Mineral Evolution Database
Created and maintained by the Mineral Evolution Project in partnership with RRUFF and mindat.
Mineral locality data provided by mindat.org



The Mineral Evolution database is currently under development.

The goal of this page is to present localities at which the mineral is found, and estimates of the oldest possible geologic age of the minerals at these localities.


Locality Name:
Cliffs Nickel Mine (Cliffs-Charterhall; Mount Keith-Cliffs Charterhall), Mount Keith, Wiluna Shire, Western Australia, Australia

Oldest recorded age at locality: 2709
Youngest recorded age at locality: 2701

mindat Locality ID: 268171
mindat URL: http://www.mindat.org/loc-268171.html

Tectonic Settings:

Total number of sublocalities beneath "Cliffs Nickel Mine (Cliffs-Charterhall; Mount Keith-Cliffs Charterhall), Mount Keith, Wiluna Shire, Western Australia, Australia": 0
Total number of bottom-level sublocalities: 0

Latitude: 27°18'31"S
Longitude: 120°32'45"E
Decimal Degree (lat, lon): -27.308611111111,120.54583333333
AThis mineral is Anthropogenic.
GThis mineral is directly dated.
BThis mineral is reported as having this age.
YThis mineral is using an age reported as an element mineralization period.
OThis mineral is using an age calculated from all data at the locality.
RThe age displayed for this mineral originates from a different, non-child locality.
PThe age displayed for this mineral is the range of ages for this mineral at all of this locality's children.
This mineral's age has not yet been recorded.

This Mineral list contains entries from this locality, including sub-localities. Minerals in bold are reported by mindat.org as occurring directly at this locality, and do not occur at any children (sublocalities) of this locality.

Elements at this locality, including sub-localities: Cu Fe Ni O S Si 

Elements from minerals reported directly at this locality: Cu Fe Ni O S Si 

Structural Groups for minerals in this locality: 
ChalcopyriteNickelineNonePentlanditePyriteQuartzSpinel

7 IMA Minerals at location:
Chalcopyrite  (*)Magnetite  (*)Pentlandite  (*)Pyrite  (*)Pyrrhotite  (*)
Quartz  (*)Violarite  (*)
Mineral nameStructural GroupsIMA FormulaMax Age (Ma)Min Age (Ma)# of Sublocalities containing mineralLOCALITY IDs, not mindat ids# of localities containing mineral
Chalcopyrite  (*)ChalcopyriteCuFeS227092701027198
Magnetite  (*)SpinelFe2+Fe3+2O427092701014899
Pentlandite  (*)Pentlandite(Ni,Fe)9S82709270101512
Pyrite  (*)PyriteFeS227092701039462
Pyrrhotite  (*)NickelineFe7S82709270109056
Quartz  (*)QuartzSiO227092701061156
Violarite  (*)SpinelFeNi2S4270927010380


Locality Notes from all Ages at Locality:
Age IDLocality Notes
Michelle_606Ni-Cu sulfides in komatiite


1 Ages assigned to this locality:

Excel IDMax Age (Ma)Min Age (Ma)Age as listed in referenceDating MethodAge InterpretPrioritized?Sample SourceSample NumRun NumAge from other LocalityDated MineralMinerals explicitely stated as having this ageAge applies to these ElementsMinDat Locality IDDated Locality (Max Age)Location as listed in referenceReferenceReference DOIReference IDAge Notes
Michelle_606270927012705±4 Age of deposit or general age of the metallogenic province     Ni, Cu268171Cliffs Nickel Mine (Cliffs-Charterhall; Mount Keith-Cliffs Charterhall), Mount Keith, Wiluna Shire, Western Australia, AustraliaCliffs-CharterhallHoatson et al. (2006)10.1016/j.oregeorev.2006.05.002OGR29_177See Table. 1 Global resources of nickel metal and ages of the major nickel sulfide deposits of the world. Age can refer to the age of a specific nickel sulfide deposit, or the general age of the metallogenic province containing nickel deposits that are similar to a dated deposit (e.g. 2705 Ma Komatiite-hosted deposits in the Eastern Goldfields Province). Dates on felsic volcanic rocks that include komatiites are consistent with an inferred eruption age for these komatiites of c. 2705 Ma.

SampleSource LocalityReference URL

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