CANADIAN AND WORLD MINERAL DEPOSIT DATABASES
Geological Survey of Canada


Deposit number Country Location Names Commodities
77 Australia (South Australia) 30.38.55 S -- 136.57.05 E Wirrda Well Cu; U; Au
 
Database name: World Fe-oxide+/-Cu-Au-U (IOCG) deposits
Compilers: Sunil S. Gandhi
Release date: 2015-03-04
   
Deposit name(s): Wirrda Well
Political location(s): Australia; Province or state: South Australia; Nearest community: Adelaide
Deposit clan (type): Olympic Dam-type
Deposit (sub) types: Olympic Dam-type; Brecciation and hematite development comparable with that at the Olympic Dam deposit; breccia in granite, with some fragments of the volcanics, older Hutchison Group metasediments and deformed granite
Deposit status: prospect; Size category: unknown; Status comments: coincident magnetic and gravity anomaly tested by 21 diamond drill holes; 15 holes intersected significant Cu, U and Au values; longest intersection 258 m averaging 0.77 % Cu and 70 ppm U
Geologic province: Gawler Craton
Geologic subprovince: Stuart Shelf
Geologic district: Olympic Domain
Deposit object located: diamond drill holes
Commodities: Cu; U; Au
Mineralization styles: breccia-fillings
Geological ages: Early Mesoproterozoic (host rocks)
Early Mesoproterozoic (mineralization)
Tectonic setting: continental craton; stable; Formal name: Gawler craton/Stuart Shelf (host rocks)
Coincident features: breccia; Coincident feature name: Olympic Dam-type breccia zone
Regional tectonic structure: breccia zone on north side of an east-southeast airphotolinear (Breccia zone 4 x 3 km in area)
Host rocks: (1) intrusive; granite suite; Magma series/sedimentary package/metamorphic group: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: continental; Metamorphic grade: unmetamorphosed
Host rock stratigraphy:Burgoyne Batholith/Hiltaba Granite Suite

(2) volcanic; unclassified volcanic rocks (subordinate to granite); Magma series/sedimentary package/metamorphic group: calc-alkaline; Depositional setting: continental; Metamorphic grade: unmetamorphosed
Individual lithologies:tuffaceous volcanic rocks
Host rock stratigraphy:Gawler Range Volcano-plutonic Complex

(3) metamorphic; metasedimentary schist (basement of Gawler Range volcanics); Magma series/sedimentary package/metamorphic group: platform-shelf sediments; Depositional setting: shallow marine; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
Host rock stratigraphy:Hutchison Group
Related igneous rocks: (1) intrusive; granite suite (Burgoyne batholith, main host of the breccia zone); Initials: Hiltaba granite suite
Individual lithologies:megacrystic granite

(2) intrusive; granite suite (subordinate pluton to the northeast); Initials: Hiltaba granite suite
Individual lithologies:even grained potassic granite
Country rocks: (1) granite; Country rock name: Burgoyne batholith/Hltaba suitee; Metamorphic grade: unmetamorphosed
(2) felsic volcanics; Country rock name: Gawler Range Volcanics; Metamorphic grade: unmetamorphosed
(3) metasediments; Country rock name: Hutchison Group; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
(4) deformed granite; Country rock name: syn-Kimban orogenic granite; Metamorphic grade: greenschist
Metallogenic signatures: Fe
Cu
U
au
Alteration signatures: sericitization; What was altered: host rocks
chloritization; What was altered: host rocks
hematization; What was altered: host rocks and magnetite
Mineralogy: (gangue): k-feldspar, quartz, barite
(mineralization): magnetite, hematite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, uraninite, fluorite, rare earth minerals
Radiometric ages: Object dated: Host Rocks(1); Age - Ma: 1,593; +2; -2; Dating method: U-Pb; Concentrate: zircon; Source rock: quartz monzodiorite; Formal name: Burgoyne batholith/Hiltaba suite; Event dated: host rock; Interpretive comment: coeval with the Gawler Range volcano-plutonic complex; Reference: Creaser, R. A.; Cooper, J. A., 1993: U-Pb Geochronology of Middle Proterozoic Felsic Magmatism Surrounding the Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au-Ag and Moonta Cu-Au-Ag Deposits, South Australia; Economic Geology, Volume 88, p. 186 - 197

Object dated: Host Rocks(1); Age - Ma: 1,598; +2; -2; Dating method: U-Pb; Concentrate: zircon; Source rock: quartz monzodiorite; Formal name: Burgoyne batholith/Hiltaba suite; Event dated: host rock; Interpretive comment: coeval with Gawler Range volcano-plutonic complex; Reference: Creaser, R. A.; Cooper, J. A., 1993: U-Pb Geochronology of Middle Proterozoic Felsic Magmatism Surrounding the Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au-Ag and Moonta Cu-Au-Ag Deposits, South Australia; Economic Geology, Volume 88, p. 186 - 197
References:
Drexel, J. F.; Preiss, W. V.; Parker, A. J., 1993
Geology of South Australia, Volume 1: the Precambrian, South Australia
Government of South Australia, 242 p.

Parker, A. J., 1987
Archean to Middle Proterozoic Mineralization of the Gawler Craton (Including the Stuart Shelf Region), South Australia
DME Rep. Bk. 87 / 84, Geological Survey, Department of Mines and Energy, South Australia, 26 p.

Parker, A. J., 1990
Gawler Craton and Stuart Shelf - Regional Geology and Mineralization
in Geology of the Mineral Deposits of Australia and Papua New Guinea, Edited by Hughes, F. E., Monograph, The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Melbourne, 14, 1828 p, p. 999 - 1008

Paterson, H. L.; Dalgarno, C. R.; Esdale, D. J.; Tonkin, D., 1986
Basement Geology of the Stuart Shelf Region, South Australia
in Olympic Dam/Stuart Shelf, 8th Australian Geological Convention, Excursion Guidebooka1, Edited by Anonymous, Excursion Guidebook, Geological Society of Australia, A1, p. 30


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