Rocky's Reward Mine, Leinster, Leonora Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Rocky's Reward Mine	Mine (Inactive)
Leinster	- not defined -
Leonora Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

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The Rocky's Reward Mine is two kilometres north of the Perseverence Mine, and operated as both an open pit and underground mine. Production started in 1988, with the underground mine closing in 2000, and the open pit in 2009. The abandoned mine is owned by BHP Billiton, under its Nickelwest operations.

The mine contains disseminated and massive sulphides hosted by two thin komatiite horizons, within felsic volcanics and sediments. The sulphides are found in a high strain corridor which is similar to Perseverence. The ultramafic rocks are coarse grained, randomly orientated metamorphic olivine pseudomorphed by serpentinites, with carbonate alteration assemblages on the margins. The ultramafics are hydrothermally altered,and metamorphically recrystallised and serpentinised with the primary igneous textures seldom preserved.

The mineralisation is massive sulphides at 4-6% Ni and heavy disseminated sulphides at 0.7-4% Ni, both dominated by pyrrhotite and pentlandite, with widely dispersed but minor chalcopyrite. In the massive sulphide, the minerals have recrystallised into medium to coarse grained interlocking granoblastic textures, with some relict ductile fabrics in the massive sulphide sheets.

The disseminated sulphides show coarse triangular sulphide aggregates interstitial to the serpentine pseudomorphs after bladed textured metamorphic olivines. Hydrothermal alteration introduced arsenic and produced gersdorffite, cobaltite, and niccolite.

The mineralisation is only found in the ultramafic layers, folded into a steep north trending fold axis, forming two vertically stacked mineral layers, plunging 10-15 degrees north. It is truncated to the west by a steep dipping, north trending strain zone containing abundant remobilised massive sulphide.

The only specimens labelled from the mine for sale in recent years is gold in matrix. This seems unlikely from a nickel deposit, and no geology information could be found about gold at the mine. No historic mine could be located in the area by the name Rocky's Reward, although there are numerous gold ore-bodies in the district, and they may have come from nearby.

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

12 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded