HYPERSPECTRAL MINERAL MAPS REVEAL UNSEEN

GEOLOGY AT MOUNT DORE, CLONCURRY DISTRICT,

QUEENSLAND.
Mal Jones1, Tom Cudahy2, Allan Parsons1, Carsten Laukamp2
1
Geological Survey of Queensland;
80 Meiers Road Indooroopilly
Mal.Jones@deedi.qld.gov.au; Allan.Parsons@deedi.qld.gov.au
2
Centre of Excellence for 3D Mineral Mapping,
PO Box 1130, Bentley. WA, Australia.
Thomas.Cudahy@CSIRO.au; Carsten.Laukamp@CSIRO.au

Figure 1. Mount Dore is located in the Iron Oxide-Cu-Au province south of Cloncurry,
Queensland.

Abstract
Hyperspectral mineral maps contribute valuable insights into geological and
mineralisation models applied to exploration. Within the footprint of a 2006
Queensland hyperspectral survey, Ivanhoe Australia has made significant
discoveries of Cu, Mo, and Re in the Mount Dore area 105 km south of
Cloncurry (Figure 1). Several deposits proximal to the 1516 Ma Mount Dore
Granite are located along the N-S Mount Dore Shear Zone where it defines an 8
km straight-line section of the western margin of the granite. In this area,
mineralisation is hosted by carbonaceous slates of the Kuridala Group (1652
Ma), largely concealed under the feather edge of the granite. Here, the outcrop
of the Kuridala Group is narrow, forming a 200-400 m wide zone along the
Mount Dore Shear Zone. Details of the mineralogy of the Kuridala Group are
illustrated by mineral maps derived from the hyperspectral survey, including
opaque minerals, and white mica.
Mineralisation is envisaged as occurring along sharp chemical gradients
between oxidising fluids from the granite and the reduced carbonaceous slate
host rocks of the Kuridala Group. The slates also contain microcrystalline
graphite and white mica, whose physical properties of friction reduction may
have aided brecciation in the fault zone. Mineralising fluids emanating from the
top of the intrusion may have used the resulting porosity and permeability as a
transport pathway and accommodation space for mineral deposition. The
location of the mineral deposits and the association with the granite suggests
that the intrusive body is now resting on its side.
Introduction
From 2005-2008, the Geological Survey of Queensland funded a collaborative
project with CSIRO for the collection and interpretation of hyperspectral data in
north Queensland. The aim of the project was to stimulate mineral exploration
in a period when exploration activity was showing signs of slowing. The new
data provide insights into mineral alteration, a process that commonly creates a
large, more readily identifiable footprint surrounding economic gold, silver and
base metal deposits. Twenty five separate areas were selected for the surveys,
encompassing a total of 25 000 sq km. The areas were chosen on the basis of
known mineral potential, presence of major structural features, and disparate
geology known to host a range of styles of mineralisation. The Mount Isa
region, well known as Queensland’s premier mineral province, was a focus of
the surveys, and thirteen hyperspectral swathes were collected there using the
HyMap sensor. This paper looks at one of these swathes which covers part of
the Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) region south of Cloncurry.
Location
The Mount Isa mineral province in northwest Queensland was first indentified
as a rich mineral region with Ernest Henry’s discovery of the Great Australia
copper deposit in 1867 (Blainey, 1960). The town of Cloncurry was established
nearby to service the mining activities. The region around Cloncurry has
continued to be prospective for copper, gold, lead, zinc, silver, and uranium up
to the present, and is now known as an IOCG province within the Mount Isa
Inlier. Our investigations have studied the Mount Dore area, 105 km south of
Cloncurry, where Ivanhoe Australia has discovered significant Cu and Mo-Re
deposits.
Landscape Context
The Mount Isa Inlier comprises largely Proterozoic rocks (542-2500 Ma) that
host a wide range of economic mineral deposits including metals such as Cu,
Au, Ag, Pb, Zn, Mo, Re, and U. In the Cloncurry region, the Inlier was
previously covered by sediments of the comparatively young Gilbert River
Formation, a continental sequence of clayey quartz sandstone and minor shale
(Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (ca 100-175 Ma)). The Gilbert River
Formation is susceptible to erosion, and processes of scarp retreat have
removed the formation from large areas of the Mount Isa Inlier. The removal
has exposed the underlying Proterozoic geology, as is the case in the Mount
Dore region. The Gilbert River Formation no longer has an extensive presence
on the landscape. However, it has not been entirely removed, as evidenced by
residual mesas, plateaus, and rises to the north east of Mount Dore.
 Figure 2. Geological map shows stream-associated Cenozoic sediments (Cz),
Mesozoic Gilbert River Formation (GRF), and Proterozoic Gabbro/amphibolite (G)
Mount Dore Granite (MDG), Maramungee Granite (MG), Staveley Formation (SF) and
Kuridala Formation (KF). Copper prospects are also shown (Triangles).

The Gilbert River Formation is a relatively flat lying sequence that was
deposited over the Proterozoic rocks which formed a prior landscape. In
contrast to the horizontal orientation and generally undisturbed nature of the
Gilbert River Formation, the Proterozoic rocks are heavily eroded, deformed,
overturned, intruded, faulted, sheared, and altered by the passage of hot
reactive fluids from earlier times when they were located far beneath the earth’s
surface.
Cenozoic landscape evolution has removed much of the Gilbert River
Formation, but the underlying Proterozoic rocks are much more resistant.
Nevertheless, there is diversity and variation in the resistance to erosion of the
Proterozoic deposits. The modern landscape comprises a surface re-exposed
by the removal of the Gilbert River Formation, and containing landscape
elements such as hills and valleys, drainage networks and preferred landscape
orientations that can be related to lithological variations, geological boundaries,
faults, and shear zones in the Proterozoic rocks.
Mineral and other Image Maps
HyMap is an airborne imaging VNIR/SWIR spectrometer designed and built by
Integrated Spectronics Proprietary Limited (ISPL) (www.intspec.com ) and
operated by HyVista Corporation (www.hyvista.com). The Hyperspectral data
were processed at CSIRO to derive a suite of image maps showing the
distribution and composition of surface materials (Table 1).
The processing steps for generating the image maps include:
• Ensuring that data are well calibrated to radiance-at-sensor or surface
(apparent) reflectance (quality check or QC)
• Avoiding any levelling and statistics-based methods as these introduce
undesired scene-dependencies, such that image products from different
areas are not comparable
• Using physics-based reduction models and removing complicating
effects (additive and/or multiplicative) in their order of development (e.g.
instrument first followed by atmospheric, and then surface effects)
• Assuming that mineral abundances/compositions/crystallinity are
proportional to diagnostic absorption depths/wavelengths/widths,
respectively;
• Capturing the diagnostic absorption information involves continuum band
normalisation (ratios); and/or fitted polynomials;
• Assuming that when the diagnostic mineral absorption is not evident,
then that mineral is not present.
• Assuming linear mixing at the pixel-scale for mixtures of soil/rock with
vegetation (dry and green), which enables rescaling of apparent to
absolute mineral abundances.
• Increasing the accuracy of a given mineral interpretation/abundance by
using multiple diagnostic absorption features; and
• Removing any complications such as spectrally overlapping materials by
applying set thresholds.
(Cudahy and others, 2008.)

The products of these procedures are a set of GIS-compatible image maps that
are available for free download from this website:
http://www.em.csiro.au/NGMM/stage1.html
 Table 1. Image maps available in GIS compatible formats
Image maps derived from Hyperspectral surveys

Water content Kaolin crystallinity Epidote

Opaques Hydrated Silica Amphibole-chlorite

Natural Colour Green vegetation Smectite content

False Colour Dry vegetation Smectite

composition

MgOH content Ferrous Fe Mica content

MgOH composition Ferrous Fe and Mica composition

MgOH

Kaolin content Ferric Oxide Mica crystallinity

Ferric Fe and MgOH

Discussion
Residual Mesozoic Landscape Elements – The Gilbert River Formation
comprises mesa tops with steeply sloping colluvial slopes and cliff perimeters,
and overlies mainly the rocks of the Mount Dore Granite. Geological mapping
identifies the top of the mesas as the extent of the Gilbert River Formation but
the Hyperspectral images clearly define the projection of eroded deposits onto
the colluvial aprons. Ferric oxide for example is detectable, but typically at low
abundance in the Gilbert River Formation, whereas beyond the colluvial
deposits the landscape contains moderate to high amounts, derived from the
underlying Mount Dore Granite. Seven km to the northeast of Mount Dore,
erosion has not completely removed the Gilbert River Formation and thin
vestiges are identifiable by their low ferric oxide content (blue areas in Figure 3).
The sharp boundaries with areas of moderate to high Ferric oxide indicate a
strong input from the Proterozoic substrate and prove that the landscape does
not have a surface blanket of sediments eroded from the Gilbert River
Formation.
 Figure 3. Ferric oxide image map shows low abundance as blue and high abundance
as red. Black = undetected. The Gilbert River Formation has low abundance in
comparison with the Mount Dore Granite where abundances are moderate to high.
See also Figure 2.

Proterozoic Landscape Elements - The main elements of the landscape

composed of Proterozoic rocks are the hills of Mount Dore Granite in the east
and the Maramungee Granite in the west. Low ridges of the Kuridala Formation
- comprising calc silicates and carbonaceous shale – and undulating plains of
the Staveley Formation - arenites, siltstone and minor marble and conglomerate
- occur between the two granite bodies (Figure 2).
The western margin of the Mount Dore Granite is truncated by the north-south
Mount Dore Shear Zone and a series of Cu deposits lie along this zone over a
distance of about 8 km. Ivanhoe Australia geologists refer to a region of intense
alteration along this zone defined by copper anomalies in soil geochemistry.
Opaque Minerals Distribution – The opaque minerals image map (Figure 4)
shows a narrow ribbon of high abundance along the Mount Dore Shear Zone.
This region contains a series of prospects – Mount Dore, Merlin, Flora, Busker,
Cave Hill, Metal Ridge and Metal Ridge North – that confirm a mineralised zone
associated with carbonaceous shale of the Kuridala Formation.
Figure 4. Opaque minerals image map shows an association between a narrow ribbon
of moderate to high abundance and mineral prospects (triangles). Low abundance in
purple and blue; high abundance in orange and red. Black = not detected.

From the Opaques distribution, it is evident that the hyperspectral survey can
map fine geological detail within the Kuridala Formation.
White Mica Distribution – The white mica image map (Figure 5) shows that the
Mount Dore Granite contains high abundances compared with most other
areas. As well, there are high concentrations along a N-S ribbon in the Kuridala
Formation immediately west of the carbonaceous shale identified on the
opaques image (Figure 4).
 Figure 5. White mica distribution shows high abundances on the Mount Dore Granite
(and blanketing effects of the Gilbert River Formation). A ribbon of high abundance in
the Kuridala Formation lies immediately west of the line of mineral prospects on the
carbonaceous shale (see also Figure 3). Low abundance in purple and blue; high
abundance in orange and red. Black = not detected.

A complete mineral system model for the metallic mineralisation must identify a
heat and fluid source, a transportation pathway, and a depositional site. For
this area, the Mount Dore Granite is a convenient and likely source of heat and
metal-carrying fluids which may have emanated from the top of the intrusion as
is moved upwards in the earth’s crust. Recent Re-Os dating of several of the
mineral deposits in the Mount Dore Shear Zone included an age of 1502±7 Ma
for the Mount Dore copper deposit (Duncan, 2009). The age of the copper
mineralisation is consistent with the age of the Mount Dore Granite of 1516±10
Ma, supporting an association between the two.
Identifying a transport pathway for the fluids is not such as issue when the
deposits are so close to the intrusive body. Additionally, the carbonaceous
shale in the Kuridala Formation may have provided suitable chemical conditions
(through its catalytic properties) for metals to be deposited from the fluids. The
shale extends north and south close to the Mount Dore Shear Zone, whose
porosity would have facilitated fluid transport. Hence an extended but localised
zone of mineralisation can be expected along the Mount Dore Shear Zone in
association with the carbonaceous shale. The line of deposits (Figure 2) shows
that mineralisation does extend along this zone and so mineralised fluids may
have supplied more distal ore bodies as well (Cudahy and others, 2008).
The current land surface provides a section of the geology and displays
relationships between the various geological units. As the mineralised fluids are
most likely to have emanated from the top of the intrusion, and the geology
suggests fluid pathways extending away from the granite to the north and south,
it appears that the Mount Dore Granite is now on its side.
To the west of the Mount Dore Shear Zone is the Staveley Formation, a ~1710
Ma sequence of fine sandstone and mudstone which is generally unmineralised
(Figure 2). In the study area, the Staveley Formation has a significantly
different mineral/chemical character to its continuation north and south (eg
white mica abundance – Figure 5). These variations are inferred to relate to the
close proximity of the Mount Dore Granite and reflect an alteration overprint
through the intervening Kuridala Group.
Conclusions
The Hyperspectral survey provides an insightful perspective on a landscape
that contains elements of widely different ages and geological history. The
image maps support the development of mineral system models to explain the
occurrence of mineral deposits. The Mount Dore granite is the most likely
source of hot fluids that transported metallic minerals into the surrounding
country rock where contrasting chemistries provided opportunities for
deposition. An understanding of a consistent mineral systems model assists
explorers in assessing a terrain and identifying prospective exploration targets.

References
Blainey, G., 1960, Mines in the Spinifex. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.
Cudahy T. Jones M. Thomas M. Laukamp C. Caccetta M. Hewson R. Rodger
A. Verrall, M. 2008, Next Generation Mineral Mapping: Queensland airborne
HyMap and Satellite ASTER Surveys 2006-2008. CSIRO Exploration and
Mining Report P2007/364.
Duncan, R., Hitzman, M., Nelson, E., Stein, H., Zimmerman, A., Kirwin, D.,
2009, Re-Os molybdenite ages for the southern Cloncurry IOCG district,
Queensland, Australia: Protracted mineralisation over 210 myr. Proceedings of
the Tenth Biennial SGA Meeting Townsville 2009 2, 626-628.