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Woodie Woodie |
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Western Australia, WA, Australia |
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Mn
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Super Porphyry Cu and Au
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IOCG Deposits - 70 papers
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All papers now Open Access.
Available as Full Text for direct download or on request. |
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The Woodie Woodie manganese mine is located 400 km south-east of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 35 km due west of the Nifty Copper Mine (#Location: 21° 37' 58"S, 121° 14' 44"E).
It is the largest of a series of deposits that form the Pilbara Manganese Province which lies towards the eastern margin of the Hamersley and Bangemall Basins of the eastern Pilbara Craton. Manganese ore has been mined at Woodie since the early 1950s. Woodie has historically produced a high-grade manganese ore with a high manganese content, high manganese to iron ratio, low phosphorus and hard, competent nature. The operation comprises open-pit mining within an active mining corridor of ~100 km2, across several pits and a 1.6 Mtpa processing plant. Mining operations are expected to cease in 2031 but rehabilitation and mine closure activities will continue until 2042.
Manganese deposits occur as cavity fill within the Carawine Dolomite, and as sheets and lenses in the Pinjian Chert breccia overlying the dolomite.
The Carawine Dolomite is a member of the 2600 to 2450 Ma Hamersley Group and lies within the package of carbonates, shales and minor cherts that separate the major Marra Mamba and Brockman iron formations, the main productive units of the Hamersley Basin iron province further to the west. It is regarded as a probable equivalent of the Wittenoom Formation dolostones.
Mineralisation is believed to have developed by supergene processes within the dolomite and chert breccia during the Palaeoproterozoic, between the withdrawal of the 'Hamersley Sea' and the deposition of the 1600 to 1000 Ma Bangemall Group. The enrichment within the dolomite occurs below the unconformity with the overlying Manganese Group manganiferous shales of the Bangemall Group.
Information from detailed geological mapping, such as the occurrence of discrete Mn veins in dolomite, suggests that primary Mn ore deposition may have been at least partly the result of hydrothermal processes.
The largest deposit at Woodie Woodie forms a pipe-like body to a depth of around 30 m. The other bodies in the deposit fill fissures in or form cappings on the dolomite or chert breccia above the dolomite.
Outcropping manganese ore was first discovered at Woodie Woodie in 1950, and was mined at small scale until 1990 when large scale production was commenced. Production reached more than half a million tonnes per annum in 2001 and is trucked from Woodie Woodie to Port Headland for export.
Production at Woodie Woodie for the twelve months to June in 2006 amounted to 0.9 Mt @ 48% Mn, bringing the total mined from the operation to 5.7 Mt.
Reserves and resources as at June 2006 were (Consolidated Minerals, 2006):
Measured resource - 10.182 Mt @ 42.5% Mn, 5.9% Fe, 16.3% SiO2
Indicated resource - 4.567 Mt @ 40.3% Mn, 6.7% Fe, 16.6% SiO2
Inferred resource - 0.735 Mt @ 40.7% Mn, 8.0% Fe, 15.0% SiO2
Total resource - 15.493 Mt @ 41.8% Mn, 6.2% Fe, 16.3% SiO2
Proved reserve - 9.398 Mt @ 42.7% Mn, 5.3% Fe, 15.8% SiO2
Probable reserve - 0.077 Mt @ 41.8% Mn, 9.1% Fe, 10.9% SiO2
Total reserve - 9.475 Mt @ 42.7% Mn, 5.3% Fe, 15.8% SiO2
Reserves and resources as at June 2012 were (Consolidated Minerals, 2012):
Total Ore Reserves - 18.0 Mt @ 36% Mn
Total Mineral Resources - 36.5 Mt @ 37% Mn
Reserves are included in the Resources.
In 2017, the operating company, Consolidated Minerals, was acquired by Chinese interests and ceased being a publicly listed company which published Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates.
The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 2007.
This description is a summary from published sources, the chief of which are listed below.
© Copyright Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd. Unauthorised copying, reproduction, storage or dissemination prohibited.
Woodie Woodie
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Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd (PorterGeo) provides access to this database at no charge. It is largely based on scientific papers and reports in the public domain, and was current when the sources consulted were published. While PorterGeo endeavour to ensure the information was accurate at the time of compilation and subsequent updating, PorterGeo, its employees and servants: i). do not warrant, or make any representation regarding the use, or results of the use of the information contained herein as to its correctness, accuracy, currency, or otherwise; and ii). expressly disclaim all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or conclusions contained herein.
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