Millerite

specimen number:
8821999

location:
Perseverance Mine, Leinster, Leonora Shire, Western Australia, Australia

description:
A spray of tight compact metallic millerite crystals without matrix. Very good thumbnail for the species.

The Perseverance Mine, located near Leinster in the Leonora Shire of Western Australia, is a world-class nickel deposit with a history dating back to the discovery of gossanous outcrops in 1971. Underground and open-cut mining operations have evolved through multiple phases since commercial extraction began in the late 1970s, managed by various operators before becoming a core part of BHP's Nickel West division. Geologically, the deposit is situated within the Archaean Agnew-Wiluna greenstone belt of the Yilgarn Craton. It represents one of the largest komatiite-hosted nickel sulphide accumulations globally, featuring a massive and heavily disseminated orebody localized at the base of the thick Perseverance Ultramafic Complex. The mineralogy is dominated by primary iron-nickel sulfides such as pyrrhotite and pentlandite, alongside lesser chalcopyrite and magnetite, set within highly serpentinized ultramagic host rocks and deformed structural shear zones.

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