The Maggie Hays nickel sulphide deposit is located at latitude
32 15 'S, longitude 120 30' E on the Lake Johnston (SI 51-1)
1:250 000 map sheet. The deposit occurs in the Lake Johnston
greenstone belt, in the Southern Cross Province of the Archaean
Yilgarn Block, 500 kilometres east of Perth, Western Australia
(Figure 1). The remoteness of the Lake Johnston greenstone belt and its
poor access, restricted previous exploration activities and the full
appreciation of the geology and its Ni-sulphide potential. It was
not until 1991, when Forrestania Gold NL commenced
exploration activities, that the geology of the ultramafic units and
their potential to host significant concentrations of Ni sulphides
were clearly established. This paper, which describes the geology and the characteristics
of the Maggie Hays deposit, is based on the results of exploration
by Forrestania Gold NL and a collaborative research agreement
between CSIRO Division of Exploration and Mining and
Forrestania Gold as reported by Perring, Barnes and Hill (1994),
Perring and Hill (1995), Perring (1995 a and b) and Barnes,
Perring and Reilly (1995). A comprehensive description of the
geology, petrology and geochemistry of the deposit is being
prepared for publication by CSIRO (Pemng, Hill and Barnes, in press).