Porphyry deposits, a significant source of global copper, molybdenum and gold resources, are associated with hydrous and oxidized (e.g., fertile) primary magmas that commonly occur in multi-stage intrusive complexes (Cooke et al., 2014). Rigorous whole-rock lithogeochemical and isotopic characterization of these primary magmas is invariably affected by related and often pervasive hydrothermal alteration and mineralization. Zircon, ubiquitous in most felsic magmas, is a robust magmatic accessory mineral that is resilient to post-emplacement metamorphism and hydrothermal alteration, and thus their chemistry represents a preserved proxy for primary chemical conditions of porphyry-related magmas (e.g., Ballard et al., 2002; Lu et al., 2016; Lee et al., 2017). Early stage exploration is therefore, focused on identifying fertile intrusions often in areas consisting of poor outcrop exposure, cryptic alteration assemblages with limited mineralization and those lacking a defined regional metallogenic context. Zircon textures and trace element compositions (e.g., REEs) can assist with discriminating intrusions that are fertile and potentially associated with porphyry-related mineralization from those that are not (e.g., Lu et al., 2016).In this study, we investigate zircon textures and trace element compositions from a series of porphyry-related calc-alkaline to alkaline intrusions in the Cowal District, central New South Wales. The approximately 40 by 15 kilometre Cowal District is underlain by Ordovician volcanic, volcaniclastic and intrusive rocks of the Macquarie Arc. These rocks locally host calc-alkalic porphyry and low sulphidation alkalic-type epithermal prospects and deposits. This district represents a unique study site because porphyry-related mineralization spans >10 million years and is related to, and hosted in, many phases of intrusions with distinct mineralogical and geochemical compositions. CITATION: Leslie, C, Meffre, S, Cooke, D and Thompson, J, 2019. Fertile magma genesis: a zircon perspective, in Proceedings PACRIM 2019, pp 231232 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).