead-
zinc zone (Fig. 9).
Chalcopyrite-rich mineralization
Chalcopyrite is distributed throughout the garnet en-
doskarn and exoskarn where it constitutes a copper-only zone,
approximately coincident with the extent of the proximal
brown garnet (endo- and exoskarn), and a copper-zinc zone,
which approximates the more distal green garnet zone. Cop-
per contents are similar in both zones. In the upper levels of
the deposit, the copper-only zone reaches 600 m in width,
whereas at depth the zone is only 100 to 350 m wide (Fig. 9).
A high-grade copper zone (>2% Cu) occurs beneath the east-
ern side of the Lake zone (Fig. 3) from surface to the 4,000-
m level. Drill intersections in this zone include 120 m at 4.72
percent Cu and 268 m at 3.30 percent Cu. Chalcopyrite was
introduced during the early mineralization stages as intersti-
tial, veinlet, and massive zones in garnetite, and appreciable
amounts were also introduced during the retrograde stage in
the chlorite skarn. Chalcopyrite also occurs in the stock as
porphyry-type mineralization in veinlet and disseminated
form but the grade is subeconomic.
Bornite-rich mineralizaton
Bornite occurs in the wollastonite-diopside skarn and lo-
cally in outer parts of the green garnet skarn (Fig. 9). The
main bornite area is on the eastern side of the skarn in the
south Laberinto area (Fig. 3), where it occurs over a strike
length of about 400 m and widths of up to 160 m (Fig. 9).
Bornite is present only at the higher levels of the deposit, and
the base of the bornite-rich zone deepens to the southwest
(Fig. 9). On the western side of the valley (Fig. 2), bornite
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00
occurs locally in narrow zones (up to 30 m) in wollastonite-
diopside and green garnet skarn, both at the marble contact
and in the marble itself. In the southern valley, bornite zones
are present in both the eastern and western contact zones but
are largely absent at Usu Pallares (Fig. 3).
Sphalerite-rich mineralizaton
Sphalerite occurs in the outer zone of the deposit, approxi-
mately coincident with the green garnet and the wollastonite-
diopside skarn, where it accompanies chalcopyrite to form a
copper-zinc halo (Fig. 9). The copper-zinc halo is defined by
values of greater than 0.5 percent Zn, a natural statistical
break in grade. Copper grades remain the same as those in
the copper-only zone. In general the copper-zinc halo is wider
in the upper part of the deposit and narrows at depth; it prob-
ably continued over the top of the skarn deposit prior to par-
tial erosion. In the upper levels of the deposit, the width of
the zone is typically 100 to 200 m, whereas at depth it aver-
ages 20 to 50 m but attains 350 m along structures (Fig. 9).
There are also some sphalerite-rich intervals within the cop-
per zone, which occur as inward-directed extensions of the
copper-zinc halo and as discrete zones, one of which, in the
lake area (Fig. 3), is spatially confined to the margin of a sin-
gle intrusive phase. Finally, sphalerite is present in veins and
mantos in marble in the outer zone associated with wollas-
tonite-green garnet skarn with lead and silver.
Silver
Geochemical plots show that silver forms two populations.
The copper zone has consistent silver values of 7 to 8 g/t. The
good Ag/Cu correlation suggests that the silver occurs as a
solid solution in chalcopyrite. The outer parts of the copper-
zinc zone and the outer zone of veins and mantos in marble
have higher silver values associated with galena, bismuth sul-
fosalts, proustite, and late-stage tennantite in veinlets (Fig. 9).
Molybdenum
While the overall molybdenum content of the deposit is
low, molybdenum grade is locally high. Molybdenite is pre-
sent in quartz veinlets in porphyry, in garnet endoskarn, and
in exoskarn proximal to the intrusion (Fig. 9). Molybdenite is
also abundant in the wollastonite-diopside skarn where it
tends to occur as coarse disseminated flakes. Molybdenum
contents in these skarn types are greater than 0.05 percent
Mo and, locally, >0.1 percent. The remainder of the skarn has
grades of <0.02 percent Mo.
Bismuth
Bismuth distribution was modeled in detail since it incurs a
smelter penalty in copper concentrate. There are high bis-
muth zones (>15 ppm; metallurgical cutoff) at the northern
and southern extremities of the deposit, between which it
forms an outer zone near to the limestone contact. These bis-
muth-rich zones are mainly in the green garnet and wollas-
tonite-diopside skarn but also in the brown garnet exoskarn at
the deposit extremities. Bismuth values are mostly >100 ppm
but can reach thousands of ppm. The upper levels of the
outer bismuth zone tend to be wide (typically 200 m), but
they narrow at depth (commonly as little as 10 m). The rest of
the deposit has irregular, patchy bismuth enrichment zones
274
 ANTAMINA Cu-Zn SKARN DEPOSIT, PERU
(15–40 ppm), interspersed with zones with <15 ppm. The
copper and copper-zinc ores are each divided into low and
high bismuth types. The bornite ore always contains high bis-
muth contents (Fig. 9). The most common bismuth minerals
are bismuthinite and cosalite (Pb2Bi2S5), but wittichenite
(Cu3BiS3), cuprobismutite (Cu10Bi12S23), aikinite (PbCuBiS3),
kobellite (Pb22Cu4(Bi,Sb)30S69), and native bismuth also
occur. These bismuth species are included and intergrown
with pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and bornite.
Lead
Galena is present in outer zones of the green garnet skarn,
where values attain thousands of parts per million, and in the
outer zone of veins and mantos in marble, associated with
zinc and silver (Fig. 9).
Gold
Elevated gold values occur in the outer copper-zinc-bis-
muth zone at Usu Pallares and southern Laberinto (Figs. 3,
9). Average grades are on the order of 0.1 to 0.2 g/t Au. The
longest Au-bearing intercept is 180 m at 0.25 g/t, including
15.3 m at 0.94 g/t and a maximum value of 1.49 g/t over 3.1
m. Gold is associated with the wollastonite-diopside skarn,
but gold was identified in only two samples as small inclusions
(max 10 µm) of native gold and electrum in chalcopyrite.
Elsewhere gold values are low (isolated intervals of 0.1–0.2
g/t, with uncommon higher values) in the main skarn body at
the northern end of the Lake zone in the copper (chalcopy-
rite) zone.
Oxidized and Enriched Zones
Skarn deposits, like Antamina, are generally not suscepti-
ble to development of supergene enrichment due to their
low pyrite contents, low acid-generating capacity, and high
neutralization capacity combined with low fracture perme-
ability. In addition, the relatively young age of both deposit
formation and unroofing, glacial erosion, as well as the wet
climate are unfavorable factors for supergene enrichment. A
thin supergene profile, partly eroded, overlies the domi-
nantly hypogene Antamina ore. Nevertheless, the restricted
oxidized zone was defined as a separate domain in the geo-
logic sections because of its potential to cause metallurgical
problems during flotation.
Oxidation is inferred to have taken place in the late Pleis-
tocene interglacial period, following unroofing of the deposit
by glaciation, and was partly removed during the second stage
of cirque glaciation. There is minor, ongoing, postglacial oxi-
dation. The oxidized zone varies from zero to 20 m in thick-
ness, with locally fracture-controlled zones penetrating down-
ward for up to 100 m in the Lake zone.
Oxidation was defined as the presence of visual limonite
(jarosite, goethite, and minor hematite) and/or oxide copper
(chalcanthite, cuprite, malachite, neotocite, and tenorite).
The amount of these minerals is normally minor and abun-
dant sulfide minerals remain. At the base of oxidation, native
copper may occur over a short interval (tens of centimeters).
There is usually a zone, a few meters thick, of supergene cop-
per sulfides (chalcocite, covellite, and digenite) below the ox-
idized zone. This incipient enrichment extends to depths as
great as 140 m along fractures. The copper sulfide minerals
0361-0128/98/000/000-00 $6.00 275
275
coat hypogene sulfide minerals but do not cause significant
replacement. Copper contents are not significantly increased
by supergene processes, and for this reason the zone was not
separated for reserve estimation purposes. Supergene zinc
minerals, such as hemimorphite and smithsonite, are present
only locally in the oxidation zone, where manganese oxide
minerals, such as pyrolusite, psilomelane, and possibly man-
ganite, are also present in small amounts.
Deposit Model
Antamina is a typical calcic copper skarn as defined by Ein-
audi et al. (1981). The outward zonation from garnet through
wollastonite to marble and the garnet and pyroxene mineral-
ogy are typical of copper skarns. The outer zinc zone is un-
usually well developed, with exceptionally high, economic
zinc grades. Copper skarns often have minor sphalerite in the
outer zone but it is generally low grade. The lack of man-
ganese, including johannsenitic pyroxene (Love et al., 2000),
distinguishes Antamina from typically reduced and distal zinc
skarns. Magnesian skarn is also absent due to a lack of
dolomite in the host rocks. The mineral assemblage that char-
acterizes the skarn is relatively oxidized as befits its intimate
association with porphyry copper-molybdenum mineraliza-
tion of subeconomic grade. The high molybdenum contents
and presence of minor fluorite suggest an approach to a calk-
alkaline porphyry molybdenum system.
There is only minor retrograde alteration, a feature that is
atypical in copper skarns. The lack of retrograde assemblages
may help to explain the marked homogeneity of the deposit
and the preservation of the peripheral zinc zone.
The localized outer zone with wollastonite and bornite is
typical of many copper skarns and reflects an outward de-
crease in iron and sulfur activities. However, the occurrences
of diopside and elevated bismuth and gold contents in parts
of the outer zone are both features common to some distal,
reduced gold skarns. The high bismuth and molybdenum
contents are typical of deposits of the polymetallic belt of cen-
tral Peru. Molybdenum is common in other deposits in the
vicinity of Antamina, as are tin and tungsten, although the last
two metals are absent at Antamina.
Notable and perhaps unusual factors that may have con-
tributed to the large size of the Antamina deposit include: (1)
most of the skarn is mineralized (in most skarns, only a small
percentage is mineralized but in this case >90%); (2) remark-
ably homogenous metal grades with little variation of miner-
alogy or grade with depth; (3) lack of significant retrograde al-
teration; (4) well-developed structural preparation of the host
rocks, allowing complicated intrusive geometry and high in-
trusion to limestone contact area; and (5) shallow erosion of
the system preserving flat-lying skarn bodies in the roof zone
of the intrusion as well as steep skarn bodies along the sides.
Antamina is part of a belt of small mineralized intrusions of
mid- to late Miocene age, which includes the Cordillera
Blanca batholith located 50 km west (Fig. 1) and dated at 13.7
to 6.3 Ma (Cobbing, 1998). This batholith is mantle derived,
with no contamination by continental crust, as shown by the
Sr-Nd isotope values (Petford et al., 1993). The magma
source is interpreted to be new basaltic material underplated
at the base of the crustal keel (Atherton and Petford, 1993).
This origin contrasts with that of the Miocene magmas
276 STEWART D. REDWOOD
elsewhere in the central Andes, which formed during crustal
thickening, with extensive crustal contamination and assimila-
tion (e.g., Redwood and Rice, 1997). The Antamina intrusion
may thus have a similar mantle-derived origin to the
Cordillera Blanca batholith, consistent with the copper-
molybdenum signature and lack of tin and tungsten.
Antamina has some similarities with the Magistral deposit
that is situated in the same belt 160 km to the northwest (Fig.
1), which has an inferred resource of 190 Mt at 0.83 percent
Cu and 0.062 percent Mo (Perelló et al., 2001). Magistral is
hosted by the same sedimentary sequence, has a similar struc-
tural setting in the Marañon fold-thrust belt, is related to a
porphyry copper-molybdenum–bearing intrusion (albeit
older: 15 Ma), and has similar garnet zoning. Unlike Antam-
ina, however, the porphyry stock hosts a resource, the deposit
is smaller, lacks zinc, and has an epithermal overprint (Perelló
et al., 2001).
There is a remarkable similarity between the geologic set-
ting of Antamina and that of the Ertsberg district copper-gold
skarns and the Grasberg porphyry copper-gold deposit, Papua
province, Indonesia (Mertig et al., 1994; Meinert et al., 1997).
These major deposits are gold rich compared to Antamina
and have magnesian skarn assemblages as a result of the
dolomitic host rocks. The depositional setting of the host sed-
imentary rocks at both the Antamina and Ertsberg-Grasberg
deposits, a basin margin of a craton, is similar. This situation
gave rise to optimal sedimentary facies, comprising calcare-
ous siltstone and mudstone, rather than shelf carbonate or
deep-water mudstone. In addition, basin-margin faults con-
tributed to sedimentary facies with enhanced permeability
(e.g., slump structures), and fault reactivation as thrust ramps
facilitated intrusion and fluid pathways for skarn formation.
Acknowledgments
This article is the result of a tremendous amount of work
carried out for the Antamina feasibility study by a joint
Inmet-Rio Algom team, and I thank all who contributed. Par-
ticular thanks are due to John Kapusta, Ian Pirie, Frank
Balint, Leo Hathaway, Brian Brodsky, Alex Ascencios, Rainer
Lehne, Manuel Pacheco, José Salas, and Nick Bircham. Spe-
cial thanks are also due to Richard Sillitoe, the late Keith
Glover, David Love, and Stephen Zuker. Other Peruvian ge-
ologists deserve credit for their dedicated hard work: Javier
Carnero, Julio Carreón, Ivo Cornejo, Ignacio Couturier, Ri-
cardo Gallegos, Manuel Geldres, José Luis Igreda, Santiago
Linares, Carlos Luna, Joel Melgar, Julio Pacheco, Ruber
Palomino, Carlos Pari, Orlando Pariona, Ernesto Pizzaro,
Manuel Prado, Gilberto Ramos, Reynaldo Ríos, Percy
Rondón, Iván Salazar, Michael Sánchez, Luis Taboada, An-
drés Ticona, Ricardo Vega, and Carlos Vela. The figures were
drafted by José de la Luz Cornejo. Economic Geology re-
viewers Gerry Ray, Lluís Fontboté, and Rainer Lehne, and
editors Richard Sillitoe and José Perelló, greatly improved the
manuscript. Permission to publish was granted by Compañía
Minera Antamina, Rio Algom Ltd. (BHP-Billiton), Noranda,
Teck Cominco, and Inmet.
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