The Tres Cerrillos prospect is a Miocene porphyry copper system located in the Western Cordillera of Ecuador, which is under an exploration program by EMSAEC (Codelco). Preliminary results from whole rock geochemistry and zircon trace elements of this magmatic-hydrothermal system show that porphyritic and precursor intrusions underwent a deep crustal evolution with suppression of plagioclase, and possibly involving some garnet fractionation in addition to amphibole. Whole rock geochemical proxies (Sr/Y, La/Y, V/Sc and Sr/Zr) and zircon trace elements suggest a fertile magmatic suite for this prospect. Future work will consist of placing mineral chemistry (e.g., zircon and apatite) within the frame of high precision CA-ID-TIMS U-Pb zircon geochronology to refine fertility indicators that can potentially be used as a proxy for metal endowments.