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Mt Whaleback Satellites - Orebodies 18, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 35, 42, 43 |
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Western Australia, WA, Australia |
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Fe
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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.
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A series of satellite mines and deposits that are operated as part of, and included in the ore reserve and mineral resources of the the Mt Whaleback operation.
These include:
Orebodies 29-30-35 - lie immediately to the south of Mt Whaleback and are described in the Mount Whaleback record (#Location: 23° 47' 46"S, 119° 42' 00"E).
Orebodies 23-24-25 - are respectively located 19, 15 and 12 km NE of the centre of the Mt Whaleback open pit, on the nose, northern and southern limb of the faulted, east-plunging, Mount Newman Antiform.
See the record. See the Hamersley Basin Iron Province and Mount Whaleback records for the regional setting and stratigraphy.
Orebody 23 (#Location: 23° 18' 50"S, 119° 51' 00"E) is 600 m long, hosted by the Dales Gorge Member of the Brockman Iron Formation on the north limb, but near the nose of a major, vertically dipping F2 anticline with parasitic F2 folds on overturned limbs. It is bounded to the west by a NNE-trending D4 fault, and to the north by a dolerite dyke that follow the Whaleback Shale Member. The ore is principally microplaty hematite, which extends to a depth of 250 m below surface where it grades into un-enriched BIF. The microplaty hematite is developed in the D2 unit of the Dales Gorge Member, while barren Joffre Member forms the northern, or hanging wall limit of the pit.
Orebody 25 (#Location: 23° 19' 50"S, 119° 49' 07"E) is located within the Brockman Iron Formation. It is truncated on its western margin by the ENE-trending Mt Whaleback Fault and on its eastern limit by the NNE-trending fault that truncates the western ends of Orebody 23 some 6 km to the ENE. Ore types at Orebody 25 are both medium to high P martite-goethite and high grade low P microplaty hematite and occur within the Joffre Member of the Brockman Iron Formation.
Orebody 24 (#Location: 23° 18' 10"S, 119° 48' 27"E) is located to the WNW of Orebody 23, on the same steeply-dipping to overturned northern limb of the Newman Anticline. It is separated from Orebody 23 by a gap of ~1 km, and extends over a strike length of ~9 km within the Brockman Iron Formation Dales Gorge Member. The orebody is associated with a large, westerly plunging drag fold, which produces a wide, sub-horizontal limb near surface with martite-goethite ore to the east, lower phosphorous martite-hematite with lesser goethite and some microplaty hematite in the synclinal keel and to the west.
Resources in 2001 were stated at:
Orebody 25 - 16.4 Mt @ 62.7% Fe, 4.5% Silica, 2.0% Alumina, 0.085% P, 3.4% LOI,
plus 8.5 Mt of lower grade blending ore.
Orebody 23 - 16.6 Mt @ 64.8% Fe, 3.6% Silica, 1.6% Alumina, 0.048% P, 1.9% LOI.
Orebody 18 (#Location: 23° 19' 45"S, 120° 02' 48"E) - is 40 km to the ENE of the centre of the Mt Whaleback open pit, and 26 km east of Orebody 23. It is hosted by the Dales Gorge Member of the Brockman Iron Formation, in the keel of the west-plunging Shovelanna Syncline. Ore types include martite-goethite and microplaty hematite, with the former becoming more prevalent to the north, away from the fold keel.
Resources in 1990 were stated at:
90 Mt @ 63.7% Fe, 3.8% Silica, 1.9% Alumina, 0.066% P, 2.7% LOI,
Orebodies 42-43 (#Location: 23° 19' 32"S, 116° 53' 40"E) - are ~24 km ENE of the centre of the Mt Whaleback open pit, and 5 km ESE of Orebody 23. These contiguous deposit are not currently listed as satellites by BHP Billiton, but are mentioned hers as they are in the vicinity of Mount Whaleback. Orebody 42 is hosted by the Dales Gorge Member of the Brockman Iron Formation within a small overturned synclinal keel, faulted against Marra Mamba Iron Formation, by an extension of the east-west Ophthalmia Fault that intersects/joins the Mount Newman Fault to the west in the vicinity of Orebody 23. Both martite-hematite and some microplaty hematite is developed.
Measured resources in 1990 were stated at:
35 Mt @ 63.5% Fe, 3.8% Silica, 2.8% Alumina, 0.066% P, 2.1% LOI,
The information in this summary is largely sourced from Harmsworth et al., 1990.
The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 2001.
Record last updated: 21/5/2013
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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Harmsworth R A, Kneeshaw M, Morris R C, Robinson C J, Shrivastava P K 1990 - BIF Derived Iron Ores of the Hamersley Province: in Hughes FE (Ed.), 1990 Geology of the Mineral Deposits of Australia & Papua New Guinea The AusIMM, Melbourne v1 pp 617-642
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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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