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 OzTour '99 Key Australian Base Metal & Gold Deposits 9 to 29 May 1999 | |||||||||||
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The Australian Mineral Foundation and Porter GeoConsultancy, in conjunction with ADIMB of Brazil, continued the International Study Tour series of courses by providing a unique opportunity to visit a wide selection of Australia's most important base and precious metal mines.
These included the different styles of Ni mineralisation, both sulphide and laterite; examples of important primary and lateritic gold mineralisation in the same greenstone belt setting; the major Cu-Au deposits; and the great Zn-Pb-Ag and Zn-Cu orebodies from the Archaean, Proterozoic and Phanerozoic. All are major world class deposits. This tour allowed participants to compare the tectonic and geological settings, mineralisation styles of a broad suite of major deposits spanning the geological time scale, right across a continent. There were also four workshops as outlined below, presented by local and internationally known experts. These were designed to provide an overview of the regional tectonic, geological and metallogenic setting of the regions and deposits visited. Field reconnaissances with expert guides were also included.
The tour involved two modules as follows:
This module concentrated on base metals and gold in the Proterozoic and Archaean Shields of South Australia and Western Australia, and included:  Adelaide Briefing - Tectonic, Geologic and Metallogenic Framework of South Australia, including the context of the Olympic Dam deposit, presented by expert geologists of the South Australian Geological Survey;Olympic Dam IOCG-U deposit of the Gawler Craton, northern South Australia; Mount Keith disseminated nickel sulphides in an Archaean greenstone belt of the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia; Bronzewing Archaean greenstone hosted gold and overlying lateritic mineralisation, also in the Yilgarn Craton; Murrin Murrin a silicate laterite Ni-Co deposit that overlies serpentinised Archaean, cumulate peridotites of komatiitic origin in the Yilgarn Craton; Kambalda massive sulphide Ni-Cu which occurs as ribbon like, lens shaped bodies, hosted within a komatiitic pile in the Yilgarn Craton; Traverse across the Neoarchaean, Kalgoorlie granite-greenstone Terrane, conducted by expert geologists of the Western Australian Geological Survey; Kalgoorlie Super Pit a giant Archaean greenstone hosted gold deposit in the Yilgarn Craton; Cawse oxide laterite Ni deposit overlying the Siberia Komatiite in the Kalgoorlie Terrane of the Yilgarn Craton; Perth Seminar/Workshop addressing the tectonic, geological and metallogenic framework of Western Australia, with particular emphasis on the Archaean Craton, with presentations on the different mineralisation styes as well as the regolith. Presented by expert geologists from the Western Australian Geological Survey, University of WA, the CSIRO and CRC-LEME; Golden Grove Archaean volcanic hosted massive sulphide in the Yalgoo greenstone belt of the Murchison Province, in the Yilgarn Craton.
This module predominantly concentrated on base metals in the Proterozoic and Phanerozoics rift basins and mobile belts of eastern Australia, and included: McArthur River stratabound, sediment hosted Zn-Pb-Ag deposit within the Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic McArthur Basin, NE Northern Territory;Century stratabound, sediment hosted Zn-Pb-Ag deposit within the Mesoproterozoic McNamara Group of the Lawn Hill Platform, NW Queensland;Mount Isa Zn-Pb-Ag, late Palaeoproterozoic stratabound, sediment hosted deposit; Mount Isa Group of the Leichhardt River Fault Trough, NW Qld;Mount Isa Copper sediment hosted Cu deposit, hosted by a large irregular, discordant silica-dolomite mass overprinting the Zn-Pb-Ag orebodies; Mount Isa Workshop addressing the geology and mineralisation of the Mt Isa Inlier and McArthur Basin, followed by field traverses around Mt Isa looking at the host sequence and the surface expression of the orebody. Presented by noted consultant geologist Dr Geoff Derrick;Ernest Henry IOCG deposit in the Cloncurry-Selwyn zone of the Eastern Fold Belt, of the Mt Isa Inlier, NW Queensland;Cannington 'Broken Hill-like' Ag-Pb-Zn deposit in the metamorphosed late Palaeoproterozoic Fullarton River Group, Eastern Fold Belt, NW Qld; Broken Hill Workshop addressing the tectonic setting, geology, geophysics and mineralisation of the Willyama-Olary Blocks and immediate Broken Hill district and deposit, followed by a field reconnaissance across the host sequence at Broken Hill, as well as the gossan and lode horizon. Presented by Dr Barney Stevens and other geologists of the NSW Department of Mineral Resources;Broken Hill Zn-Pb-Ag deposit in the metamorphosed Palaeoproterozoic Willyama Supergroup, of the Curnamona Province, western New South Wales;Elura Zn-Pb-Ag deposit; seven, near vertical, transgressive, pipe shaped massive sulphide bodies cutting Devonian CSA Siltstone, Cobar Basin, NSW;Hellyer Zn-Pb-Cu-Au-Ag deposit; a Cambrian volcanic hosted massive sulphide deposit in the Mount Read Arc of western Tasmania; | |||||||||||
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Participants could take one or both modules. Those commencing with the first module assembled in Adelaide, South Australia by noon on Sunday 9th May 1999. This module ended in Geraldton, Western Australia on the morning of 18th May, while those joining for the second module met the through-going group in Darwin, Northern Territory, on the evening of Tuesday 18th May. The tour ended in Melbourne, Victoria in the evening of Saturday 29 th May.
