Scope of major project a17 disseminated copper deposits of the northeastern part of the Lachlan fold belt

Abstract

In the eastern Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales, disseminated copper deposits occur mainly at the northern and southern extremities of the Molong-South Coast Anticlinorial Zone and the Forbes Anticlinorial Zone. Main activity in the project will be concentrated on the northern end of the zones where three types of disseminated copper mineralization are developed — copper in andesite, copper-gold in andesite associated with small dacite to monzonite intrusives, and copper-gold-molybdenum in granodiorite.

Very large deposits of dead molluscan shells, considered to be biohermal reefs, have been delineated in Port Stephens. It has been concluded that the reefs built up during the latter part of the Holocene Transgression, using the submerging Pleistocene clay as a substrate. The reefs now occur as topographic highs on the bed of the estuary