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Architecture and emplacement of the Nebo–Babel gabbronorite-hosted magmatic Ni–Cu–PGE sulphide deposit, West Musgrave, Western Australia

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Abstract

The Nebo–Babel Ni–Cu–platinum-group element (PGE) sulphide deposit in the West Musgrave Block, Western Australia, is the largest nickel sulphide discovery in the last 10 years. The deposit is hosted within a concentrically zoned, olivine-free, tube-like (chonolithic), gabbronorite intrusion associated with the, approximately, 1,078-Ma Giles Complex-layered intrusions in the Warakurna large igneous province. Emplaced into sulphide-free amphibolite facies orthogneiss, the fault-offset Nebo–Babel chonolith extends for 5 km and has a cross-section of 1 × 0.5 km. Igneous mineralogy, fabrics, and textures are well preserved. The lithostratigraphy includes variably textured leucogabbronorites (VLGN) that form an outer shell around mineralised gabbronorite (MGN), with barren gabbronorite (BGN) and oxide–apatite gabbronorite (OAGN) in the middle and lower parts of the chonolith. Mineral and whole-rock geochemistry indicate that the units become progressively evolved in the order: VLGN, MGN, BGN, and OAGN, and that incompatible trace-element concentrations increase downwards within the MGN and BGN. The mineralisation, which is confined to the early, more primitive units (VLGN and MGN), occurs as massive sulphide breccias and stringers and as disseminated gabbronorite-hosted sulphides. The massive sulphides were emplaced late in the intrusive sequence, have different PGE chemistry and Cu tenor to the disseminated sulphides, and have undergone sulphide fractionation. The distribution of disseminated sulphides, which are primary magmatic in origin, is related to chonolith geometry and magma flow regimes, rather than to gravitational settling. Sulfur-bearing country rocks are absent in the Nebo–Babel deposit area, and thus, local crustal S addition was unlikely to have been the major mechanism in achieving sulphide immiscibility. The Nebo–Babel intrusion is part of an originally continuous magma chonolith with multiple and related magma pulses. The parental magma was medium- to low-K tholeiite with 8–9 wt% MgO. The initial magma pulse (VLGN), the most primitive and sulphide saturated, was probably emplaced along a linear weakness in the country rock. After crystallisation of VLGN, marginally more fractionated, sulphide-saturated magma was injected through the thermally insulated core of the conduit, forming the MGN. Successive pulse(s) of more fractionated magma (BGN) were emplaced in the core of the intrusion. After magma flow ceased, closed system crystal fractionation produced consistent mineral and chemical fractionation trends within BGN and OAGN. After crystallisation, the intrusion was overturned and then offset by the Jameson Fault resulting in the apparent ‘reverse’ chemical and mineral trends in Nebo–Babel.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all geoscientists, both past and present, from WMC Resources and BHP Billiton, who have been involved in the West Musgrave Project since 1995. This work was built on their considerable effort over many years, in particular, Roland Goodgame, Jim McCluskey, and Libby Fontaine. Recent work by Brett Davis has significantly advanced understanding of the structural history at the Nebo–Babel deposit.

We thank Bill Stone for the initial supervision of the project, Steve Barnes for discussions on trapped silicate–liquid crystallisation, Greg Hitchen for assistance with microprobe analyses, and all the people who provided help at the Nebo–Babel field camp. Dave Burrows and Franco Pirajno are thanked for the helpful and constructive reviews.

Z. S. is supported by an Australian Post-graduate Research Award and a Minerals and Energy Research Institute of Western Australia (MERIWA) Scholarship. Financial support for fieldwork and chemical analyses was provided primarily by WMC Resources and, subsequently, BHP Billiton, as well as MERIWA and a Society of Economic Geologists Grants to Z. S., all of which are gratefully acknowledged. We thank BHP Billiton for permission to publish this paper.

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  1. Centre for Exploration Targeting, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Zoran Seat, M. A. Mary Gee, David I. Groves & Charter I. Mathison

  2. BHP Billiton—Minerals Exploration, Level 34 Central Park , 152–158 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia

    Stephen W. Beresford, Benjamin A. Grguric, Rob S. Waugh & Jon M. A. Hronsky

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  1. Zoran Seat
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Correspondence to Zoran Seat.

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Seat, Z., Beresford, S.W., Grguric, B.A. et al. Architecture and emplacement of the Nebo–Babel gabbronorite-hosted magmatic Ni–Cu–PGE sulphide deposit, West Musgrave, Western Australia. Miner Deposita 42, 551–581 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-007-0123-9

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