The Use of Directional Variography and Structural Geology to Determine

Controls on Gold Mineralisation in the South Lode, Kundana Mine,

Coolgardie Goldfield

Haydn R. Hadlow, Sia Khosrowshahi & Julian R. Vearncombe

Abstract

Structure is the single most important factor controlling the geometry of gold oreshoots in Archaean epigenetic
gold deposits. As the geometry and structure of an orebody are expected to be reflected in the variogram, it
follows that when the structural data are limited or the structural controls are not well understood, the use of
directional variography on assay data may extend the knowledge of not only the ore distribution within the
deposit, but also the structures controlling it. By calculating variograms in all possible directions, the preferred
mineralisation continuity directions can be inferred, and then related to the known geological structures. This
technique is now made practical by modern computing technology and three dimensional variography software.

At the Kundana Mine, the major control on the location of the orebody is the intersection of subvertical shear
zones trending north-northwest and bedding dipping steeply southwest, with gold-quartz veins along dilated
lithological contacts. Based on the shear zone intersection with bedding, the orebody was predicted to plunge
steeply to the south, but the results of exploration drilling show a complex grade distribution pattern.
Calculation of variograms in directions encompassing 360º in the plane of the orebody shows not only a long
mineralisation continuity direction pitching at about 60º to the south, with a range of about 140m, but also a
second direction pitching at around 20º to the north, with a range of about 180m. The southern plunge in the
grade distribution is that expected from the intersection of the shear zone and bedding, and the variography is
evidence that it is an important structural control on the mineralisation. The significance of the shallow northern
plunge was not immediately understood but, subsequent to the variographic study, lineations were identified
which are localised in the main ore zone and plunging on average at 20º to the north. These structures are
interpreted to parallel the shear movement vector along the ore zone during the mineralising event, and control
the orientation of shallow, north-plunging, high-grade shoots within the steeply south-plunging orebody.