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A Summary of Major Mineral Resources, Mines and Projects, 2nd Edition |
OPEN CUT MINING
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Eldridge pit ~400m deep, Wises Hill pit ~340m deep. |
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Conventional open pit truck and shovel method used. |
SURFACE MINING METHODS
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Initial mining concentrated on retreating tailings from historic |
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mining activity. |
ML
3347
KIDSTON GOLD MINES LIMITED
100.00%
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Host Rock/Cover Sequences |
ETHERIDGE PROVINCE
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Einasleigh Metamorphics / PALAEOPROTEROZOIC to |
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PALAEOPROTEROZOIC |
PAMA PROVINCE
Oak River Granodiorite / SILURIAN to SILURIAN
KENNEDY PROVINCE
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Kidston breccia / EARLY CARBONIFEROUS to EARLY |
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CARBONIFEROUS |
GENERAL ORE BODY MODEL
INTRUSIVE-RELATED (PORPHYRY-RELATED)
PIPE
DETAILED ORE BODY MODEL
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PORPHYRY-RELATED AURIFEROUS SUBVOLCANIC |
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BRECCIAS & VEINS |
Qtz-Py, pre breccia
Qtz-Mt-Py veins (subeconomic), pre breccia
BRECCIA
early stage post-breccia infill (subeconomic)
BRECCIA
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late stage post-breccia infill (economic). 40Ar/39Ar |
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date on sericite alteration of ~332Ma and U-Pb date |
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on zircon from syn-post mineralisation dykes of |
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~332Ma (Perkins & Kennedy, 1998). |
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The Kidston gold deposit is a breccia-pipe deposit associated with Permo-Carboniferous felsic volcanicsm, at the contact of the |
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Silurian-Devonian Oak River Granodiorite with rocks of the Einasleigh Metamorphics. |
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It lies within the north-easterly trending Gilberton Fault system. The mineralisation is believed to have developed through a complex |
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sequence of subvolcanic intrusion, breccia development, multi-phase hydrothermal activity and sheeted quartz veining. |
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The breccia ranges in character from "milled" near the centre of the pipe to "collapse" nearer the margins. The highest grade gold |
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mineralisation is found in a series of sheeted quartz veins that lie within the pipe, parallel to its margins. |
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Grades are particularly high where structural kink zones occur in the vein system. The bulk of the gold, however, occurs in cavity infill |
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over a broader zone that includes the sheeted veins. |