West Jordan deposit, Lake Way Station, Wiluna Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
West Jordan deposit	Deposit
Lake Way Station	Lake
Wiluna Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Large tonnage, low-grade (av. 0.58% Ni) disseminated nickel sulphide deposit, hosted in a serpentinised ultramafic body. Defined by drilling over the period 2009-2012.


The West Jordan nickel prospect is located approximately 55 kilometres south south-east of Wiluna, between the Honeymoon Well nickel complex and the Mt Keith mine in the northern Agnew-Wiluna Greenstone Belt.

The deposit is found in the core of a large dunite body, as disseminated blebs containing pyrrhotite, heazlewoodite, and locally native nickel, sphalerite and chalcocite. It is deeply weathered, and shows hypergene alteration of the host ultramafic rocks. This was by retrograde metamorphic fluids, resulting in extensive serpentisation as well as locally structurally controlled late magnesite alteration.

The description of the West Jordan prospect is the result of an analysis of twelve diamond drill cores. Eight are detailed in the reference. Three are of mineralised mesocumulate peridotite, showing an alteration assemblage of lizardite-brucite-iowaite with stichtite (purple) or woodallite replacing former magmatic chromites. Two of these show grey-white cross-cutting vein of intergrown brucite and iowaite. The fourth shows un-mineralised adcumulate dunite altered to an antigorite-magnesite assemblage. Two drill cores show brown bastile, another magmatic gabbro with ilmenite pseudomorphed by fawn coloured leucoxene. The last drill core shows a sharp contact between talc-magnesite and antigorite-magnesite altered assemblages in the un-mineralised adcumulate dunite.

The reference also contains eight reflected light photomicrographs of sulphide blebs. These show pentlandite, magnetite and minor trohilinite-vallerite series. Pentlandite with magnetite corona and cross-bars replaced by iowaite. Intergrown pentlandite and heazlewoodite with partial magnetite rims and inclusions. Intergrown heazlewoodite and native nickel and associated nickeloan magnetite. Native nickel and lesser heazlewoodite and nickeloan magnetite. Transition zone assemblage of microfaulted and porous secondary violarite overgrown with rims of secondary nickeloan pyrite associated with minor magnetite. Heazlewoodite surrounded by magnetite and chalcocite rimming the heazlewoodite from the Cu enriched zone. Intergrown pentlandite and magnetite with sphalerite partially replacing pentlandite from the Zn enriched zone.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References