Mariners deposit, Widgiemooltha, Coolgardie Shire, Western Australia, Australiai
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Mariners deposit | Deposit |
| Widgiemooltha | Town |
| Coolgardie Shire | Shire |
| Western Australia | State |
| Australia | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
31° 37' 46'' South , 121° 39' 22'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
KΓΆppen climate type:
Mindat Locality ID:
18841
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:18841:7
GUID (UUID V4):
91c1b388-2e2a-448a-a7ee-734acca51127
Other/historical names associated with this locality:
Mariners Decline; Mariners Ni mine
A nickel mine located about 15 km SSE of Widgiemooltha.
Operated from 1991-1999, restarted in 2004.
Located in the middle of Lake Zot. During explorations a flood filled the lake, wrecking the exploration drillrigs, consequently the mine was named Mariners.
The deposit was discovered by Union Miniere and Anaconda Resources in the early 1970's but was not developed further due to a poor understanding of the local geology. Western Mining Corporation in the late 1980's developed a mine here from a decline on Wedding Guest Island in the middle of Lake Zot. The mine was purchased by Mincor Resources in 2001.
During Western Mining operations between 1991-1999 it produced 1 114 730 tonnes of ore at 2.53 Ni from 28 190 tonnes of nickel ore. The mine closed in 1999 due to flooding. After six months of pumping, the mine was de-watered and Mincor started mining operations which between 2004-2012 produced 1.14 million tonnes of ore at 2.6% Ni from 29 600 tonnes of nickel ore.
The orebody is hosted by a north plunging trough structure on the footwall of the contact with the Widgiemooltha Dome. It forms a series of partially overlapping kidney shaped pods of nickel sulphide ore arranged down the plunge line. Mariners has an extremely high arsenic content and common species found during the early days of mining were arsenopyrite, nickeline, gersdorffite and other arseno sulphide minerals. The komatiite host contains dominant talc-magnesite assemblages.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
10 valid minerals.
Rock Types Recorded
Note: data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!
Select Rock List Type
Alphabetical List Tree DiagramDetailed Mineral List:
| β Arsenopyrite Formula: FeAsS |
| β Chalcopyrite Formula: CuFeS2 |
| β 'Chlorite Group' |
| β Gersdorffite Formula: NiAsS |
| β Halite Formula: NaCl |
| β Magnesite Formula: MgCO3 |
| β Pentlandite Formula: (NixFey)Ξ£9S8 |
| β Pyrite Formula: FeS2 |
| β Pyrrhotite Formula: Fe1-xS |
| β Talc Formula: Mg3Si4O10(OH)2 |
| β Tremolite Formula: ◻Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2 |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| β | Pentlandite | 2.BB.15 | (NixFey)Ξ£9S8 |
| β | Chalcopyrite | 2.CB.10a | CuFeS2 |
| β | Pyrrhotite | 2.CC.10 | Fe1-xS |
| β | Pyrite | 2.EB.05a | FeS2 |
| β | Arsenopyrite | 2.EB.20 | FeAsS |
| β | Gersdorffite | 2.EB.25 | NiAsS |
| Group 3 - Halides | |||
| β | Halite | 3.AA.20 | NaCl |
| Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates | |||
| β | Magnesite | 5.AB.05 | MgCO3 |
| Group 9 - Silicates | |||
| β | Tremolite | 9.DE.10 | β»Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2 |
| β | Talc | 9.EC.05 | Mg3Si4O10(OH)2 |
| Unclassified | |||
| β | 'Chlorite Group' | - | |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| H | Hydrogen | |
|---|---|---|
| H | β Talc | Mg3Si4O10(OH)2 |
| H | β Tremolite | ◻Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2 |
| C | Carbon | |
| C | β Magnesite | MgCO3 |
| O | Oxygen | |
| O | β Magnesite | MgCO3 |
| O | β Talc | Mg3Si4O10(OH)2 |
| O | β Tremolite | ◻Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2 |
| Na | Sodium | |
| Na | β Halite | NaCl |
| Mg | Magnesium | |
| Mg | β Magnesite | MgCO3 |
| Mg | β Talc | Mg3Si4O10(OH)2 |
| Mg | β Tremolite | ◻Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2 |
| Si | Silicon | |
| Si | β Talc | Mg3Si4O10(OH)2 |
| Si | β Tremolite | ◻Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2 |
| S | Sulfur | |
| S | β Arsenopyrite | FeAsS |
| S | β Chalcopyrite | CuFeS2 |
| S | β Gersdorffite | NiAsS |
| S | β Pentlandite | (NixFey)Ξ£9S8 |
| S | β Pyrite | FeS2 |
| S | β Pyrrhotite | Fe1-xS |
| Cl | Chlorine | |
| Cl | β Halite | NaCl |
| Ca | Calcium | |
| Ca | β Tremolite | ◻Ca2Mg5(Si8O22)(OH)2 |
| Fe | Iron | |
| Fe | β Arsenopyrite | FeAsS |
| Fe | β Chalcopyrite | CuFeS2 |
| Fe | β Pentlandite | (NixFey)Ξ£9S8 |
| Fe | β Pyrite | FeS2 |
| Fe | β Pyrrhotite | Fe1-xS |
| Ni | Nickel | |
| Ni | β Gersdorffite | NiAsS |
| Ni | β Pentlandite | (NixFey)Ξ£9S8 |
| Cu | Copper | |
| Cu | β Chalcopyrite | CuFeS2 |
| As | Arsenic | |
| As | β Arsenopyrite | FeAsS |
| As | β Gersdorffite | NiAsS |
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
Australia
- Western Australia
- Kambalda Nickel Metallogenic ProvinceGeologic Province
- West Australian ElementCraton
- Yilgarn CratonCraton
Australian PlateTectonic Plate
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References
