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Raleigh |
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Western Australia, WA, Australia |
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Au
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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 Raleigh gold deposit is located 22 km NW of the city of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and is one of the Kundana cluster of gold deposits in the Coolgardie-Kundana Gold Field.
The deposit is situated towards the western margin of the Kalgoorlie Terrane, the westernmost element of the Eastern Goldfields Supeterrane, of the Archaean Yilgarn Craton. The greenstone belt in the gold field is composed of a characteristic thick sequence of ultramafic, mafic and felsic volcanic, intrusive and sedimentary rocks, all of which have been metamorphosed from greenschist to amphibolite grade. For details of the regional setting and stratigraphy, and the local setting, see the Yilgarn Craton and Coolgardie-Kundana records respectively.
The Raleigh Vein, a laminated quartz vein, occurs within the west dipping Raleigh or Strzelecki Structure. This structure is a shear that follows a <1 to 85 m thick wedge of siliceous volcanogenic sedimentary rock at the faulted contact between a sequence of coherent andesite lava flows interlayered with crystal rich fragmental sedimentary rocks to the east and gabbro of the Powder Sill to the west. The host sequence youngs to the west. The structure is best developed at the contact between the andesites and the sedimentary wedge. The associated foliation decreases in intensity 10 m into both the hangingwall and footwall. The Raleigh Vein, parallels the strike of the structure, but dips more shallowly. It has a continous strike length of 640 m and varies in thickness from 0.06 to 1.82 m, averaging 0.51 m, extending down plunge for over 660 m. A centimetre-scale set of quartz veins developed at a high angle to the main vein, known as "Spur Veins" are formed within and crosscutting the main vein. A "Hangingwall Vein" is also developed 1.2 to 14 m to the west of the Raleigh Vein and is typically at the basal contact of the Powder Sill.
The host sequence is overlain by 15 to 35 m of transported material comprising surface alluvium over playa lake clays. Saprolites are well developed and varies from 5 to 25 m in thickness over the gabbros, and up to 50 m thick over the sediments and andesites.
The Raleigh Vein comprises quartz with minor inclusions of biotite-chlorite laminations and slivers of wall-rocks. Gold is visible, as are minor amounts of scheelite, pyrite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, tourmaline and rarely pyrrhotite. Intense biotite alteration extends up to a metre from the Raleigh Vein into the wallrock, and decreases outwards with distance.
Prior to mining, the orebody had total Measured + Indicated + Inferred Mineral Resources of 0.747 Mt @ 41.7 g/t Au for 31 t of gold (Boyd et al., 2001).
The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 2009.
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.
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Boyd D M, Edgar W B and Joyce K A, 2001 - The Raleigh Discovery: New Light on Old Ground: in Yates K (Ed.) 2001 New Generation Gold Mines 2001, ( or NewGenGold 2001 ) Case Histories of Discovery, Conf. Proc., Perth, Nov 2001 AMF, Adelaide pp 1-15
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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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