The Mount Isa Inlier and Environs Mineral Deposit Database describes 251 of the most significant mineral deposits in the Mount Isa Inlier and environs, out of a total of more than 1800 locations listed in the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO) mineral occurrence database, 'MINLOC'. The database comprises five commodity-based tables, grouped as follows: copper-gold-silver (187 locations), lead-zinc-silver (22), gold (15), uranium (12) and miscellaneous (including silver, cobalt, tungsten, tin, manganese, iron and beryl; 15 locations). Each of the mineral deposits described either has combined production and reserves equivalent in value to more than 20 tonnes of copper metal, or is a significant prospect typical of a particular deposit type. Mineral deposits described in the database are presented on a 1:500 000 scale metallogenic map of the Mount Isa Inlier and Environs, which is available separately.

The North Pilbara Terrane has the largest variety of mineral deposits of any Archaean province. It contains the oldest known examples of volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS), lode Au, porphyry Cu, orthomagmatic Ni-Cu-PGE-V, pegmatitic Ta-Sn and epithermal deposits, with a diversity more characteristic of Phanerozoic mobile belts. Despite this diversity the North Pilbara Terrane appears to lack any major mineral deposits, with the exception of the Wodgina Ta-Sn pegmatite field. Below, we present the metallogenic history of the North Pilbara Terrane in the context of its tectonic development and then compare it to other Archaean provinces to assess controls on metal endowment.

No abstract available

The Perth 1:1M sheet covers an area underlain by Archaean rocks of the western Yilgarn Craton, adjacent, abutting or onlapping Proterozoic rocks such as the Northampton Block, and Phanerozoic rocks of the Perth Basin. The aeromagnetic interpretation provides most information on the distribution of Archaean rocks as these rocks are generally moderately to highly magnetised with reasonable variation of magnetisation. Adjacent Perth Basin sediments are poorly magnetised and spatially associated magnetic anomalies are attributed to underlying Proterozoic rocks. The Archaean rocks are subdivided into undivided gneiss-migmatite-granite (Agmg), banded gneiss (Agn), sinuous gneiss (Anu), greenstone (Aa), and granite plutons (Ag). Where important relative differences in magnetisation are mapped, the geophysical map units include the suffixes _h (high), _m (medium), _l (low) and _r (remanent) for the level of magnetisation. Dykes, faults, and unassigned small intrusives are also mapped. Large Archaean domains equivalent to geologically defined Provinces are also defined including Murchison, Toodyay- Lake Grace, Southwest, Southern Cross and Yeelirrie domains. The map is complemented by the inclusion of selected mineral deposits

The Western Tharsis deposit, located in the Cambrian Mount Read Volcanic Belt of western Tasmania, is one of 22 mainly Cu-Au deposits in the Mount Lyell district. Although Western Tharsis is characterized mainly by disseminated pyrite-chalcopyrite like most other deposits in the Mount Lyell district, it also contains bornite-rich ores characteristic of a second, less common type of deposit in the Mount Lyell district. The deposit is stratabound and occurs within intermediate and felsic volcanic rocks belonging to the Central Volcanic Complex. Alteration is developed symmetrically around the ore zone, with an ore-bearing core characterized by a quartz-chlorite?sericite assemblage. The core is enveloped by a pyritic quartz-pyrophyllite?topaz?fluorite?zunyite?woodhouseite "advanced argillic" assemblage with local bornite-bearing ore zones. This zone, in turn, is enveloped by a pyritic quartz-sericite assemblage and then by an outermost quartz-chlorite-carbonate-sericite?albite assemblage that lacks pyrite. The bornite-related pyrophyllite-bearing assemblage is more characteristic of ?high sulfidation? epithermal rather than VHMS-related alteration assemblages. The close relationship of this assemblage to the quartz-chlorite?sericite assemblage associated with disseminated pyrite-chalcopyrite suggests that the bornite and chalcopyrite assemblages formed as two stages of one mineralizing event. The chalcopyrite-pyrite ore zone is characterised by extreme enrichment (relative to regional background) in As, Bi, Ce, Cu, Mo, Ni, S and Se. With the exception of Mo, these elements are also enriched, but at a much lower level, in the pyrite-bearing advanced argillic and sericitic halos. Positive Eu anomalies and pronounced depletion in K, Cs, Mg, Be, Ga, Rb, Y, MREE and HREE are associated with the advanced argillic assemblages. The outermost carbonate-bearing halo is highly enriched in C, Ca and Mn, and weakly enriched in Zn and Tl. The dispersion patterns and alteration assemblages observed at Western Tharsis are quite unlike those of Zn-Pb-rich volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposits in western Tasmania. Rather, the dispersion patterns observed at Western Tharsis are more akin to those surrounding porphyry Cu deposits and related acid-sulfate Cu-Au deposits. Geological relationships and radiogenic isotope data may suggest an Ordovician timing for Mt Lyell Cu-Au mineral deposits.

Australia's Identified Mineral Resources is an annual nation-wide assessment of Australia's ore reserves and mineral resources.

Mapping of outcrop geology on Leonora SH51-1 1:250 000 map in the Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia.

Geoscience Australia has released two web-based map sheets (GeoCat 69347) that show the continental extent and age relationships of Archean mafic and ultramafic rocks and associated mineral deposits throughout Australia. Geoscience Australia Record 2009/41 is a user guide which compiles all the geological and geochronological data that underpins the information portrayed on these two new map sheets. The Archean eon (~4000 million years to 2500 million years) represents an early part of Earth's history that is noteworthy for the occurrence of unusual olivine-rich ultramafic rocks called komatiites which contain world-class deposits of nickel sulphides. Archean mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks with reliable crystallisation ages in Australia are confined to the older crustal components in Western Australia and South Australia. In this study, twenty-six Archean Magmatic Events (AME) ranging in age from the Eoarchean ~3730 Ma (AME 1) to the late Neoarchean ~2520 Ma (AME 26) were identified. This mafic-ultramafic magmatic event series is based on several hundred published age measurements, of which over 95 per cent are derived from recent Uranium-Lead dating of zircon and baddeleyite. The new map sheets, when used in association with the `Australian Proterozoic Mafic-Ultramafic Magmatic Events' map published in 2008 (GeoCat 66114; GA Record 2008/15: GeoCat 66624), summarise the temporal and spatial evolution of Precambrian mafic-ultramafic magmatism in Australia. These maps provide a national framework for investigating under-explored and potentially mineralised environments, and assessing the role of mafic-ultramafic magmatism in the development of the Australian continent. The maps will be of interest to explorers searching for nickel, platinum-group elements, chromium, titanium, vanadium, and cobalt.

To assist the mining industry during the current buoyant times of historically high nickel and platinum-group element prices, Geoscience Australia has produced two web-based map sheets (at 1:5 million and 1:10 million scales) that show the spatial distribution of Proterozoic (2500 Ma to 545 Ma) mafic-ultramafic magmatic events in Australia. The maps illustrate for the first time, the continental extent and age relationships of Proterozoic mafic and ultramafic rocks and their associated mineral deposits. These rocks have been assigned to thirty Magmatic Events (ME) that range in age from the Early Palaeoproterozoic ~2455 Ma (ME 1) to the Early Cambrian ~520 Ma (ME 30). Resource package contains: - Australian Proterozoic Mafic-Ultramafic Magmatic Events: Map Sheets 1 and 2 - Guide to Using the Australian Proterozoic Mafic-Ultramafic Magmatic Events Map - Spreadsheets of data that support the maps - A time series animation summarising all the mafic-ultramafic magmatic events

Presented at the Evolution and metallogenesis of the North Australian Craton Conference, 20-22 June 2006, Alice Springs. The Tennant Creek goldfield, the third largest goldfield in the Northern Territory, producing over 150 tonnes of gold (Wedekind et al., 1989), was only discovered in the mid-1930s due to the association of gold with ironstone rather than quartz veins. Over the last two decades ironstone-hosted gold deposits have been included in the group of deposits termed iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits (Hitzman et al., 1992). Elsewhere in the Northern Territory, prospects with IOCG characteristics have been recognised in the southeastern Arunta (Hussey et al., 2005), and potential for these deposits has been recognised in the Mount Webb area of the Warumpi Province (Wyborn et al., 1998). <p>Related product:<a href="https://www.ga.gov.au/products/servlet/controller?event=GEOCAT_DETAILS&amp;catno=64764">Evolution and metallogenesis of the North Australian Craton Conference Abstracts</p>