John Galt prospect, Mabel Downs Station, Halls Creek Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
John Galt prospect	Prospect
Mabel Downs Station	Station (farming)
Halls Creek Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Located 28 kilometres south of Warnum, and about 20 kilometres east of the Great Northern Highway. The prospect is near the headwaters of the Frank River, just beyond the border with the Purnululu National Park. The prospect is at the southern end of a steep sided flat topped ridge, which extends north north-east for 6 kilometres, then swings north north-west 3 kilometres. The prospect contains three zones, 600 metres apart, the main zone part of a cliff. REE.

It was discovered in 1971, as part of an airborne radiometric survey. In 1973, nine diamond drill holes were sunk, and rock chip sampling indicating 53.5% rare earth oxide. No further exploration was undertaken until 2010 by Northern Minerals.

The dominant ore mineral is xenotime, a phosphate of yttrium and rare earths. The xenotime is hosted in quartz sandstone of the Lower Proterozoic Red Rock Beds, close to the junction between the regional Halls Creek Fault and Osmond Fault. The quartz-xenotime veins trend north north-east to north-east, probably of hydrothermal origin. Xenotime occurs within the quartz veins, interstitial, or as pods, or thin veins.

Secondary components of xenotime include dysprosium, erbium and gadolinium at John Galt, as well as heavy rare earths from terbium to lutetium. There has been much interest in rare earth exploration, for their use in new technologies like electric cars.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References