Mineral chemistry

 

Mineral chemistry has broadly been used across geosciences to gain insight into the physio-chemical conditions during formation of that mineral and post crystallisation events (e.g. alteration) that a mineral has been subjected to. Many studies have used mineral chemistry to aid in provenance and mineral system analysis studies.

The term ‘indicator mineral’ has been broadly assigned to mineral species that indicate the presence or proximity of mineralisation and/or alteration, and can be extremely beneficial in exploration of various commodities. Indicator minerals typically preserve varying physical and chemical characteristics that may reflect conditions of direct precipitation from a mineralising fluid or conditions of alteration. In some cases, these physical and chemical differences can be directly related to a mineralising event and will be distinctly different compared to characteristics of the same mineral that is sporadically distributed in rocks distal to and not associated with mineralisation.

Understanding the distribution and chemistry of indicator minerals and their association with different deposit styles allows the development of geochemical criterion that may aid in mineral exploration. Additionally, several indicator minerals are resistate in nature, meaning they can survive processes of weathering, erosion, transport and redeposition that are commonly associated with development of sedimentary cover sequences that overlie buried mineralisation. Therefore, indicator minerals can be particularly useful in cover dominated terranes where exploration is difficult due to deposits and associated alteration systems being buried and therefore obscured.

MinEx Research

Within MinEx CRC, work has been undertaken to develop criterias to aid in mineral exploration using minerals such as monazite, rhabdophane, apatite, zircon. Additionally, mineral chemistry has been used in mineral system studies to grain insight into formation conditions and key differences between different deposit types in our case study areas and NDI projects.

Workflows in case study areas that integrate this work is currently being produced.

MinEx CRC Researcher Contact Details