Distal Footprints in the South West Yilgarn

The Challenge

High metamorphic grade and the extent of cover rocks restrict the applicability of traditional mineral exploration models in the southwest Yilgarn Craton.

These challenges create a perceived exploration risk that has restricted investment, leaving this region under-explored for minerals, despite sharing prospective basement geology with eastern areas of the richly-endowed Yilgarn mineral province.

Proposed Solution

This project will define how the geochemical signature of mineralisation is modified by metamorphism and expressed through cover in the southwest Yilgarn. These insights will then be evaluated against non-standard approaches to mapping landscape architecture and variability at a regional scale, including digital elevation models, remote sensing, neotectonics, and sedimentary dynamics.

This investigation is intended to support the development of an exploration workflow tailored to the identification of mineralisation in the Southwest Yilgarn.

Proposed Benefits to WA

The conceptual toolkit delivered by this project will support mineral companies at all stages of the exploration process in the southwest Yilgarn. By reducing exploration risk, these new exploration models will support investment in the discovery of new mineral systems and development of the next generation of mines in this emerging mineral province.

Keywords: Mineral exploration; exploration under cover; neotectonics; landscape mapping; gold