Mount Marion Gold Mine (Ghost Crab), Spargoville, Coolgardie Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Mount Marion Gold Mine (Ghost Crab)	Mine
Spargoville	- not defined -
Coolgardie Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Approximately 20 kilometres south-east of Coolgardie, and 5 kilometres east of the Coolgardie-Norseman Highway. The gravel access road leaves the highway in a north-east direction. It is a small abandoned open pit, the deposit discovered by Newcrest Mining in 1995. The mine was initially called Ghost Crab relating to the near surface oxide resource, but changed its name to Mt Marion when a deeper gold resource was discovered under the open pit. Ore was carted 25 kilometres east to the New Celebration Mill, sited on the Kalgoorlie-Kambalda Road. Mining commenced in 1997, and underground mining in 1999.

The gold lode sits on a north-west flexure of the north north-west trending Karramindie Shear Zone. The ore body is bounded by a sequence of intercalated komatiites and meta sedimentary rocks.
Mineralisation is associated with strong deformation in the shear zone, following the talc-tremolite contact with quartz veined biotitic greywackes. In one area gold is associated with veined quartz-biotite greywackes, and in another area gold is found in strongly sheared altered diorites and magnesian basalts and minor sediments. The garnet biotite gneiss unit is sandwiched between the hanging and footwalls with gold found at the contact margins. Associated with the gold is quartz-feldspar, and altered assemblages of cummingtonite, sodic plagioclase, and minor pyrrhotite and/or pyrite, and chlorite.

The resource extends 1400 metres down plunge from the surface. It strikes north-west and dips 65 degrees north-east, and is 1 to 25 metres thick. The resource is estimated at 1.2 Moz making it one of the largest in the region.

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References