The michiquillay porphyry copper deposit

Michiquillay is a mineralized intrusive quartz monzonite porphyry displaying typical porphyry copper alteration zones as found in metallized intrusives of that composition. From the interior outward these are the phyllic, argillic and propylitic zones. The potassic zone is not exposed at the surface. The intrusion and the center of mineralization coincide with the intersection of a major transverse fault and a cross fault. Mineralization appears dominantly to occur in fractures which may be related to each of these major structures, and is ascribed in origin to simultaneous movement on each fault during the period of hydrothermal activity. The stockwork developed at the fault intersection, and which is the locus of the ore body, fades as distance is gained away from its center. Coincidentally, intensity of mineralization also weakens.