Walton, Magnet Cove Barium |
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Canada |
Main commodities:
Ba Pb Ag Zn
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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 Walton barium deposit with associated Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag mineralisation is a carbonate hosted occurrence in the lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) Windsor Group, and is located 70 km NW of Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is also known as the Magnet Cove Barium Corporation mine and quarrry.
The orebody is found within the Kennetcook sub-basin, one of several such sub-basins in the larger Maritime basin (which covers 250 000 sq. km and is >10 km thick) of eastern Canada, and contains basal terriginous clastics of the Tournaisian-Famennian Horton Group that unconformably overlie deformed turbidites of the lower Palaeozoic Meguna Group. The Horton Group includes organic and sulphide rich shale and siltstone, followed by fine to coarse grained grey to red siltstone and shale.
The Horton Group is overlain by the Visean Windsor Group, a thick sequence of interstratified marine lithologies, comprising a lower 0 to 15 m of finely laminated limetone (the host Macumber Limestone), then 30 m of limestone breccia and evaporites, with limestone beds and red siltstone and shale making up the remainder of the 150 m thickness of the unit. These are followed elsewhere within the basin by 400 to 500 m of clastics, marine limestones and evaporites, then by Triassic to Jurassic terriginous clastics and tholeiitic basalts.
The Walton deposit is hosted by the Macumber Limestone which is locally caught up in a fault bounded drag fold. The barite body (which contains liquid petroleum and variable base metal sulphides which increase with depth) is localised by hangingwall and footwall faults at the nose of the S-shaped drag fold, appearing as a pear shaped lens at surface that becomes more elongate with depth to form a flattened cylindrical mass that interfingers with the hosts down plunge. The entire barite body is enveloped by a pre-barite and pre-sulphide siderite envelope within the Macumber Limestone. In detail the ore is transgressive, although it forms a stratigraphically peneconcordant, easterly plunging zone that steepens with depth, to overturned. While the barite continues at greater depths, the massive sulphides pinch out. The massive sulphides do not outcrop, but come within 80 m of the surface. They occur as an irregular lens lying both within the brecciated zone of the footwall fault below the barite lens, and along the SE limb of the fold (the B Baseline Zone).
In the B Baseline Zone the barite and sulphides are roughly conformable over a 500 m strike length and for 300 m down dip. They do not exhibit any internal layering, but present evidence of replacement and veining.
The barite-sulphide body is cut, and underlain by a discordant zone of chalcopyrite veins containing little or no other sulphides or barite. This zone cuts the contact between the Windsor and Horton groups.
Between 1941 and 1978 the mine produced:
4.5 Mt @ >90% BaSO4, and
0.413 Mt @ 0.52% Cu, 4.28% Pb, 1.29% Zn, 350 g/t Ag
For detail consult the reference(s) listed below.
The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 1997.
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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Chi G, Kontak D J, Williams-Jones A E 1998 - Fluid composition and thermal regime during Zn-Pb mineralization in the Lower Windsor Group, Nova Scotia, Canada: in Econ. Geol. v93 pp883-895
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Kontak D J, Sangster D F 1998 - Aqueous and liquid Petroleum inclusions in Barite from the Walton deposit, Nova Scotia, Canada: a Carboniferous, Carbonate-hosted Ba-Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag deposits: in Econ. Geol. v93 pp 845-868
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Lavoie D, Sangster D F, Savard M M, Fallara F 1998 - Breccias in the lower part of the Mississippian Windsor Group and their relation to Zn-Pb mineralization: a summary: in Econ. Geol. v93 pp 734-745
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Sangster D F, Burtt M D, Kontak D J 1998 - Geology of the B baseline zone, Walton Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag-Ba deposit, Nova Scotia, Canada: in Econ. Geol. v93 pp 869-882
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Sangster D F, Savard M M, Kontak D J 1998 - Genetic model for mineralization of Lower Windsor (Visean) Carbonate rocks of Nova Scotia, Canada: in Econ. Geol. v93 pp 932-952
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Sangster D F, Savard M M, Kontak D J 1998 - Sub-basin-specific Pb and Sr sources in Zn-Pb deposits of the Lower Windsor Group, Nova Scotia, Canada: in Econ. Geol. v93 pp 911-919
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Savard M M, Sangster D F, Burtt M D 1998 - Isotope geochemistry of sideritized host rocks, Walton Ba deposit, Kennetcook sub-basin, Nova Scotia, Canada: in Econ. Geol. v93 pp 834-844
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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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