The Butcherbird Project area is situated in the Bangemall Basin adjacent to the eastern unconformable boundary of the Savory Basin, in central Western Australia. The Bangemall Basin contains three major stratigraphic units which are outlined below from oldest to youngest:
• The Backdoor Formation consists primarily of shales, mudstone and minor siltstones, outcropping in the southern, western and northern extents of the project area;
• The Calyie Sandstone is comprised of well bedded quartzite sandstone, occurring to the north of the project area at the contact between the Ilgarari Formation and Calyie Sandstone;
• The Ilgarari Formation consists of grey/white shales which also exhibit red/brown weathering, mudstone, miner siltstone layers, and dolerite sills. The Ilgarari Formation is part of the Collier Subgroup and outcrops across the majority of the Bangemall Basin, containing the target manganiferous shales.
Structurally the Ilgarari Formation is generally flat, or gently folded with alternating synforms and antiforms with an east-west dominant axial trend. There are three primary north-east trending structures within the extents of the project area:
• The Neds Gap Fault is a sinistral strike-slip fault that delineates the Ilgarari basin western boundary;
• The Illgararie Mine shear zone consists of a set of sub–parallel shears with a predominant south western dip, which plays host to copper mineralisation;
• The Butcherbird Min ........
