Thaduna Cu Mine, Neds Creek Station, Meekatharra Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Thaduna Cu Mine	Mine
Neds Creek Station	- not defined -
Meekatharra Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Kermit the frog once said it isn't easy being green, but Kermit has never been to Thaduna, where it seems every rock turns green (and sometimes blue).

Thaduna is located approximately 150 kilometres north-east of Meekatharra, and 40 kilometres east of the Great Northern Highway, north of the Wiluna North Road, and just south-east of Neds Creek Homestead.

The Thaduna deposit was discovered by prospectors in 1941, and there was small scale production until 1953, followed by open cut mining, and trial underground mining intermittently from 1955 to 1971. A flotation plant operated from 1962-1971, and produced copper additives for fertilizers. The mine closed primarily due to the plant not being able to cope with sulphides and other minerals in the ore from the nearby Green Dragon Mine. To 1971 the mine had produced 30 528 tonnes of copper ore at 8.18% Cu.

The abandoned Thaduna pit is approximately 700m long by 80m wide, and flooded to several metres. Mine waste, high grade stockpiles, and old mine tailings are dumped in the vicinity of the old processing plant, although concrete foundations are all that remains.

The Thaduna deposit is hosted by 2200 million year old sedimentary rocks of the Yerrida Basin, folded into a south-west plunging syncline. These rocks are deeply weathered, conglomerate to fine grained with significant silica-sulphide-dolomite veining. It is bounded by the west by the Bryah Basin, and to the north by the Goodin-Jenkin Fault, which marks the boundary with the Marymia Dome.

The old copper mines in the area are fault controlled and hosted by the Thaduna Greywacke. From the surface to 30m is the oxidised zone dominated by malachite with significant azurite, chrysocolla, cuprite, with minor chalcopyrite and native copper. Next is a supergene chalcocite zone 30-100m with minor covellite; a transition chalcocite/chalcopyrite zone; and then primary chalcopyrite with high grade copper shoots and bornite. There is a surrounding hydrothermal alteration zone 15m wide with chlorite after hematite, showing a marked colour change from purple to green, and a proximal graphitic zone.

While the mine is abandoned, it should be noted the area is under lease (2012), and active drilling exploration has taken place in the area over the past twenty years. Cabinet sized specimens of malachite, azurite, chrysocolla, and chalcopyrite have been available from Western Australian mineral dealers over the past few years from the mine.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References