Worth a punt for staking fees.
As you say very technical.
Encouraged me to look at the area north of WA1/ENR's discovery in a little detail. For weekend reading here are some preliminary results.
Regional context for starters. Way more availableAvailable data are limited to more regional scale geophysics and geological mapping. Satellite imagery shows up some very intricately folded and probably folded units that post date the host rocks of Luni/Crean/P2 etc by a considerable margin. How much is open to further research but probably >=500 My.
The older rocks belong to the Aileron province that form (probably) the basement to the marginal basins -
Murraba (LINK), Amadeus, Hidden, and the youngest Canning basin to the west. Some age datings for all but the Hidden Basin which has been controversial though the most recent interpretation (I have seen) puts it more with the Murraba age range.
From Haines 2017 Regional perspective.
Arunta orogen is older basement to the basins and has two subdivisions in this area. Aileron province north (with Luni etc carbonatites) of the CAS (Central Australian Suture, shown schematically) and the Warumpi to the south.
Some comments about this southern area around 18+ min mark in this video.
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The recently staked E80/6072 plots in the Murraba basin.
The old (1970's) GSWA geology map largely shows the upper Murraba sediments outcropping to the east and at the southern end of the tenement. Only sparse outcrops in the Lake Hazlett and to the west
Legend used on map.
Kh and Pzl are Canning basin age sediments lying on top of the Murraba basin units.
Section line A-A' with approximate location of the tenement projected south. Suggests basement will be very deep (+1000m). This depth may not come into play as 1980's BHP drilling (for diamonds) just west of here did intersect intrusives that possibly penetrated these sediments. The age of these intrusives would be younger than the sediments they intrude likely making them much younger than the carbonatites to the south.
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Satellite images of the southern portion of 6072 show folded outcrop to the east of a strong NS linear feature and much less well preserved bedded units at the SE end of the lake. All shown on the Stansmore GSWA geology above.
Google Earth
ESRI/Wayback imagery with different colour rendering.
Similar area.
Focusing in on the area BC mentioned as Mn rich? There is a distinct blackish colouration of some of the sand islands in the lake. Perhaps a variation of mineral sands (Ilmenite/magnetite and many more) or some Mn concentrations as hoped for. Easy to check though tough to get out there and do it.
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The main reason for pegging the ground though were the coincidence of magnetic and gravity anomalies in an arcuate pattern.
While the folded sediments could easily explain the arcuate pattern I suspect there is a little more going on.
Annotated 1VD magnetics as the total magnetics are not much help at this resolution.
There are multiple domains of magnetics visible to me and way more to a geophysicist.
The Aileron basement (containing carbonatite deposits currently known) is one obvious domain. There is a prominent narrow linear feature (blue) to the north of this that separates Aileron and Murraba (etc) to the north.
The arcuate feature in 6072 (yellow) reflects regional patterns both E & W. It is much stronger than the subtle folding patterns (thin green lines) visible in magnetics (See Geoscience Australia's processed 1vd image below for a clearer picture. The arcuate feature in 6072 does appear to cross cut foliation in the south towards ENR ground suggesting some fault structure may be bedding parallel in part.
I highlighted (thin, red circles) a few of the magnetic peaks that may represent later intrusions - or something else.
Section line for reference purposes
Geoview gravity.
The arcuate structure at 6072 is more pronounced on this which does not show corresponding features to the E and W. Possibly supports the idea of a fault which could be a plumbing feature. Timing would probably post date Murraba basin sedimentation.
The boundary (blue) between Aileron and Murraba is a persistent feature on various geophysical images suggesting something real.
Geoscience Australia processed first vertical derivative magneticsClearly shows some folding in the Murraba and perhaps Hidden Bay Beds (plus a host of other features).
For magnetics to show the folding there is probably a weak magnetic component to the sediments. Weathering of such sediments would release these perhaps producing the black sands(?) seen in images above. A possibility.
The yellow shape is the southern portion of tenement 6072. The magnetic pattern continues to the south and appears to be a splay of some sort off the ENE/WSW structure (blue) to the south.
Two magnetic peaks circled in red.
Not certain what the braided magnetic pattern is in the blue shape. It is marginal to a probable structure and probably marks the southern boundary of the Murraba in that area.
Some of the irregular features on this image may be related to later drainages with some magnetic components.
If more detail magnetics were flown in this area the definition of Murraba vs Hidden Bay vs Canning may improve. Needs a discovery or two to warrant this IMO.
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Suspect you (
@blackcat) are aware of most of what is above or have access to folks who know more about this than I do.
If there aren't entrepreneurs, miners(?), like you then little would be discovered these days. Some risk and cost though for early stage follow up and get someone else interested worth the effort.
IMO something like Luni is unlikely though not impossible. Since the age of the Aileron carbonatites is probably not well constrained at the moment it is possible there is something here. CGR have indications of kimberlites which would be compatible from an age perspective.
Luni was a surprise so why not elsewhere. Don't try. Don't know.
(20min delay)