La Caridad Vieja: Vestiges of a removed HS-epithermal system in the La caridad porphyry Cu–Mo system, northeastern sonora, Mexico, based on XRD, SEM, SWIR spectral analysis and U–Pb zircon dating

Abstract The present work contributes with new data to better understand the geology and spatial distribution of the alteration and mineralization events, as well as new U–Pb zircon ages, that allow elucidating the magmatic history of the La Caridad Vieja mineral deposit, which is part of the porphyry Cu–Mo system from La Caridad mine, northwest Mexico. Mineralization is hosted in a sequence of volcanic rocks from the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene Tarahumara Formation and is associated with the emplacement of quartz monzonite stocks, which intruded to volcanic rocks. Detailed studies based on petrography, XRD, SEM and SWIR, indicate that the La Caridad Vieja is characterized by a zone of phyllic alteration dominated by qz-ser in the deepest parts, and it is associated with molybdenite + chalcopyrite + pyrite + galena + sphalerite, with values ranging from 0.1 to 0.9% Cu and