Macro- and microscopic and microanalytical tools have been used to characterize the two mineralization stage present at the Cordilleran Cerro de Pasco deposit. The first stage, comprising a large pyrite-quartz body followed by vertical pyrrhotite pipes zoned Zn-Pb ores bearing Fe-rich sphalerite is of predominantly low sulfidation states. The second mineralization stage is composed of enargite-pyrite veins and well zoned carbonate replacement bodies bearing Fe-poor sphalerite is of high to intermediate sulfidation states. U-Pb and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating reveals that the magmatic activity lasted 350 ky (15.40±0.07-15.16±0.03 Ma) and the second mineralization stage around 100 ky (14.54±0.08-14.41±0.07 Ma). Both mineralization stages precipitated from a two end-member fluid: a hot, non-saline isotopically exchanged fluid likely of meteoric origin (200°C) and a hot saline magmatic fluid (350-380°C, up to 8 wt% NaC1equiv.). A strong dilution of metal-rich saline magmatic fluids with isotopically exchanged meteoric water is postulated for the ore-forming fluids.