The Molyhil Tungsten-Molybdenum Project is located 220km north east of Alice Springs within the prospective polymetallic province of the Proterozoic Eastern Arunta Block of the Northern Territory of Australia. The deposit is about 25km north of the Plenty Highway.
The Molyhil tenement straddles the boundary between the Neoproterozoic Georgina Basin and the Palaeoproterozoic Strangways Metamorphic Complex.
The area is dominated by the east southeast trending Delny Shear Zone, subdividing the Strangways Metamorphic Complex into two units - the Strangways Metamorphic Complex to the north and the Kanandra Granite to the south.
The Jinka Granite crops out to the east where its northern boundary is faulted against Georgina Basin sediments. A west south-westerly trending extension to the Entire Point Shear Zone also marks the northerly extent of the younger Harts Range Group rocks.
The Molyhil deposit consists of two adjacent outcropping iron rich skarn bodies, enclosed in granite, that contain scheelite and molybdenite mineralisation. Both the outlines of, and the banding within the bodies, strike approximately north south and dip steeply to the east. The bodies are arranged in an en-echelon manner, the northeast body being named the Yacht Club and the southwest body the Southern.
Mineralisation is coarse-grained and its distribution is irregular. Two broad lithological variations are present within the skarn (Barraclough, 1979):
- “Black rock skarn”: Mineralised, selectively mined on the basis of colour, a calc-silicate containing a high proportion of magnetite, pyrite, and iron-rich minerals such as andradite-garnet, actinolite, and ferro-amphibole.
- Unmineralised skarn: Pale green coloured calc-silicate, containing diopsidic pyroxene and garnet.
Exploration Potential
There is potential within the Molyhil Project tenements to discover further mineralisation, especially within identified skarns. The ingredients of potential host rocks (carbonate sediments), sources of heat and of mineralizing fluids (granites), major structures, and conjugate minor structures are all present.
A feature of the Molyhil deposit is its high magnetite content. Similar covered deposits should possess an easily recognised magnetic signature. In addition the target rocks have relatively thin surficial cover and have not been subjected to intense weathering that could have depleted their geochemical signatures.
The Molyhil deposit is the most developed prospect within the project area. Three shafts have been sunk within the Southern Skarn and crosscuts driven from their bases across the width of the mineralised body. This process provided a clearer indication of grade than was obtained from the recent drilling programme. It also provided a large mineralised sample for future metallurgical test-work.
The Molyhil deposit remains open at depth with potential to increase resources with deeper drilling; deeper drilling was carried out successfully in October 2006, April 2007 and January 2009. |
