1887
Geophysical Signatures of West Australian Mineral Deposits
  • ISSN: 2202-0586
  • E-ISSN:

Abstract

The relationship between gold mineralisation, genetically related mineral assemblages, magnetic susceptibility and features observable in ground and airborne magnetic surveying is established at three gold mines in the Victory-Defiance gold camp at Kambalda, Western Australia. The gold mines are Orion, North Orchin and Revenge. There are significant magnetite-stable alteration haloes enveloping the gold lodes comprising these deposits.

The magnetite-stable alteration is peripheral to gold lodes in differentiated dolerites, metabasalts and metasedimentary rocks which have undergone lower to mid-greenschist fades metamorphism. The magnetite alteration is partly coincident with the well-documented chlorite and biotite alteration zones.

The magnetic susceptibilities of the magnetite-stable alteration assemblages range to 100 x 10~3 SI units. It is noted that the magnetic properties of the Kapai Slate vary considerably on a regional scale but appear to be consistently high (up to 400 x 10~3 SI units) within the Victory-Defiance gold camp.

Magnetic maxima are coincident with all three gold deposits. The amplitude of the maxima observed in low-level aeromagnetic surveys are 30, 300 and 400 nT for Orion, North Orchin and Revenge, respectively.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1071/ASEGSpec07_20
1994-12-01
2026-01-17
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. BARTRAM G.D. & McCALL G.J.H., 1971. Wall-rock alteration associated with auriferous lodes in the Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie. Geological Society Australia, Special Publication 3, 191-199.
  2. CLARK D.A., 1983. Comments on magnetic petro-physics. Bulletin of the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists 14, 49-62.
  3. CLARK M.E., 1987. The geology of the Victory Gold Mine, Kambalda, Western Australia. Ph.D. thesis, Queen’s University, Kingston, 199 pp. (unpublished).
  4. CLARK M.E., ARCHIBALD N.J. & HODGSON C.J., 1986. The structural and metamorphic setting of the Victory Gold Mine, Kambalda, Western Australia. In Macdonald A.J. (ed.), Gold ’86: An International Symposium on the Geology of Gold Deposits, pp. 243-254. Gold ’86, Toronto.
  5. CLARK M.E., CARMICHAEL D.M., HODGSON C.J. & FU M., 1989. Wall-rock alteration, Victory Gold Mine, Kambalda, Western Australia; processes and P-T-Xco2 conditions of metasomatism. In Keays R.R., Ramsay W.R.H. & Groves D.I. (eds), The Geology of Gold Deposits: The Perspective in 1988. Economic Geology Monograph 6,445-459.
  6. CLOUT J.M.F., 1989. Structural and isotopic studies of the Golden Mile, gold-telluride deposit, Kalgo-orlie, Western Australia, Ph.D. thesis, Monash University, Melbourne, 352 pp. (unpublished).
  7. CLOUT J.M.F., CLEGHORN J.H. & WATT R.D., 1988. Geology of Kalgoorlie Mining Associates leases, Kalgoorlie In Groves D.I., Barley M.E., Ho S.E. & Hopkins G.M.F. (eds), Bicentennial Gold 88, Excursion Guidebook: Western Australian Gold Deposits. Geology Department & University Extension, The University of Western Australia, Publication 14, 70-77.
  8. CLOUT J.M.F., CLEGHORN J.H. & EATON P.C., 1990. Geology of the Kalgoorlie Gold Field. In Hughes F.E. (ed.), Geology of the Mineral Deposits of Australia and Papua New Guinea, pp. 411-431. Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Melbourne.
  9. DONAGHY J.C. & COWDEN A, 1986. The Revenge gold deposit: petrology and geochemistry of wallrock alteration. Kambalda Nickel Operations, Technical Report No. 130, 26 pp. (unpublished).
  10. GRANT F.S., 1984a. Aeromagnetics, geology and ore environments, I. Magnetite in igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks: an overview. Geo-exploration 23, 303-333.
  11. GRANT F.S., 1984b. Aeromagnetics, geology and ore environments, II. Magnetite and ore environments. Geoexploration 23, 335-362.
  12. GRESHAM J.J. & LOFTUS-HILLS G.D., 1981. The geology of the Kambalda Nickel Field, Western Australia. Economic Geology 76, 1373-1416.
  13. GROVES D.I., PHILLIPS G.N., HO S.E., HENDERSON C.A., CLARK M.E. & WOAD G.M., 1984. Controls on distribution of Archaean hydro-thermal gold deposits in Western Australia. In Foster R.P. (ed.j, Gold ’82: The Geology, Geochemistry and Genesis of Gold Deposits, pp. 689-712. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.
  14. HAGGERTY S.E., 1979. The aeromagnetic mineralogy of igneous rocks. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 16, 1281-1293.
  15. ISLES D.J., HARMAN P.J. & CUNNEEN J.P., 1989. The contribution of high resolution aeromagnetics to Archaean gold exploration in the Kalgoorlie region, Western Australia. In Keays R.R., Ramsay W.R.H. & Groves D.I. (eds), The Geology of Gold Deposits: The Perspective in 1988. Economic Geology Monograph 6, 389-397.
  16. MclNTYRE J.I., 1980. Geological significance of magnetic patterns related to magnetite in sediments and metasediments - a review. Bulletin of the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists 11, 19-32.
  17. NEALL F.B., 1985. The application of thermodynamics to the study of two Archean hydrothermal gold deposits in Western Australia. Ph.D. thsis, The University of Western Australia, Perth, 173 pp. (unpublished).
  18. NEALL F.B. & PHILLIPS G.N., 1987. Fluid-wall rock interaction in an Archean hydrothermal gold deposit: a thermodynamic model for the Hunt Mine, Kambalda. Economic Geology 82, 1679-1694.
  19. REDMAN B.A. & KEAYS R.R., 1985. Archean basic volcanism in the Eastern Goldfields Province, Yilgarn Block, Western Australia. Precambrian Research 30, 113-152.
  20. ROBERTS D.E. (ed.), 1988. Geology of Kambalda gold deposits. Company Report, Kambalda Nickel Operations, WMC Ltd, 30 pp. (unpublished).
  21. WILLIAMS P.K., 1985. Preliminary observations on the relationship of magnetite to rock types at KNO. WMC Internal Group Memorandum, PKW: MSM 875/85, 11 pp. (unpublished).
/content/journals/10.1071/ASEGSpec07_20
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error