New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The Victorio project in the Gage Mining District in southwestern New Mexico hosts a vertically extensive magmatic–hydrothermal system, including carbonate replacement (CRD) style Pb-Zn-Ag (Mine Hill) deposits and separate porphyry style Mo, CRD and skarn/vein hosted W-Be-Mo-F mineralization (Victorio deposit). Victorio currently contains the largest known W resource in the United States. This research will utilize a subsurface foundation provided by over 230,000 feet of drill core sourced from at least 138 drill holes to reconcile system architecture and genesis, while building mineral chemistry vectors for practical exploration, district scale targeting, and fingerprinting fluid sources. Preliminary analyses of helvine group minerals (Be₃(Mn²⁺,Fe²⁺,Zn²⁺)₄(SiO₄)₃S) indicate they are important targets for analysis that can link Be mineralization, typical skarn Fe-Mn zonation, and fluid source fingerprints. This research will also assess the deposit style, whether it is a single magmatic–hydrothermal system expressed at different structural/stratigraphic levels, multiple telescoped pulses, and/or separate mineralizing events that reused the same structures and reactive carbonate units. Prior district-scale work emphasized that critical questions remained unresolved regarding emplacement of intrusives, timing of hydrothermal alteration and mineralization, and whether systematic hydrothermal mineralization zoning exists across the district.