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Deposit Synonyms
IRONSTONE LAGOON
Mineral District
Deposit Summary
stratabound Cu mineralisation in 1-6m bed of black shale of the Tapley Hill Formation. ~100t mined by ~1900. Combined Sweet Nell, and Fair Nell deposits with inferred resource of 350,000t @ 1.2%Cu.
Deposit Description
SWEET NELL, outcropping copper oxide mineralisation discovered on the shores of Ironstone Lagoon at the turn of the 20th century, with ~100 tonne of high-grade oxide ore mined soon after. The mineralisation was stratabound in a 1-6 m thick bed of Tapley Hill Formation black shale, and was preserved as an outlier on a Pandurra Formation erosion surface, beneath a capping of 3-6 m of the Brighton Limestone Member.
The sulphide mineralisation comprised chalcocite, chalcopyrite and bornite, and was oxidised to atacamite and malachite on the exposed fringes of the deposit. In mid 1971 47 percussion holes were completed, with 21 holes penetrating copper grades >0.5%Cu. A combined Sweet Nell, and Fair Nell deposit resource was inferred resource of 350,000 tonne @ 1.2% Cu. The setting was reminiscent of the European Kupferschiefer.
In 1994-95 Gunson Resources Ltd completed 16 shallow (<15m) RC drill holes in the Sweet Nell - Fair Nell area adjacent to Ironstone Lagoon to confirm only narrow intervals of copper mineralisation within sub-horizontal Woocalla Dolomite Member or in thin black shale beneath the dolomite, possibly equivalent of the Tindelpina Shale of the Tapley Hill Formation.
Discovery Year
~ 1900
Commodities
Copper, Silver
Ore Minerals
Argentite, Atacamite, Bornite, Chalcocite, Chalcopyrite, Malachite
Gangue Minerals
Manganese Oxide
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