Meentheena fluorite deposit, Ripon Hills District, East Pilbara Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Meentheena fluorite deposit	Deposit
Ripon Hills District	Mining District
East Pilbara Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Located approximately 70 kilometres east south-east of Marble Bar, and 6 kilometres north north-east of the abandoned Meentheena homestead. Discovered 1971. One of the largest fluorite deposits in Western Australia, estimated at 13 000 tonnes 50% CaF2.

The fluorite deposit is hosted in the upper part of the Mount Roe Basalt, in amygdaloidal basalt, where the fluorite has formed veins and fissures forming eight separate occurrences. Conjugate veins are found up to 5 metres wide, and strike for 200 metres (1.6 kilometres in another source), over a 4 square kilometre area, occurring in two clusters, 0.5 kilometres apart, straddling the Nullagine River, 2 kilometres south of the Tumbianna Pool.

The veins show an outer quartz zone, and a wide central zone of interlayered quartz with coarse grained massive and locally banded, anhedral, white, pale brown and purple fluorite. Fluorite zones within the veins tend to pinch and swell. Sometimes the fluorite is found with galena, malachite, brochantite and atacamite. Thick veins of calcite are found at the edges of the mineralized areas. As is typical of fluorite in Western Australia, only massive material appears to be present, although in relatively large quantities.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References