Salt Creek, Whim Creek, City of Karratha, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Salt Creek	Creek
Whim Creek	Creek
City of Karratha	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

VMS prospect. Located 17 kilometres north of the Whim Creek pub. It consists of a pair of south-east plunging ribbon like shoots of Cu-Zn massive sulphides. It is located one kilometre south of the regional Scholl Shear Zone, on the north flank of the Caines Hill Batholith, the deposit on the north arm of the Whim Creek volcanic belt. It is thought the deposit formed in a separate sub-basin to the Whim Creek deposit.

The VMS is in the top layer of a volcaniclastic siltstone, which overlies a thick rhyolite volcanic pile, one kilometre thick. This contains coarse breccia units and epiclastic rocks of the Mons Cupri volcanics overlain by 25-60 metres of argillite, with andesitic lava flows of the Rushall Slate, in turn overlain by mafic and ultramafic rocks of the Louden Volcanics.

The deposits is two lenses striking east-west, and 200 metres apart. The west lens strikes for 100 metres and goes down at least 250 metres, while the east lens strikes for 120 metres, and goes down at least 350 metres, vertical dipping.

The deposit consists of several thin layers of massive and banded sulphides interbedded with tuffaceous siltstone, and extensive stringer vein mineralisation as a vertically plunging tabular body 10 metres thick. The massive sulphides show medium to coarse grained pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, with minor magnetite.

Below this is a zone of pyrite-chalcopyrite stringers , with chlorite alteration. This is enclosed by a broad zone of sericite and carbonate alteration.

There is a third lens being in the overlaying Rushall slate as 1.4 metres thick massive and bedded sphalerite and galena, with negligible chalcopyrite, within a 5 metre thick envelope of disseminated sphalerite and galena.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References