Abstract
The Santa Fe mining district is located in the Central Andean tin belt of Bolivia and contains several Sn-Zn-Pb-Ag deposits. From the economic point of view, the most important deposits of the district are Japo, Santa Fe and Morococala. Beyond the traditional metal commodities, the Central Andean Tin Belt could become an exploration target for indium, owing to the potential of the ore-bearing paragenesis with high concentrations of this technology-critical element. In the Santa Fe mining district, the ore occurs as two main types: (a) Sn-rich cassiterite-quartz veins, and (b) Zn-Pb-Ag veins with sphalerite, galena and stannite mineral phases. The In content in igneous rocks is between 1.5 and 2.5 ppm, whereas in the ore concentrate it attains up to 200 ppm. The 1,000×In/Zn ratio in concentrate ranges from 25 up to 4,000. Exceptionally high In values were found in sakuraiite from Morococala deposit (2.03 wt%). Sakuraiite in this deposit shows evidences for a link between stannite and kësterite trend of solid solutions. There is a noteworthy exploration potential for strategic metals in this district and even in similar deposits elsewhere in the Central Andean tin belt.
Highlights
The Central Andean tin belt province of Bolivia hosts many world-class deposits as Cerro Rico, Llallagua and San José (Mlynarczyk and WilliamJones, 2005)
This study suggests that all the deposits in the Central Andean tin belt are due to a single but temporary extensive event of mineralization
The San Pablo stock has a primary association of quartz-feldspars-biotite; K-feldspar phenocrysts appear replaced by tourmaline, pyrite, and cassiterite accompanied by variable amounts of rutile and monazite (Figs. 3E and 9D)
Summary
The Central Andean tin belt province of Bolivia hosts many world-class deposits as Cerro Rico, Llallagua and San José (Mlynarczyk and WilliamJones, 2005). It extends in NW-SE direction for approximately 900 km trough the Eastern Cordillera of Bolivia. The Santa Fe mining district (SFD) is located in this province and contains several Sn-ZnPb-Ag deposits and occurrences; among them, Japo, Santa Fe and Morococala are the most important from the economic point of view (Fig. 1). In the 20’s, Mr Simón Iturri Patiño became the owner of all the mines in the SFD as he was in those days of most deposits in Bolivia. From 1950 the Bolivian government managed the SFD; historically, those times were the most productive
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