This report comprises Open file company data, released since the previous MESA review (Yates and Randell, 1994) of the CURNAMONA 1:250 000 map sheet, includes exploration for base and precious metals (especially stratiform/stratabound Broken...
This report comprises Open file company data, released since the previous MESA review (Yates and Randell, 1994) of the CURNAMONA 1:250 000 map sheet, includes exploration for base and precious metals (especially stratiform/stratabound Broken Hill-style Pb-Zn-Ag in Bimba Formation and Upper Albite of the Palaeoproterozoic Willyama Supergroup, and discordant Cu-Au associated with granites, etc.), and for sedimentary uranium in the Tertiary sediments lying north of the Olary Domain towards the Frome Embayment. The most significant exploration program reported is that conducted from 1969 to 1993 by Elcor Australia Pty Ltd, Sedimentary Uranium NL, Mines Administration Pty Ltd, Teton Exploration Drilling Co. Ltd, Carpentaria Exploration Co. Pty Ltd and CSR Ltd, over the Tertiary Yarramba Palaeochannel located east and north of the Honeymoon uranium deposit, which outlined the East Kalkaroo, and smaller Yarramba and West Kalkaroo, sedimentary uranium deposits. In mid-1988, Placer Exploration Pty Ltd bought CSR's share in tenements in the Olary-Curnamona area, and the focus of exploration shifted to base metals, targeting the Upper Albite - Bimba Formation in the Kalkaroo area and aeromagnetic anomalies closer to the NSW border. At Hunters Dam, RAB and diamond drilling delineated a 600-700 metre long anomalous Zn (-Pb) zone in Bimba Formation meta-siltstones, underlain by magnetite-bearing Upper Albite. Metal sulphides (pyrite pyrrhotite sphalerite galena chalcopyrite) are disseminated, finely laminated, recrystallised conformable bedding concentrations, or occupy cross-cutting veins. Best assay values were recorded in diamond drillhole HDD68, with 6.6% Zn, 1.16% Pb, 290 ppm Ag, 380 ppm Cu, and 0.12 ppm Au from 193.8-194.25 metres depth. Minor base metal anomalism was recorded at Cartspring Dam, Kalkaroo Main Dam, RD1 Anomaly, Border North, Border South, and Security Dam. Exploration in the adjacent Strathearn area by Mount Isa Mines Ltd / Carpentaria Exploration, Mines Administration, Teton, CSR, and later, by Placer, indicated anomalous Zn in gossanous Bimba Formation at Birthday Dam. MESA reached an agreement with Placer to release all data obtained prior to that company's involvement in mid-1988, but all exploration results reported since then remain confidential. In 1994-96, North Mining Ltd carried out an extensive exploration program on five tenements in the Olary Domain, partly on CURNAMONA, targeting stratiform Broken Hill-style Zn-Pb-Ag-Cu, and discordant Cloncurry-style (or Olympic Dam-style) Cu-Au-(Zn-Pb) within the Palaeoproterozoic Willyama Supergroup. Ground magnetics and outcrop sampling, followed by RAB drilling and SIROTEM, indicated coincident Cu and geophysical anomalism at Double Well and Black Hill. Following a change in exploration objectives, North relinquished its Olary Domain exploration tenements, leaving much of the area with un-evaluated exploration potential. In addition, minor exploration for diamonds and for celestite has been reported. Considerable potential remains for Zn-Pb-Ag-Cu or Cu-Au-(Zn-Pb) mineralisation in the Willyama Supergroup, associated with Bimba Formation exhalative ferruginous sulphide horizons, with the 'Upper Albite' and 'Pelite suite', and with intrusives or with shear zones. Recent discoveries in the Olary Domain on CURNAMONA include supergene-enriched fracture-controlled Cu-Au mineralisation at Kalkaroo (Anderson, 1996), and disseminated Au under cover at Portia on the Benagerie Ridge (Cook, 1996).
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