Peter Buckley
The Maghemite “Mammoth” uncovered in
NSW... Coming to terms with a different kind of Iron Ore
Maghemite
The exploration industry has long recognised the existence of weakly
magnetic, lateritic material and palaeochannel systems containing iron-rich
material. The principle iron-rich mineral component of these landform systems
- maghemite - has been viewed as a nuisance by the geophysical fraternity, but
Eastern Iron is turning some of these facts to it’s advantage. The magnetic
property of maghemite offers two very important advantages that were
recognised by Eastern Iron: the palaeochannels that contain maghemite can be
identified and precisely located using aeromagnetic data; and the iron bearing
material can be quickly and easily upgraded onsite using a low cost magnetic
beneficiation process. Eastern Iron has conducted an extensive drill program
and now believes it has discovered a regionally extensive pisolitic iron
occurrence which represents an uncemented form of Channel Iron Deposit (CID),
a new iron deposit style, or “NSW-CID”. Importantly, NSW-CID occurs as a
shallow free-digging gravel without the goethite cement and does not require
drill, blast and stripping operations as it does in the Pilbara.
How
much is there, how does it occur, what is it’s quality, has it a market and
what is the ratio of questions answered to new questions
discovered?
Peter Buckley
Peter Buckley first became
interested in iron and steel growing up in Wollongong NSW. His grandfather
worked at coke ovens in Dapto and his father was an electrician on the “flying
gang” that serviced the BHP iron ore import jetties at the Port Kembla works.
Peter’s geological career has included study with Paul Ashley at UNE in
Armidale, Honors with Paul and Ian Plimer at Olary in SA, Gold exploration
with Plutonic and Homestake as well as a stint with the Geological Survey of
NSW at Broken Hill and Maitland head office. Peter is currently MD of Eastern
Iron and Exploration Manager of PlatSearch NL
Peter
Buckley – Managing
Director
Eastern
Iron Limited
ACN 126 678 037
Level 1, 80 Chandos Street
St Leonards,
NSW, 2065
02 9906 5220 – Office
02 9906 5233 – Fax
0405 513 993 –
Mobile
Eastern Iron (ASX Code: EFE)
peter.buckley@easterniron.com.au
www.easterniron.com.au
...iron’s new
horizon