Copper

The Northern Territory contains a variety of small to large copper deposits that have produced over 0.5 Mt of copper in the last 40 years. Current resources for the NT are estimated at 1.2 Mt of copper. Deposits in the Tennant Region account for 90% of past copper production and 10% of identified copper resources in the NT.

Copper mineralisation is present in a number of deposit styles including: iron oxide Cu-Au; volcanic-hosted massive sulfide; intrusion-related massive sulfide; shale-hosted Cu (±Co±Pb); carbonate-hosted Cu; polymetallic quartz veins; and skarn. Deposits in the Pine Creek Orogen contain 60% of the NT copper resources and include Browns (shale-hosted Cu±Co±Pb), Iron Blow-Mt Bonnie (intrusion-related massive sulfide), Daly River (volcanic-hosted massive sulfide) and Mt Diamond (polymetallic quartz veins).

Deposits in the McArthur Basin include Redbank (polymetallic vein), Cooley II (carbonated-hosted) and Stanton (polymetallic vein). Copper deposits in the Arunta Region include Jervois (iron oxide-related), Prospect D (polymetallic veins) and Oonagalabi (skarn/carbonate replacement). Tennant Region copper mineralisation is dominantly as iron oxide-related (Warramunga Province) and some polymetallic veins (Davenport Province).