Skip to main content
Conference Proceedings

Mining Geology 2014

Conference Proceedings

Mining Geology 2014

PDF Add to cart

Exploration and Innovation - The Discovery and Evolution of the 2 Moz Vogue Gold Resource, Sunrise Dam Gold Mine, Western Australia

The 2 Moz Vogue mineral resource is a recent discovery at the Sunrise Dam gold mine (SDGM), lying approximately 600 m vertically below the Sunrise Dam open pit. Unlike most other lodes, which are dominated either by steep vein sets or shallow high-strain (shear) zones, it lies broadly in the hinge of a folded felsic porphyry body, where it cuts intermediate volcanic lavas and volcaniclastic rocks and is not specifically concentrated at a lithofacies contact. The mineralisation is controlled by a complex interplay of moderate to shallow, west-dipping high-strain zones that are transected by irregular and discontinuous high-grade, north-west-, north-south- and east-west-trending breccia sheets that initially caused problems with attempts to model broad domains. However, by combining the structural controls and styles with the distribution of gold, arsenic, sulfur and antimony, we have improved opportunities for scheduling, extracting and processing the most appropriate material considering the current mining and processing constraints.The early delineation process for the Vogue lode revealed a significant mineral resource for the SDGM, coupled with the recognition of some potentially difficult downstream implications for mining and processing. The ultimate success of mining at Vogue will be a consequence of combining standardised data collection and geological modelling techniques with the results of the novel innovative techniques applied at an early stage of the project.Innovation (in the truest sense) drives change and application to deliver efficient and effective outcomes. Initial data generation and interpretation in lodes above Vogue provided a sound geological model based on strong structural foundations, leading to ideas that could be tested and validated by stress inversion analysis and modelling simulations. Geomechanical modelling simulations, based on the structural analysis, then provided an insight into both the structural and fluid evolution of the system and highlighted target areas. This promoted support for deeper drilling and sampling, which lead to the discovery of Vogue.With additional data, the structural model for Vogue was re-engineered through combination with geochemical and hyperspectral analysis and detailed geological and geostatistical domaining. Initial poor results from metallurgical tests from a small batch sample refocused efforts to undertake mineral and chemical characterisation and profiling (geometallurgy) and combine this data with the composite geological-structural-geochemical model. The result is a conditional probability model for differentiating mineralised or waste domains, with direct outcomes for planning, drilling and mining.CITATION:Nugus, M, Oliver, N, Blenkinsop, T, Hill, J, McLellan, J, Cleverley, J, Fisher, L, Brunacci, N, Moore, H and Jenkins, A, 2014. Exploration and innovation - the discovery and evolution of the 2 Moz Vogue Gold Resource, Sunrise Dam Gold Mine, Western Australia, in Proceedings Ninth International Mining Geology Conference 2014 , pp 323-340 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).
Return to parent product
  • Exploration and Innovation - The Discovery and Evolution of the 2 Moz Vogue Gold Resource, Sunrise Dam Gold Mine, Western Australia
    PDF
    This product is exclusive to Digital library subscription
  • Exploration and Innovation - The Discovery and Evolution of the 2 Moz Vogue Gold Resource, Sunrise Dam Gold Mine, Western Australia
    PDF
    Normal price $22.00
    Member price from $0.00
    Add to cart

    Fees above are GST inclusive

PD Hours
Approved activity
  • Published: 2013
  • PDF Size: 19.707 Mb.
  • Unique ID: P201407038

Our site uses cookies

We use these to improve your browser experience. By continuing to use the website you agree to the use of cookies.