|
Current Projects
Concluded Projects
Related Links
Some of the documents on this webpage may be in PDF Format. Please download the Free PDF reader from Adobe to view these files.
|
Updated:
20 June 2008
Concluded: 30 June 2006
Gawler Mineral PromotionOne-day Gawler workshopPresentations from the Workshop on iron oxide copper-gold systems of the Gawler Craton, held in Adelaide on 24 February 2006, have been published on the Gawler presentations page. For more information on the workshop, visit the conferences and seminars page. Project descriptionGeoscience Australia's Gawler Mineral Promotion Project commenced in July 2000 and concluded in June 2006. The project forms part of the National Geoscience Accord between Geoscience Australia and State and Territory agencies, in this case collaborating with the Office of Minerals and Energy Resources (MER) in Primary Industries and Resources South Australia (PIRSA). Figure 1: Tectonic domains of the Gawler Craton, showing project areas This multidisciplinary project involves production of new geological, geophysical, geochemical and metallogenic datasets in targeted regions of the Gawler Craton. The planned outcomes are greater exploration investment in the Gawler Craton and enhanced mineral exploration strategies in area selection and targeting. Since 2000, the Gawler Project has focussed on four modules of work, as detailed in the original Project Plan (Skirrow, 2005):
Current work is focussed on Module A, covering iron oxide Cu-Au (IOCG) systems in the Olympic Cu-Au province and gold systems in the recently recognised central Gawler gold province (Fig. 1). Modules B, C and D were completed earlier in the Project, and results may be obtained by following the links to Data, Gawler Publications, and Maps and Online GIS. For example in Module C, products include a map in PDF format, an online GIS, and a paper in the journal Economic Geology (Hoatson et al, 2005). Major products from Module D include Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) data for the areas of the Challenger gold deposit, the Tunkillia gold prospect, and the Moonta-Wallaroo Cu-Au district, as well as a comprehensive report on interpretation of the Challenger AEM survey (Lane and Worrall, 2002). Many of the Gawler Project results have been reported at conferences such as the Gawler Craton: State of Play 2002 and 2004, and the 16th and 17th Australian Geological Congresses in 2002 and 2004 (see Publications for slide presentations, abstracts and posters). In the eastern Gawler Craton, work within Module A has centred on understanding the 3-dimensional structural and tectonic setting of IOCG mineralised systems in the Olympic Cu-Au province. This was achieved initially through 2D interpretations of basement geology (see Maps and Online GIS), and modelling of cross sections using the ModelVision software (see Direen et al, 2002, 16th AGC). More recently, inversion modelling of regional magnetic and gravity data has been used to generate new 3D datasets including IOCG alteration distribution (see 3D Models, and Williams et al, Publications). In 2003, ~200 line kilometres of deep crustal seismic reflection data were acquired in the vicinity of the Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au deposit, and the data were released at the Gawler Seismic Workshop in August 2004 (see Lyons et al, 2005, in press). Studies of mineralisation and alteration in the Olympic Dam district, Moonta-Wallaroo district, and Mt Woods Inlier were initially reported in a paper by Skirrow et al. (2002), and subsequently at various conferences (see Publications). The results of geochronological, fluid inclusion, and stable and radiogenic isotope studies, and their integration with the 3D geology, are currently being prepared for publication in a Special Issue of Economic Geology. In the central Gawler gold province, recent work within Module A has focussed on the Tarcoola goldfield and the relationship between gold mineralisation and magmatism (see Budd et al, 2004 in Papers, and Holm, 2004 in Abstracts and Presentations). Results have been submitted for publication in a Special Issue of Economic Geology. Most recently, a new sub-project has commenced (July 2005 to June 2006) on numerical modelling of fluid flow and chemistry of central Gawler gold mineralised systems, aimed at predicting favourable geological settings within the province. This work is being conducted under the auspices of the Predictive Mineral Discovery Cooperative Research Centre (pmd*CRC), a collaboration between Geoscience Australia, CSIRO and PIRSA. Related links |