Quartz vein-type gold deposit.

The Coyote Mine is part of the Tanami goldfield, which contains various deposits at Dead Bullock Soak and the Granites further east in the Northern Territory. Coyote is 30 kilometres inside the Western Australian border, and all are relatively close to the Tanami Track, from Alice Springs to Halls Creek. They are some of the most remote mines in Australia.

Gold was discovered at the Granites around 1900, however due to the region's remoteness, serious exploration did not take place until the early 2000's. The tenements in the Coyote area were acquired by Anglogold from Acacia Resources in 2000,and in turn Tanami Gold NL acquired them in 2003 for 14 million dollars (Australian). The mine opened in 2006 with two pits but closed again shortly after due to problems with the treatment plant. Further Pit 2 flooded in January 2007 due to high rainfall, an unusual event in what is a vast desert. Mining resumed until 2009, when the pits where closed and mining went underground. Around the same time pits at Bald Hill, 30 kilometres to the north were opened.

The underground operations at Coyote accesses the Gonzales lode initially and later the Bommie, West and East Lodes. At Bald Hill are deposits called Kookaburra, Sandpiper, Lyrebird, Cuckoo, Hawk and Osprey. There are a number of small gold prospects in the area. Between 5 to 20 kilometres south-east of Coyote are Roadrunner, Pebbles, Rabies, Fremlin and Ginger prospects; 20 kilometres south south-west Hutch's Find, 30 kilometres south-west Camel prospect, 60 kilometres east north-east Afghan prospect, and 40 to 50 kilometres north-west Mojave and Yosemite prospects, all measured from the Coyote Mine.

In general the gold deposits in the Tanami Desert are hosted in quartz veins formed near the surface, in sedimentary and mafic rocks, and by sulfide rich replacement zones within iron formations. Gold deposition occurred during periods of extensive granite intrusions, although some do pre-date this.

Coyote is the largest gold deposit in the western Tanami region, and is composed of a number of ore lenses, localised along the limbs of an anticline, formed during the Tanami Orogeny. The largest lens is associated with the Gonzales Fault, the gold formed during later reactivation towards the end of a period of granite emplacement. The gold is associated with quartz-chlorite-pyrite with minor arsenopyrite, galena and sphalerite in veins with narrow (less than 5mm) chlorite bordering. This is hosted by quartz-muscovite-biotite- K feldspar assemblage, with minor tourmaline, actinolite and arsenopyrite. The host is related to granite emplacement and overprints the regional greenschist facies metamorphic assemblage. The gold was caused by pressure drops within the thickening fluid in shear zones.

Bald Hill is a sequence of turbitic and mafic volcanic rocks with the Kookaburra deposit described as a saddle reef within a syncline, and Sandpiper as a localised deposit within graphitic metasedimentary rocks along the limb of an anticline. Gold is hosted in quartz veins which branch then rejoin, and also contain pyrite, arsenopyrite, within a quartz-sericite schist. There is also disseminated arsenopyrite, pyrite and marcasite (after pyrrhotite), with gold deposition caused by pressure drops associated with the saddle reef formation, and chemical reactions with graphitic rocks in the case of Sandpiper.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References