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Location: 22 km SW from Orange, New South Wales, Australia
1460 Cadia Rd, CadiaSouth OrangeNew South Wales, Australia2800
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Deposit TypeThe major deposits that comprise the Cadia Valley Operations are considered to be examples of alkalic porphyry gold-copper-style mineralization.The Big Cadia and Little Cadia deposits are slightly different from the majority of the Cadia deposits in that each is a calcic iron-copper-gold skarn. However, the skarn is typical of those found in association with porphyry deposits in volcanic arcs. Skarn systems can form in diverse settings, and are therefore typically defined by mineralogy, rather than deposit setting.The alkaline porphyry gold-copper deposits of the Cadia district are located in the eastern Lachlan Fold Belt of New South Wales. The district comprises four porphyry deposits. Ridgeway, Cadia Extended (Cadia Quarry), Cadia Hill and Cadia East, and two related iron-skarn deposits. Big Cadia and Little Cadia.Mineralization Several mineralization styles are known in the district: • Cadia Hill: intrusive wall rock and volcanic-hosted deposit associated with sheeted quartz vein mineralization; • Cadia East: volcanic-hosted. intrusion-centered deposit with disseminated and sheeted quartz vein mineralization; • Cadia Far East (historical, now discontinued name; part of Cadia East): volcanic- and intrusion-hosted deposit with mainly sheeted quartz vein mineralization; • Cadia Quarry: intrusive wall rock deposit associated with sheeted quartz-calcite-sulfide veins and locally developed zones of mineralized pegmatitic breccia; • Ridgeway: intrusion- and volcanic-hosted quartz stockwork vein mineralization: • Big/Little Cadia. Little Cadia: iron-rich skarn mineralization.Cadia EastThe Cadia East deposit occupies a mineralized zone 2.5 km in strike length. 600 m in width and over 1,900 m in vertical extent, it is located below and to the east of the Cadia Hill deposit.During early exploration activities, the name “Cadia East” was used to refer to disseminated near-surface mineralization that was hosted by FRV valley-fill units, while the name “Cadia Far East" referred to the sheeted vein-hosted mineralization within the underlying FRV basement. After mining commenced at Cadia East, the distinction between the two mineralization types as separate deposits was discontinued.Geology Mineralization is developed in the FRV, and in a series of subvertical to steeply north-dipping monzodioritic to quartz monzonitic dikes, that are termed the Cadia Far East intrusive complex (CFEIC). The syn-mineral nature of at least some of the intrusions is indicated by the presence of mineralized xenoliths within monzonite porphyry dikes that also host porphyry-style veining and alteration.MineralizationMineralization at Cadia East is divided into two broad overlapping zones: an upper, copper-rich disseminated zone and a deeper gold-rich zone associated with sheeted veins. The upper zone forms a relatively small cap to the overall mineralized envelope and has a core of disseminated chalcopyrite (and rare bornite), capped by chalcopyrite-pyrite mineralization (Fox et al., 2009).The deeper zone is localized around a core of steeply-dipping, sheeted, quartz-calcite-bornite-chalcopyrite-molybdenite veins, with the highest gold grades associated with the bornite-bearing veins. Copper and molybdenite form a mineralized blanket above and to the east of the higher-grade gold envelope.Au:Cu values are vertically zoned. The upper, disseminated zone of volcanic-hosted mineralization typically has low Au:Cu values values (<1), whereas the envelopes of sheeted quartz catcite-sulfide veins have higher Au:Cu values (typically >2).
