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Development of integrated exploration methods: An Inspiration derived from the study of palaeodralnage on the Gawler Craton, South Australia
Published in Heping Xie, Yuehan Wang, Yaodong Jiang, Computer Applications in the Mineral Industries, 2020
B. Hou, L.A. Brakes, N.F. Alley, D. Gray
Study of Tertiary paleodrainage of the NW Gawler Craton, South Australia is important in the exploration for placer deposits of gold and heavy minerals, as well as coal, uranium and groundwater resources. Knowledge of the concentration of minerals in the channels is also of interest as a guide to the location of bedrock mineral deposits in the Gawler Craton. A number of basement mineral prospects and deposits occur near Tertiary palaeochannels and they may have provided economic materials to the palaeochannels through weathering and erosional processes (Fig.1). Knowledge of the location, depth, architecture, and depositional environment of the palaeochannels is of interest to both channel and basement mineral exploration in the Gawler Craton. We present a summary of the various techniques used or considered during investigations to reconstruct the palaeodrainage on the NW Gawler Craton.
The long uphill journey of Australia’s rare earth element industry: challenges and opportunities
Published in International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment, 2022
George Barakos, Laurence Dyer, Michael Hitch
Besides the resources discussed above, rare earth elements are also found in notable concentrations in uranium deposits. Mount Gee is a uranium deposit inside the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, South Australia, with the occurrence of rare earth elements. Marathon Resources planned to establish a uranium mining operation. However, they were found to have illegally disposed of radioactive waste near the site, and the South Australian government announced in 2011 that mining would not be permitted in the Sanctuary [41]. Another potential REE source in Australia is the world-class breccia-hosted iron-oxide copper-gold-uranium Olympic Dam mining project in the Gawler Craton, South Australia. This polymetallic deposit contains elevated concentrations of REE [42]. However, BHP owns the project and has had no intention so far to produce rare earths. Gawler Craton is highly prospective for iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits and besides Olympic Dam hosts significant other mineralisations like Carrapateena that is a large copper mining project run by OZ Minerals [43]. Monazite mineralisation in the deposit indicates the presence of elevated REE concentrations that could be a notable source in the future [44].
Associations between zircon and Fe–Ti oxides in Hiltaba event magmatic rocks, South Australia: atomic- or pluton-scale processes?
Published in Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2020
M. R. M. Ferguson, K. Ehrig, S. Meffre, A. R. Cherry
The comagmatic GRV and HS are exposed over ∼30000 km2 in the central-northeast of the Gawler Craton (Figure 1a) (Blissett, Creaser, Daly, Flint, & Parker, 1993). The Gawler Craton is a large, Mesoarchean to early Mesoproterozoic terrain comprising greenstone belts, metamorphic rocks and complexes, products of intrusive and extrusive magmatism dominated by felsic volcanic rocks, as well as sedimentary supracrustal sequences. Principally formed in two phases between 2.55–2.5 Ga and 1.9–1.45 Ga (Hand, Reid, & Jagodzinski, 2007), ∼70% of the craton is covered by post-cratonic Mesoproterozoic–Phanerozoic rocks, including successions of the Cariewerloo, Officer, Eromanga, Eucla, Billa Kalina and other Neoproterozoic to Cenozoic basins.
Improving geological logging of drill holes using geochemical data and data analytics for mineral exploration in the Gawler Ranges, South Australia
Published in Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2021
E. J. Hill, A. Fabris, Y. Uvarova, C. Tiddy
For the purposes of this study, a subset of data from MSDP drill holes was selected for which continuous multi-element geochemical data have been collected. MSDP was an 8-month drilling program managed by the Geological Survey of South Australia in partnership with the DET CRC, Minotaur Exploration and Kingston Resources. The program consisted of 14 diamond drill holes, located along the southern margin of the Gawler Ranges, providing a total of 7868 m of drill core (Figure 2). Drilling aimed to provide insight into the effect of ca 1600–1570 Ma magmatism and related hydrothermal fluid flow in the region (Fabris et al., 2017). Elsewhere in the Gawler Craton, magmatism of the same age is associated with the formation of significant mineral deposits (Reid, 2019; Tiddy & Giles, 2020). These include major iron-oxide–copper–gold deposits of the eastern Gawler Craton such as the Olympic Dam and Prominent Hill deposits (Belperio et al., 2007; Groves et al., 2005, 2010; Hitzman, 2000) and numerous copper, gold and uranium deposits and prospects in the central Gawler Craton (Drown, 2003; Ferris & Schwarz, 2003; Fraser et al., 2007). Six drill holes from the program, providing a diverse set of rock types, were chosen for this study (Figure 2). Those located along the southeastern margin of the Gawler Ranges are dominated by units of the Gawler Range Volcanics (GRV). This area is considered to have potential for epithermal and iron-oxide–copper–gold mineralisation. Drill holes located along the southwestern margin of the Gawler Ranges tested the potential for epithermal Au–Ag mineralisation within the lower GRV and hydrothermal Ag–Pb–Zn within reactive units that underlie the GRV.