Channel and Detrital Iron Deposits of the Flinders Mines Pilbara Iron Ore

摘要

Record iron ore prices and a renaissance of infrastructure in the Pilbara have Flinders Minesrnpoised to move from explorer/developer to an iron ore producer. The potential of the company'srnPilbara Iron Ore Project was fi rst highlighted by the announcement of Rio Tinto's CaliwinginarnNorth deposit to the north and the Fortescue Metals group's Serenity deposit in the southeast.rnThe success of Flinders Mines' exploration has been based on incorporating landscape studies intornan existing geological framework, and using this to understand the iron-rich materials that werernemplaced during the Tertiary. The development of the Delta and Eagle deposit resource modelsrnhighlights this process. There are three main mineralisation styles at the project; detrital iron,rnchannel iron and bedded iron deposits. They have textural and mineralogical similarities withrncomparative deposits in the region. Gaining an insight into the geological processes unique torndetrital iron deposits and more distal channel iron deposits has been important to understandingrnthe geometallurgy of the mineralisation. The model sits comfortably with other regional oregenesisrnmodels and allows a contextual framework to be developed around the timing of depositionrnof the Fe-rich detritus and pisolitic nodules that dominate the deposits. The exploration model alsornallows Flinders to explore more effectively for bedded iron mineralisation developed prior to, andrnsince the development of the Tertiary weathering landscape.