The age and genesis of the Nifty copper deposit: back to the future

A Nd-Sm isochron from apatite in apatite-chalcopyrite veins mostly in the footwall to the Nifty

deposit indicates an age of 791 ± 43 Ma. As this apatite is paragenetically associated with

chalcopyrite in the veins and in the ore zone, this age is interpreted as the best estimate for the timing

of mineralisation at the Nifty deposit. Consideration of the temporal evolution of Nd values

precludes deposition of the apatite significantly younger than 800 Ma. The U-Pb systematics of the

apatite have been disturbed, resulting mostly in highly scattered arrays that do not have geologic

significance.

Observations on primary fluid inclusions in quartz from the apatite veins suggest low temperature,

relatively high salinity brines. These observations, the geochronological constraints and large ranges

in sulphur isotope values suggest that the Nifty deposit formed early, possibly diagenetically, from

low temperature, relatively oxidised fluids. This inference is consistent with the original model for

the Nifty deposit (Haynes et al., 1993) though less consistent with the tectonic model proposed by

Anderson et al. (2001).

Structural modelling assuming that mineralisation is early shows that the north trend of ore shoots

reported previously on the northeastern limb of the Nifty Anticline is consistent with control by

antithetic normal faults developed during basin formation. If this model is correct, these antithetic

normal faults would trend west-southwest on the southwestern limb of the Nifty Anticline. This

trend has not been adequately drill-tested, and provides scope for additional near-mine exploration

on the southwestern limb of the Nifty Anticline.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Publication)
2007-01-01T00:00:00
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/65044

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Author

Huston, D.L.
Author

Maas, R.
Author

Czarnota, K.
Name

Professional Opinion

Issue identification

2007/03

Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Custodian

MNHD
Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

Keywords

  • GA Publication

  • Professional Opinion

Theme

  • geology

Keywords

  • AU-WA

Keywords

  • Published_External

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

  • Earth Sciences

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints
Restricted
Use constraints
License

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
OnLine resource

Download the Report (pdf)

Download the Report (pdf)

Distribution format

  • pdf

Resource lineage

Statement

Unknown

Hierarchy level
Non geographic dataset
Other

GA Publication

Description

Source data not available.

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/a05f7892-d1d3-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

Professional Opinion

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/65044

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/a05f7892-d1d3-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-10T10:54:42
Date info (Creation)
2006-12-11T00:00:00

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

geology

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