alive and well - Geological Society of Australia

The guide develops exploration strategies for gold, base metals,nickel and surficial uranium deposits within the context of theevolution of the landscape and regolith of the Yilgarn Craton. Inmany instances, this paper alone should provide the explorer with a‘one-stop shop’ with respect to the knowledge required to plan andexecute effective geochemical exploration strategies. However, thepaper has a comprehensive reference list if more detail is sought ona particular topic or for a particular area. The illustrations includephotographs of relevant regolith materials, real examples of mapsand sections as well as schematic block diagrams. The guide includesflow charts that demonstrate the process of regolith mapping andprocedures for selecting the optimum geochemical sampling strategyfor a particular area.The guide commences with a brief introduction to the geologyand principal ore deposits of the craton, followed by a descriptionof the development and characteristics of the regolith, and therelationship between regolith type and landforms. The Regolithsection provides a succinct and accessible summary of the vast bodyof research on this topic, and presents it as a coherent synthesis thatmust underpin any thinking about geochemical exploration in theYilgarn. The distribution, characteristics and use of the principalsample media are described. The regolith and landforms providea framework for empirical models that describe the processes ofgeochemical dispersion, based on numerous case histories and otherinvestigations, grouped according to the principal commodities.The models anticipate and summarise the surface expression ofmineralisation and include recommendations on explorationprocedures, such as sample selection, sampling interval, analysis anddata interpretation.Ravi Anand is a Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO and an AdjunctProfessor in regolith geology and geochemistry at Curtin University,Perth, Western Australia. In 1984, Ravi completed his PhD on weatheringprocesses at the University of Western Australia (UWA).He then became a postdoctoral fellow at UWA. He joined CSIRO in1987 as a Research Scientist in the Division of Mineralogy, carryingout research into methods of exploring for concealed mineraldeposits in Australia’s deeply weathered terrains. Ravi wasApplications Coordinator of the CRC for Landscape Evolution andMineral Exploration (1995–2001) and Program Leader of Program 2for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration (2001–2008).He has been a leader of industry-funded projects since 1990. Theseprojects have included multidisciplinary, multi-client projectsthrough Australian Mineral Industries Research Association Ltd(AMIRA) and projects with individual companies. The outcomes ofhis research have been major contributors to the discovery of manymineral deposits in deeply weathered terrains. Ravi has authoredover 220 publications and scientific reports and four monographsor journal issues. Recognition of Dr Anand’s achievement inregolith-geochemical research is demonstrated by awards andinvitations to international conferences and media releases.Charles ButtCharles Butt was appointed to CSIRO in 1971 after completing a PhDin Applied Geochemistry at Imperial College, London. His researchconcentrated on developing geochemical exploration procedures forgold, nickel, platinum group elements (PGE) and base metals indeeply weathered terrains. He also concentrated on the geology ofsecondary mineral deposits, particularly nickel laterites, supergenegold and calcrete uranium. He led a number of projects in regolithgeochemistry through AMIRA, was Program Leader and DeputyDirector for CRC LEME1 and Chief Scientist for CSIRO Explorationand Mining. Charles Butt was elected a Fellow of the AustralianAcademy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2004 andappointed a CSIRO Fellow in 2007. He retired in 2011 and is nowan Honorary Research Fellow with CSIRO Earth Science and ResourceEngineering.Richard MorrisRichard Morris has been a CSIRO Honorary Research Fellow sinceretiring in 1996. He gained a BSc in geology in 1958 at UWA parttimewhile working as ‘the lab boy’ in the Department of Geology.After graduating, Dick worked in the WA Department of Mines as amineralogist until 1970, before going into petrographic consulting ongossans, ores, mineral sands and regolith samples. A four-monthproject in 1972 with Wilf Ewers, head of the CSIRO WA Division ofMineralogy, introduced Morris to the complexities of Hamersleybanded iron formation (BIF) and its phosphorus distribution. Thisproject led to Wilf, a geochemist, inviting Dick in 1976 to be hispetrological assistant for two years in the inaugural CSIRO–AMIRA‘Phosphorus in Iron Ores of the Hamersley Province’ program. The twoyears became 18, with Morris taking over the program when Wilfretired in 1981. The overall project involved detailed BIF/orepetrographic and analytical studies, with allied research involvingmajor contributions from other CSIRO staff: RC Horwitz in joint fieldstudies, MR Thornber in electrochemical modelling and AB Fletcherin demonstrating enhanced solubility of quartz during ferrous–ferricreactions. AMIRA-funded collaborative research continued on ‘shales’in ore with LH Seet, asbestos in ores with Jiri Just, channel irondeposits (CID) with ER Ramanaidou, Indian iron ores, and finally aparallel study on detrital iron deposits (DID) that concluded theCSIRO–AMIRA program in 1994. In 1985 Morris completed anexternal PhD (UWA) on the BIF-hosted bedded iron deposits (BID) andwas awarded the GSA (WA) 1988 Gibb Maitland Medal for his ironore research.Malcolm KneeshawMalcolm Kneeshaw qualified with a BSc in Geology in 1965 fromthe University of Hull in the UK and is a Fellow of The AusIMM. Aftera brief exposure to iron ore at BHP’s Middleback operations, heworked in iron, nickel and manganese exploration for BHP MineralsExploration in the Pilbara and Yilgarn in the 1960s, including someTAG September 2012| 13