Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T17:06:30.430Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Origin of the secondary REE-minerals at the Paratoo copper deposit near Yunta, South Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

J. Brugger ,
J. Ogierman ,
A. Pring ,
H. Waldron  and
U. Kolitsch
J. Brugger*
Affiliation:
Cooperative Research Centre for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, SA-5005 Adelaide, Australia South Australian Museum, North Terrace, SA-5000 Adelaide, Australia
J. Ogierman
Affiliation:
32 Hill Street, SA-5063 Parkside, Australia
A. Pring
Affiliation:
South Australian Museum, North Terrace, SA-5000 Adelaide, Australia
H. Waldron
Affiliation:
Becquerel Laboratories Pty Limited, Lucas Heights Science and Technology Centre, New Illawarra Road, Lucas Heights, NSW-2234, Australia
U. Kolitsch
Affiliation:
Institut für Mineralogie und Kristallographie, Geozentrum, Universität Wien, Althanstr. 14, A-1090 Wien, Austria
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Paratoo copper deposit, located in the Neoproterozoic to Cambrian Adelaide Geosyncline, South Australia, produced around 360 tons of Cu between 1888 and 1967 from oxidized ores. The deposit is located in the core of a breached, doubly plunging anticline, near a zone of disruption containing brecciated Adelaidean sedimentary rocks and dolerite (‘Paratoo Diapir’), and hosted in dolomitic shales of the Neoproterozoic Burra Formation. Near the surface, the mineralization resides mainly in deeply weathered quartz-magnetite-sulphide (pyrite, chalcopyrite) veins (⩽10 cm wide). At depth, drill cores reveal disseminated magnetite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, copper sulphide and native copper associated with extensive potassic alteration. K-Na-rich fluids also affected the dolerite in the ‘Paratoo diapir’, resulting in the precipitation of K-feldspar, dravite and K-bearing chabazite-Na. The most likely scenario for the genesis of the Paratoo deposit involves circulation of basinal fluids, focusing into the ‘Paratoo Diapir’, and ore precipitation through neutralization by fluid-rock interaction with the dolomitic shales hosting the mineralization.

The Paratoo deposit is deeply weathered, with malachite and chrysocolla (± tenorite and cuprite) containing the bulk of the copper recovered from the shallow workings. A diverse assemblage of secondary REE-bearing carbonate minerals, including the new species decrespignyite-(Y) and paratooite-(La), is associated with the weathered base metal and magnetite ores. Whole-rock geochemical analyses of fresh and mineralized host rock and of vein material reveals that the mineralization is associated with a strong, albeit highly variable, enrichment in light rare earth elements (LREE). This association indicates that REE and base metals were introduced by the same hydrothermal fluid. The strong negative Ce anomaly found in secondary REE minerals and mineralized rock samples suggests an upgrade of the REE contents in the weathering zone, insoluble Ce4+ being left behind.

The Fe-oxide-REE-base metal association at Paratoo is also characteristic of the giant Mesoproterozoic Fe oxide copper gold deposit of Olympic Dam, located 350 km to the NW. A similar association is found in the Palaeozoic deposits of the Mt Painter Inlier, 300 km to the NNE. The widespread occurrence of this elemental association in the Province probably reflects the geochemistry of the basement, which contains numerous Mesoproterozoic granites enriched in REE and U.

Keywords

Paratoo copper depositSouth AustraliaAdelaide GeosynclineRare Earth ElementsFe oxide coppergold deposit
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 70 , Issue 6 , December 2006 , pp. 609 - 627
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

Present address: Genalysis Laboratory Services Pty Ltd, 15 Davison Street, Maddington, WA 6109, Australia

‡

Present address: Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Mineralogisch-Petrographische Abteilung, Burgring 7, A-1010 Wien, Austria

References

Bakker, R.J. and Elburg, M.A. (2006) A magmatic-hydrothermal transition in Arkaroola (northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia): from diopside–titanite pegmatites to hematite–quartz growth. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 152, 541–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bau, M. and Dulski, P. (1995) Comparative study of yttrium and rare-earth element behaviours in fluorine-rich hydrothermal fluids. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 119, 213–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bethke, C.M. (1996) Geochemical Reaction Modeling, Concepts and Applications. Oxford University Press, New York. 397 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, L.P., Feguson, J. and Gray, P.T. (1993) A Jurassic U-Pb age for a South Australian kimberlitic rock. South Australia Geological Survey, Quarterly Geological Notes, 125, 2–5.Google Scholar
Brown, H.Y.L. (1908) Record of the Mines of South Australia, 4th edition. Adelaide: Government Printer, 382 pp.Google Scholar
Brugger, J., McPhail, D.C., Wallace, M. and Waters, J. (2003) Formation of willemite in hydrothermal environments. Economic Geology, 98, 819–835.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, M.L., McPhail, D.C. and Taufen, P.M. (2003) Groundwater flow in playa lake environments: Impact on gold and pathfinder element distributions in groundwaters surrounding mesothermal gold deposits, St. Ives area, Eastern Goldfields, Western Australia. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis, 3, 57–71.Google Scholar
Coombs, D.S., Alberti, A., Armbruster, T., Artioli, G., Colella, C., Galli, E., Grice, J.D., Liebau, F., Mandarino, J.A., Minato, H., Nickel, E.H., Passaglia, E., Peacor, D.R., Quartieri, S., Rinaldi, R., Ross, M., Sheppard, R.A., Tillmanns, E. and Vezzalini, G. (1997) Recommended nomenclature for zeolite minerals: Report of the subcommittee on zeolites of the International Mineralogical Association, Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names. The Canadian Mineralogist, 35, 1571–1606.Google Scholar
Drexel, J.F. and Major, R.B. (1990) Mount Painter uranium-rare earth deposits. Pp. 993–998 in: Geology of the Mineral Deposits of Australia and Papua New Guinea (Hughes, F.E., editor). Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Drexel, J.F., Preiss, W.V. and Parker, A.J. (1993) The geology of South Australia. Volume 1: the Precambrian. Geological Survey of South Australia, Bulletin 54, 242 pp.Google Scholar
Dyson, I.A. (2001) The diapir-base metal association in the northern Flinders Ranges. MESA Journal, 22, 37–43.Google Scholar
Elburg, M., Bons, P., Foden, J. and Brugger, J. (2003) A newly defined late Ordovician magmatic-thermal event in the Mt Painter Province, Northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 50, 611–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evensen, N.M., Hamilton, P.J. and O'Nions, R.K. (1978) Rare-earth abundances in chondritic meteorites. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 42, 1199–1212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foden, J., Barovich, K., Jane, M. and O'Halloran, G. (2000) Sr-isotopic evidence for late Neoproterozoic rifting in the Adelaide Geosyncline at 586 Ma: Implications for a Cu ore forming fluid flux. Precambrian Research, 106, 291–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gieré, R. (1996) Formation of rare earth minerals in hydrothermal systems. Pp. 105–150 in: Rare Earth Minerals: Chemistry, Origin and Ore Deposits (Jones, A.P., Wall, F. and Williams, C.T., editors). Chapman & Hall, London.Google Scholar
Groves, I.M., Carman, C.E. and Dunlap, W.J. (2003) Geology of the Beltana willemite deposit, Flinders Ranges, south Australia. Economic Geology, 98, 797–818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, J.R., Shock, E.L. and Sassani, D.C. (1995) Rare earth elements in hydrothermal systems: estimates of standard partial molal thermodynamic properties of aqueous complexes of the rare earth elements at high pressures and temperatures. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 59, 4329–4350.Google Scholar
Holt, G.E. (1970) Geology of the Paratoo diapir, S.A. Unpublished Honours Thesis, Department of Economic Geology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide. 28 pp.Google Scholar
Johnson, J.P. and Cross, K.C. (1995) U-Pb geochronological constraints on the genesis of the Olympic Dam Cu-U-Au-Ag deposit, South Australia. Economic Geology, 90, 1046–1063.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, I.B., Donnelly, T.H., and Rowlands, N.J. (1980) Genesis of upper Proterozoic stratabound copper mineralization, Kapunda, South Australia. Mineralium Deposita, 15, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, I.B., Drexel, J.F., Donnelly, T.H. and Knuston, J. (1982) Origin of the breccias in the Mount Painter area, South Australia. Journal of the Geological Society of Australia, 29, 115–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, I.B., Knuston, J., Donnelly, T.H. and Etminan, H. (1987) Stuart Shelf-Adelaide Geosyncline copper province, South Australia. Economic Geology, 82, 108–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsay, C.J. (2003) The Nackara Arc: An under-explored diamond province in South Australia? A new perspective on applied exploration. MESA Journal, 28, 25–29.Google Scholar
Lipin, B.R. and McKay, G.A., editors (1989) Geochemistry and Mineralogy of Rare Earth Elements. Reviews in Mineralogy, 21, Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, D.C., 348 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lottermoser, B.G. (1987) A fluid inclusion study of the Tourmaline Hill granite, Umberatana, South Australia – implications for hydrothermal activity and wallrock metasomatism. Mineralogy and Petrology, 36, 135–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshak, S. and Flöttmann, T. (1996) Structure and origin of the Fleurieu and Nackara Arcs in the Adelaide fold-thrust belt, South Australia: salient and recess development in the Delamerian Orogen. Journal of Structural Geology, 7, 891–908.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mazzi, F. and Galli, E. (1983) The tetrahedral frame-work of chabazite. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Monatshefte, 461–480.Google Scholar
McCulloch, M.T. and Bennett, V.C. (1994) Progressive growth of the Earth's continental crust and depleted mantle: geochemical constraints. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 58, 4717–4738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morales Ruano, S., Both, R.A. and Golding, S.D. (2002) A fluid inclusion and stable isotope study of the Moonta copper-gold deposit, South Australia: Evidence for fluid immiscibility in a magmatic hydrothermal system. Chemical Geology, 192, 211–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, N., Sandiford, M. and Foden, J. (2000) Regional geochemistry and continental heat flow: Implications for the origin of the South Australian heat flow anomaly. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 183, 107–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nixon, L.G.B. (1967) Paratoo copper deposit. Mining Review (Adelaide), Volume Date 1965, 123, 8–20.Google Scholar
Parnell, J. (1989) Uranium-rich xenotime in bitumen, Moonta mines, South Australia. Australian Mineralogist, 4, 145–148.Google Scholar
Paul, E., Flöttmann, T. and Sandiford, M. (1999) Structural geometry and controls on basement-involved deformation in the northern Flinders Ranges, Adelaide Fold Belt, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 46, 343–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, P.J. (2006) An intrusion-related origin for Cu-Au mineralisation in iron oxide-copper-gold (IOGG) provinces. Mineralium Deposita, 41, 179–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preiss, W.V. (1987) The Adelaide Geosyncline: late Proterozoic stratigraphy, sedimentation, palaeontology and tectonics. Geological Survey of South Australia Bulletin, 53, 438 pp.Google Scholar
Preiss, W.V. (1990) A stratigraphic and tectonic overview of the Adelaide Geosyncline, South Australia. Pp. 1–33 in: The evolution of a late Precambrian–early Palaeozoic rift complex: The Adelaide Geosyncline (Jago, J.B. and Moore, P.S., editors). Geological society of Australia special publication 16. Watson, Ferguson & Company, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Pring, A., Wallwork, K., Brugger, J. and Kolitsch, U. (2006) Paratooite-(La), a new copper lanthanum-dominant rare-earth carbonate from Paratoo, South Australia. Mineralogical Magazine, 70, 131–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rakovan, J. and Reeder, R. (1996) Intracrystalline rare earth element distribution in apatite – surface structural influences on incorporation during growth. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 60, 4435–4445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandiford, M., Hand, M. and McLaren, S. (1998) High geothermal gradient metamorphism during thermal subsidence. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 163, 149–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seccombe, P.K., Spry, P.G., Both, R.A., Jones, M.T. and Schiller, J.C. (1985) Base metal mineralisation in the Kanmantoo group, South Australia: A regional sulfur isotope study. Economic Geology, 80, 1824–1841.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sverjensky, D.A. (1984) Europium redox equilibria in aqueous solution. Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters, 67, 70–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Takahashi, Y., Shimizu, H., Usui, A., Kagi, H. and Nomura, M. (2000) Direct observation of tetravalent cerium in ferromanganese nodules and crusts by X-ray-absorption near-edge structure (XANES). Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 64, 2929–2935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taunton, A.E., Welch, S.A. and Banfield, J.F. (2000) Microbial controls on phosphate and lanthanide distributions during granite weathering and soil formation. Chemical Geology, 169, 371–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonkin, D.G. and Creelman, R.A. (1990) Mount Gunson copper deposits. Pp. 1037–1043 in: Geology of the Mineral Deposits of Australia and Papua New Guinea (Hughes, F.E., editor), Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Monograph Series, 14.Google Scholar
Wallwork, K., Kolitsch, U., Pring, A. and Nasdala, L. (2002) Decrespignyite-(Y), a new copper yttrium rare earth carbonate chloride hydrate from Paratoo, South Australia. Mineralogical Magazine, 66, 181–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, P.A. (1990) Oxide Zone Geochemistry. Ellis Horwood, New York, 286 pp.Google Scholar
Wingate, M.T.D., Campbell, I.H., Compston, W. and Gibson, G.M. (1998) Ion microprobe U-Pb ages for neoproterozoic basaltic magmatism in south-central Australia and implications for the breakup of Rodinia. Precambrian Research, 87, 135–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, R.G. (1975) Burra copper deposit, South Australia. Pp. 1039–1044 in: Economic Geology of Australia and Papua New Guinea (Knight, C.L., editor). The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Young, G.M. (1992) Late Proterozoic stratigraphy and the Canada–Australia connection. Geology, 20, 215–218.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Brugger et al. supplementary material

Table 3. Neutron activation chemical analyses of rocks from the Paratoo mine. Elements analysed but found below detection limit: Ag, Cd, Hg, Ir, Se. Mo≤10.2ppm, W≤7.2 ppm, Te ≤ 6.2 ppm

Download Brugger et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 70.4 KB