The El Zorro gold district is the most recent gold discovery in the Coastal Cordillera of northern Chile. Ternera is the largest deposit in the district with total resources currently estimated at 1.282 Moz. New geology, geochemistry and geochronology data indicate that hydrothermal mineralization is mostly hosted within felsic to intermediate, ilmenite-bearing calc-alkaline dikes and stocks of the Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic Relincho Pluton, and some of the adjacent Devonian to Carboniferous metasediments of the Chañaral Epimetamorphic Complex. Sheeted veins, veinlets, and fault zones with quartz, low amounts of pyrite, pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite, and local calcite are surrounded by narrow haloes of albite-biotite-quartz ± sulfides-K-feldspar-sericite-chlorite. Gold (mostly in the veins) is associated with elevated W-Bi and also As-Te-Sn, and not with iron enrichment or base metals, even though this system is proximal (~ 20 km) to IOCG and IOA deposits of the Coastal Cordillera. The main phase of gold mineralization occurred soon after emplacement of tonalitic dikes and granodiorite from the Relincho and Cuevitas plutons (U–Pb zircon between ~ 205 and 190 Ma), about 80 m.y. later than the development of orogenic fabrics. An absolute upper age limit is provided by compositionally distinct ore-cutting mafic dikes dated at 175–170 Ma (U–Pb apatite). The deposit falls into the intrusion-related gold category, as indicated by the cutting of earlier orogenic fabrics, the metal and alteration associations, and the spatial and temporal connection to reduced ilmenite-series intrusions, which are also very similar geochemically to the ‘type-locality’ IRG intrusions of the Tintina Belt in Yukon/Alaska. The El Zorro gold district represents the oldest and geologically western-most mineralizing event in the Central Andes of northern Chile, consistent with its time–space placement within the tectonic framework of easterly-younging mineralization and igneous activity in the Chilean Cordillera.

El Zorro 金矿区是智利北部沿海科迪勒拉山脉的最新金矿发现。Ternera 是该地区最大的矿床，目前总资源量估计为 1.282 Moz。新的地质学、地球化学和地质年代学数据表明，热液矿化主要赋存于长英质至中度含钛铁矿的钙碱性岩脉和上三叠世至下侏罗统 Relincho Pluton 的储量，以及 Chañaral 表层变质杂岩的一些相邻泥盆纪至石炭纪变质沉积物中。带有石英、少量黄铁矿、磁黄铁矿和砷黄铁矿以及局部方解石的片状矿脉、小脉和断层带被钠长石-黑云母-石英±硫化物-K-长石-绢云母-绿泥石的狭窄光晕所包围。金（主要在矿脉中）与 W-Bi 和 As-Te-Sn 升高有关，与铁富集或贱金属无关，尽管该系统靠近沿海科迪勒拉山脉的 IOCG 和 IOA 矿床（~ 20 公里）。金矿化的主要阶段发生在 Relincho 和 Cuevitas 岩体（U-Pb 锆石在 ~ 205 和 190 马 之间）的钙质岩脉和花岗闪长岩放置后不久，比造山织物的发展晚约 80 m。175-170 马（U-Pb磷灰石）成分不同的矿石切割镁铁质岩脉提供了绝对的年龄上限。该矿床属于与侵入相关的金类别，如早期造山织物的切割、金属和蚀变的关联以及与减少的钛铁矿系列侵入体的空间和时间联系所表明的那样，这在地球化学上也与育空/阿拉斯加丁蒂纳带的“类型-位置”IRG 侵入体非常相似。 El Zorro 金矿区是智利北部安第斯山脉中部历史最悠久、地质上最西端的矿化事件，这与它在智利科迪勒拉山脉向东年轻矿化和火成岩活动的构造框架内的时空位置一致。