Curiplaya Project
Regional Geology
Ecuador consists of several oceanic, continental, and island-arc terranes accreted to the Guyana Shield during the Andean Orogeny that occurred between the Early Cretaceous and Early Tertiary. As a result, Ecuador is conventionally described as being divided into three distinct north-northeast trending geologic and physiographic regions: (1) the coastal plains (La Costa) to the west, (2) the central mountainous area- the Andes (La Sierra), and (3) the eastern lowlands (El Oriente).
- The "La Costa" region is underlain mainly by Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks that overlie accreted oceanic terranes west of the Andes Mountains.
- The "La Sierra" region, the Andean mountain system, is underlain mainly by Mesozoic calc-alkaline volcanics and plutonic rocks and older metamorphic rocks overlain by Cenozoic to recent volcanic rocks. The Curiplaya Property lies within the La Sierra Region.
The lithologies of the La Sierra region extend southwards into Peru and Chile and northwards into Columbia and hosts, within these countries, a significant number of Mesozoic (Jurassic- and Cretaceous-aged) porphyry copper and porphyry related copper deposits similar to that which is believed to exist at Curiplaya. - The "El Oriente" region refers to the rain-forested Amazon basin and eastern foothills of the Andes and is underlain mainly by Mesozoic arc-related units overlain by Late Mesozoic to recent sedimentary and lesser volcanic rocks.