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Major Initiatives

4D lithospheric evolution and controls on mineral systems in Neoarchean to Paleoproterozoic terranes

West Africa

This project is studying a fundamental transition period in planet Earth 2.7-1.8 billion years ago (Ga), that is also remarkably endowed in metal deposits.

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AMIRA P1061A - SAXI - The South American Exploration Initiative

South America

This 12-month pilot project is an integrated data gathering program that has been inspired by the highly successful West African Exploration Initiative (WAXI, AMIRA International project series P934) and borrows some of its aims from other successful exploration programs that have led to new discoveries elsewhere in the world.

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AMIRA P934B West African Exploration Initiative-stage 3 - WAXI 3

West Africa

The West African Exploration Initiative (WAXI) is an ambitious research and training program led by eight partner institutions, focused on the mineral potential of the West African Craton. This Initiative, which commenced in November 2006, is principally funded by the international Mining Industry and the Australian Government (AusAID & ARC), via an AMIRA International consortium. AMIRA International is an industry association dedicated to supporting collaborative minerals industry research. The overall aim of West Africa Exploration Initiative is to enhance the exploration potential of the West African Craton through an integrated program of research and data gathering into its “anatomy’, and to augment the capacity of local institutions to undertake this form of work. The capacity building activities for Stage 2 were completely underwritten by AusAID (the Australian Agency for International Development). The initiative covers the whole of the Leo-Man Shield and its immediate surrounds, and includes the following countries: Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ghana, The Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Niger, Sierra Leone and Togo.

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Giant Gold Systems of the Birimian (Obuasi, Siguiri)

Ghana/Guinea, West Africa

This project is building 4-D geological models to aid exploration targeting at both mine and regional scales in the Paleoproterozoic terranes of the Leo-Mann shield in West Africa.

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Yilgarn 2020

Yilgarn Craton, Australia

Yilgarn 2020 is a new 3-year research program that aims at enhancing our ability to predict the distribution of mineralised camps. Tectonic systems, and associated mineralising systems, involve a number of interlinked physical and chemical processes that occur across all levels of the crust and upper mantle. At the regional scale, the poorly constrained deep crust and lithospheric mantle provide strong rheological and chemical contrasts that control the dynamics of evolving tectonic events, and are source regions for potentially mineralised melts and metamorphic fluids. The deep crust and lithospheric mantle are occasionally exposed in orogens, but in cratons they are unexposed. Therefore, our understanding must be gained through proxy datasets, including geochemical, isotopic and geophysical data.

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Research Projects

4D evolution of the Plutonic Greenstone Belt

Plutonic Greenstone Belt, WA

The principal aims of this project are to re-assess and understand the geology and geophysics of the Plutonic Well Greenstone Belt of Western Australia in order to provide better reconstructions of basement geometries with the stratigraphic and structural relationships. This aims to improve targeting.

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4D evolution of the Telfer deposit, W.A.

Telfer, Western Australia

This project is assessing the controls on, and significance of, spatial variations in the character and grade of mineralisation within the giant copper-gold system at Telfer in the Patterson Orogen, W.A.

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4D evolution of the Tennant Creek mineral field

Tennant Creek, Northern Territory

This study aims to integrate structural geology, gold deposits, potential field data sets and hydrothermal footprints in the Tennant Creek Mineral Field in the Northern Territory.

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4D lithospheric evolution and controls on mineral systems in Western Superior

Superior Craton, Canada

The project applies multi-isotopic (U-Pb, Lu-Hf, O) analyses of zircon to map lithospheric architecture in space and time in Wabigoon Subprovince, W. Superior, and to generate mappable exploration criteria for targeting exploration for various Archaean mineral systems at the craton to terrane scale. It is funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems.

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Controls on epithermal and orogenic gold mineralisation in Argentina

Argentina

This two year research project was funded by Troy Resources in order to generate a series of GIS-based prospectivity maps and to delineate targets for different gold systems and various styles of gold mineralization in Argentina, from country-scale to district-scale analyses, with a focus on the Casposo low sulfidation epithermal gold system in the Frontal Cordillera, San Juan province in Argentina.

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