GEOLOGY

Neuquén Province in northern Patagonia, Argentina, comprises an extensive area of relatively flat-lying terrain (Argentina) bounded in the west by the rugged Andean Cordillera (Argentina and Chile).

The southern half of the Cordillera (Neuquén) comprises strongly folded, faulted and elevated Upper Proterozoic Palaeozoic schists and granitoid intrusions overlain by Jurassic and, in places, Tertiary andesite-rhyolite volcanics. The northern half of the Cordillera (Andean and Principal) is dominated by Pliocene-Pleistocene andesite-rhyolite volcanics.

East of the Cordillera the north south elongate Neuquén basin comprises an open folded sequence of Jurassic sedimentary rocks.

The lower altitude eastern half of Neuquén is dominated by a relatively flat-lying stratigraphic sequence of Pleistocene-Holocene sedimentary rocks and flood basalts.

Known mineralization in Neuquén province includes porphyry copper-gold (Campana Mahuida), copper skarn (Caicayen), polymetallic vein (Andacollo), and alluvial gold deposits (Rio Neuquén) but there is potential for other styles of mineralization including epithermal and sediment hosted gold.