The geophysics of the White Dam deposit, near Olary, South Australia

Abstract

The White Dam gold-copper prospect is located 31 km northeast of the township of Olary in South Australia. It is estimated to contain approximately 230,000 oz Au, within a resource of 7 Mt at 1 g/t Au. Mineralisation is stratabound and hosted in biotite-enriched leucocratic gneiss, interpreted to be part of the Palaeoproterozoic Curnamona Group. A thin veneer of soil cover blankets most of the deposit area. White Dam is a geochemical discovery. It was first evident on a regional soil sampling survey acquired in the early 1990s. Since its discovery, several geophysical surveys have been carried out over the deposit. These include, in-situ physical property logging, magnetics, gravity, IP and resistivity. This work has shown that the mineralisation does not have significant physical property contrasts with the host sequence. However, contrasts in density, magnetisation and IP effect within the host sequence allow useful geological information to be obtained.