The Taron Group, containing a deposit enriched in cesium and rubidium, is located 160 km northwest of the city of Salta, Argentina, at the boundary between the Eastern Cordilleran Ranges and the Altiplano-Puna. The deposit is hosted in the Ochaqui Basin, a graben-like structure filled with Late Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks. An epithermal event of Miocene age metasomatized these pre-existing rocks, forming assemblages of geyserites and travertine within the porous sediment. These assemblages comprise of the sediment-hosted epithermal deposit containing enriched values of cesium and rubidium. A Petrographic, XRD, SEM study concluded that cesium, substituted into pharmacosiderite, exists at levels of up to 12% Cs in the main zone of mineralization. The 2017 Taron drill results yielded an average Cs grade of 1400 ppm. Other elements of potential interest are thallium, arsenic, and manganese; during the Second World War, small-scale mining of manganese took place. Work performed jointly with UBC demonstrated that potentially saleable products, Cs hydroxide and Cs Formate solutions, can be extracted from the mineralized material.
