The stratigraphic record is the major repository of information about the geological history of Earth, a record stretching back for nearly 4 billion years. Stratigraphic studies fill out our planet’s plate-tectonic history with the details of paleogeography, past climates and the record of evolution, and stratigraphy is at the heart of the effort to find and exploit fossil fuel resources.

Stream sediment geochemistry has been described as a very robust, successful mineral exploration technique and has proven to be effective even when sampling was poorly carried out (Fletcher, 1997). Much of its early success for discovering new mineral deposits in British Columbia can be traced to the pioneers of exploration geochemistry who recognized the ability of more mobile elements such as copper and zinc to concentrate in sediment from broad range of stream environments. This proved to be an advantage in the 1950’s when exploration focused primarily on the search for porphyry copper deposits. Sediment sampling techniques could afford to be less rigorous because formation of copper stream geochemical anomalies was less susceptible to the variations in sample site environment. However, it became apparent that geochemical surveys for gold and other heavy minerals needed more careful collection of sediment from a specific energy environment so that maximum anomaly contrast could be achieved. <...>

Structural data is vital for the understanding of the geometry and evolution of a deposit and feeds into geologic, structural, resource, and geotechnical models. Accurate models are critical for targeting, resource estimation, and geotechnical design and, if rapidly available, support real-time decisions on drilling and grade control. 

Within the Eastern Succession of the Australian Mount Isa Inlier, Monakoff is a 1 million tonne (mt) Mesoproterozoic, oxide Cu-Au deposit only 13 km from the large (167 mt) Ernest Henry mine. The two deposits share similar geochemical signatures (Ba-Cu-Au-U-Pb-Zn-As-Sb-Co-W-Mo-Mn-F-REE), suggesting commonality of origin. This signature is far more complex than those of most other Eastern Succession Cu-Au oxide systems, but it is extremely similar to the signatures of some recently discovered large Brazilian examples, such as Alemao. Monakoff ore has a barite-carbonate-fluorite-magnetite-chalcopyrite-dominated mineralogy, and contains economic quantities of Cu, Au, Co, U and Ag; the 1-2% levels of both Pb and Zn are unusually high for oxide Cu-Au deposits. However, it lacks the distinctive K-feldspar alteration halo of Ernest Henry. It occurs on the northern south-dipping limb of the Pumpkin Gully Syncline, considered to be a regional, EW-oriented, D2 fold, bounded to the north and west by Di thrust contacts. A splay of the northern thrust hosts the main Monakoff mineralisation. Naraku Batholith elements outcrop ~2 km north of Monakoff; and ore alteration records post-ore hornfels recrystallisation.