Paragenesis of Alteration and Mineralisation at the Maronan Polymetallic Deposit, Mount Isa Region

Project Partner:  Maronan Metals Limited

Project Leader: Associate Professor Ioan Sanislav

Maronan Metals Limited is interested in sponsoring an honours project for a high performing student to study the alteration paragenesis and, potentially, to date minerals that will help constrain the timing of Mineralisation at Maronan.

The Maronan Project is located within the Eastern Domain of the Mount Isa Block, approximately 65km south east of Cloncurry. The Maronan Deposit is a polymetallic lead-silver-copper-gold resource hosted within the Mount Norna Quartzite unit of the Soldiers Cap Sequence. The lead-silver (-zinc) mineralisation is Broken Hill style, and similar to the Cannington Deposit located approximately 90km to the south, although at a lower metamorphic grade. The mineralisation is hosted within stratabound units interpreted to have been black shales, although they now manifest as calcite marble and a pyroxene-rich unit. The copper-gold mineralisation is interpreted to post-date the lead-silver mineralisation based on over-printing relationships between the different styles of mineralisation, and is interpreted as being part of the Iron-Sulphide Copper-Gold (ISCG) spectrum of deposits.
Garnet is a common alteration mineral observed at the Maronan deposit and, using the latest analytical and dating techniques, the project plans to generate new data about the garnets in and around the deposit.
The proposed Honours project would involve geological logging of 2 to 3 drill holes through the Maronan Deposit to identify and select garnets from different alteration domains related to the lead-silver and copper-gold mineralisation. A key aim will be dating of the spessartine and almandine garnets to see if these minerals can provide absolute dates to constrain paragentic events at Maronan.

Structure, Dynamics and Composition of the Upper and Mid-Mantle

Project Leader: Dr Lauren Waszek

The upper an mid-mantle is characterised by numerous global and regional seismic discontinuities marking mineral phase changes and compositional heterogeneities. Geodynamically, both up and downwelling convecting material is observed in seismic tomography models to become deflected and trapped by some of the discontinuities. These projects will use integrate novel seismic observational algorithms, mineral physics computational calculations, and geodynamic modelling, to obtain improved insight into the physical structures, thermochemistry, and dynamic processes in this region.
Students interested in this project can contact Dr Lauren Waszek to discuss possible projects that align with their interests.

Geochemistry and Geochronology of Titanite

Project Leader:  Dr Helen McCoy-West

This project will build on recently acquired preliminary titanite geochronology of intrusive rocks of the Mount Isa region. You will conduct additional analyses and compare the results to those from zircon geochronology studies of the same, or similar, rock samples. You will also investigate the differences in the geochemistry of older and younger titanite grains from the same sample, from which you could develop a scheme to determine primary and secondary titanite from its composition.