Mina Santa Rosa

I'm having a devil of a time figuring out how to ask a question here. I am new and learning by trial and error. I asked a question that seems to have ended up under the wrong topic Here it is again: Back in 2001 I bought a nice item consisting of colorless calcite scalenohedra to about 15mm on a very thin matrix of sparkling, mostly intergrown metallic crystals. The locality was listed as Mina Santa Rosa, near Canazasas, Panama. When I finally got around to examining the piece through a loupe, I saw many sharp, free standing crystals and thought that a small fregment of the matrix might make a good micromount, if only I could identify the minerals. Here on Mindat, I found a listing for a Santa Rosa Au Mine in Panama but no more detailed information. Finally my question: does anyone out there know where I might find mineralogical information on this locality?

You're in the right place, but the listing seems to be pretty much a place-holder, like a large number of the 200,000+ localities here. So unless someone else can elaborate (which happens more than I expect), you may be the resident expert.

Hi Nelse,

I visited this gold mine in Panama in 2000. There is not much published mineralogical information on the mine / district. Congratulations on your collectable specimen - i didn't find anything worth keeping in my short visit. The mine was operated, not very successfully, by Greenstone Resources, which is now defunct. The project is currently held by Golden Phoenix Minerals (www.golden-phoenix.com), and their website has a lot of information, especially if you look up their 43-101 report, but probably not much mineralogical. I have attached a few extracts from my report below:

Santa Rosa comprises structurally-controlled, low-sulfidation veins and stockwork, silicified hydrothermal breccias and stratigraphic-controlled replacements in a volcaniclastic / sedimentary sequence. Gold mineralization is associated with quartz veins and stockwork, and is also disseminated in the carbonaceous sedimentary to volcaniclastic rocks. The mineralization is mixed oxide / sulfide and in part refractory with the Au apparently encapsulated in pyrite. The depth of oxidation averages about 20 m. At the Alta de la Mina pit mineralization is associated with a NW-trending fault which hosts a basaltic dike and a silicified hydrothermal breccia. Marginal wallrocks in the andesitic flows have stockwork quartz - calcite - sulfide veins. In the main Santa Rosa pit A the gold zone is more tabular, occuring at the almost horizontal contact of the bedded volcaniclastic sequence with overlying andesitic flows.

Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral with lesser marcasite, arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite recorded. Gangue minerals include quartz, calcite, adularia and minor barite. Given the silver content i would expect some silver minerals are present.

Hope this helps,
Steve

Stephan, I have placed that information in the locality description for that locality. Could you tell me where you found the 43-101 report? Perhaps a URL for it?

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.

Thank you, Stephen. You provided more information than I had hoped for. This will be a great place to start in attempting to identify what I have here. I bought this specimen for a song and a dance in 2001 from someone who I think was involved in the early development on this mine. The locality was what caught my attention as I have not seen much if anything from Panama.

Hi Rock / Nelse,

I found a better reference as follows:

Byington, C.B. and Russell, M.R., 2001, Economic geology and ore controls of the Santa Rosa Mine – An integrated structural analysis approach, Canazas, Veraguas, Republic of Panama: Society of Economic Geologists Special Publication 8, p. 318-329.

There are two pits, Santa Rosa and Alto de la Mina.

The minerals mentioned are as follows:

acanthite
'adularia'
aguilarite
arsenopyrite
barite
calcite
celadonite
chalcedony
'chlorite'
electrum
hematite
jarosite
kaolinite
marcasite
montmorillonite
opal
quartz
pyrite
pyrrhotite
'sericite'
siderite
'tourmaline'

The 43-101 report can be downloaded from the Golden Phoenix website, which i see is now: www.goldenphoenix.us/santa-rosa-gold-mine-panama.html

SRK Consulting (US) Inc, 2011, NI43-101 Technical Report on Mineral Resources - Santa Rosa Project, Panama. Report prepared for Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc, October, 2011.

Cheers,
Steve

Stephan,
Thanks. Information has been added to the locality page.

Rock Currier
Crystals not pistols.