Quarry Camp, Napier Downs Station, Derby-West Kimberley Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Quarry Camp	- not defined -
Napier Downs Station	- not defined -
Derby-West Kimberley Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Unmetamorphosed dolerite dykes intruding granitic and metasedimentary rocks of the Paleoproterozoic Hooper Complex. The dykes range from 2 to 30 metres thick, forming often narrow steep sided ridges up to 50 metres high above the surrounding plains, extending in excess of one kilometre long.

The dykes contain fine to medium grained tholeiitic dolerite, largely unweathered except for a thin dark brown to black coating. Most of the dykes have a uniform texture, while a few are strongly zoned, with fine grained material near the contact with the host Lennard Granite, and getting progressively coarser grained towards the centre of the dyke.

There are several prospects, and small abandoned quarries in the area for dimension stone. The writer has listed only those where mining operations have taken place, rather than just prospects. The Quarry Camp area is 145 kilometres east of Derby, about 10 kilometres south of the Gibb River Road, and south of Wombarella Creek. There are at least 80 dolerite dykes in the area. In the Quarry Camp area these extend south-east from the Quarry Camp site itself for 20 kilometres to the Lennard River.

From 1984 to 1988, quarrying operations were conducted by the Gossati family, at the south-east end of three dykes extending 2 kilometres along a north-west trending ridge. From 1988 to the early 1990's, operations were taken over by the Parry Corporation.

The stone is high quality fine to medium grained jet black dolerite. Parry Corporation trucked blocks to its Muchea facility, 40 kilometres north of Perth, and the material was then exported to Japan to be used in headstones. Other examples include interior decoration at the Sheraton Hotel in Perth.

The source names quarries called Quarry Camp, Quarry Camp South, New Quarry, Quarry Camp 3, Quarry Camp 4, Quarry Camp 5 (Wumburrul), and prospects Quarry Camp 6-10.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References