Barrow Creek Pegmatite Field, Barrow Creek, Barkly Region, Northern Territory, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Barrow Creek Pegmatite Field	Pegmatite Field
Barrow Creek	Creek
Barkly Region	Region
Northern Territory	Territory
Australia	Country

Swarms of linear north north-west trending pegmatites found 15 kilometres north of Barrow Creek, and directly west of the Stuart Highway. The pegmatites contain niobium, tantalite, columbite, tapiolite, and cassiterite ore minerals. Exploration for lithium had only just started at the time of writing, with only spodumene so far mentioned.

Mining occurred for a short period around 1949, but soon ceased due to the small nature of the deposits. Lessees included Jim English, T. Hampton, T. Cameron, and G.A. Johannsen. English erected a processing plant. In 1978, Albert Millar discovered tantalite north of the Ivy mine, and erected a processing plant at Salt Lake City Bore, about 6 kilometres to the north, bordering the west side of the Stuart Highway. Little evidence remains of any of the mining activity. Historical information, and production records range from meagre to non-existent. Specimens are generally not seen from the locations, although have been little explored from this perspective. Only locations with information have been included, but nearby locations will be mentioned. Many of the pegmatites remained un-named. Mindat maps are approximate for the field.

The pegmatites strike north north-west, some east, most having a flat dip contrasting with the steep dipping regional trend. They have intruded schists along a number of fractures. The poorly exposed pegmatites are quartz-orthoclase-muscovite-tourmaline, grading to quartz-muscovite, quartz-tourmaline, and singularly quartz or muscovite. Some of the pegamtites are banded, some weathering to kaolin, and unmetamorphosed. Some slugs of ore minerals have been found, but are usually small grains.

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