From then until 1960, only minor amounts of silver were produced by removing pillars in mines or from the dump material.

Silver ore occurs in nearly vertical veins within these fractures and faults within interbedded limestones and tuffs.

[4] In the oxidized zone, ore minerals include native silver and argentite have been replaced by cerargyrite, iodobromite, bromyrite, embolite, and iodyrite.

In the supergene sulfide enriched zone, ore minerals include pearceite, proustite, tetrahedrite, polybasite, and pyrargyrite.

[4] Groups of large crystals have been found at Chañarcillo, including proustite, stephanite, chlorargyrite and adamite.