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Ore Grade Petrology
@oregradepetro.bsky.social
250 followers 140 following 18 posts
We promote reflected light petrology and ore deposit research through the power of content creation!
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A reflected light photomicrograph showing coarse-grained molybdenite (Mo; MoS₂) from Moonta, South Australia, Australia. ⚒⛏🧪🔬
October 10, 2023 at 10:37 PM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A reflected-light photomicrograph showing coarse-grained davidite (Dvd; Ce(Y,U)Fe2(Ti,Fe,Cr,V)18(O,OH,F)38) and fine-grained disseminated pyrite (Py; FeS₂). Location of this sample is unknown. 🔬🧪⛏⚒
A reflected light photomicrograph showing a coarse-grained grey to steel-grey coloured mineral, which is davidite, a Ce bearing REE mineral. Fine-grained square shaped pyrite is disseminated throughout the davidite.
October 9, 2023 at 11:30 PM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A reflected light photomicrograph showing native gold (Au) from an unknown location. ⚒⛏🧪🔬
A reflected light photomicrograph showing native gold, bright, highly reflective and gold in colour. The gold is irregular in shape and grows between subhedral fine-grained quartz grains, which are a dull grey-brown colour. The image is approximately 1 mm across.
October 8, 2023 at 11:36 PM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A new article has been written! If you're interested in a brief discussion on IOCG deposits in Australia, this may be for you. Or not, you do you. ⚒⛏🧪🔬

www.oregradepetrology.com.au/post/a-brief...
A Brief on Australia's Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold type Deposits: Tennant Creek, Olympic Dam & Cloncurry.
Australia is blessed with a wealth of mineral resources, and in terms of copper, the most famous deposit class present throughout the Australian continent would have to be Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold (IOCG...
www.oregradepetrology.com.au
October 5, 2023 at 11:52 PM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A reflected-light photomicrograph showing coarse-grained enargite (Eng; Cu₃AsS₄) and pyrite (Py; FeS₂). Sample is from Butte, Monata, USA. 🔬🧪⚒⛏
A reflected light photomicrograph showing euhedral, almost rhombic-shaped enargite, a copper arsenic sulphide mineral, which is a medium-grey colour. Enargite is rimmed and overprinted by irregular shaped pyrite, which is a brassy-yellow colour. The image is approximately a mm accross.
October 5, 2023 at 10:10 PM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A reflected light photomicrograph showing uraninite (Urn; UO₂) overprinted by fine-grained native gold (Au; Au). This sample is from the historic Pallette Mine located in South Alligator River, Northern Territory, Australia. 🧪🔬⚒⛏
A reflected light photomicrograph showing uraninite, which is coarse-grained, circular and a dark dull silver-grey colour overprinted by free gold, which is cold in colour, very fine grained and disseminated throughout the fractures of the uraninite. The width of this image is approximately 1 mm.
October 4, 2023 at 11:24 PM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A reflected light photomicrograph showing magnetite (Mag; Fe3O4) and chalcopyrite (Ccp; CuFeS₂) from the Ernest Henry Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold deposit, NW Queensland, Australia. 🧪🔬⚒⛏
An reflected light image down the microscope of the ore mineralogy of the Ernest henry Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold deposit, located near Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. Magnetite is a dark silver while chalcopyrite is a gold-yellow colour. These minerals are intertwined and highly irregular in morphology.
October 3, 2023 at 11:01 PM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A reflected light photomicrograph showing coarse-grained deformed pyrite (Py; FeS₂) from historic gold workings in the Mount Lofty region, South Australia. ⛏⚒🔬🧪
A reflected light photomicrograph a showing yellow-coloured anhedral mineral which is pyrite. The pyrite is fractured in nature by a set of thin veins and cracks running from top to bottom of the image.
October 2, 2023 at 10:48 PM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A reflected-light photomicrograph showing coarse-grained molybdenite (MoS₂: Mo) from the Moonta Mine, South Australia. 🔬⚒⛏🧪
A reflected light microscope image showing coarse-grained molybdenite (silver-grey) which has sharp boundaries with adjacent clear quartz grains. The molybdenite has changes in its colour associated with birefringence due to its crystal orientation.
October 2, 2023 at 6:30 AM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
Famatinite (Fm; Cu3SbS4) with pyrite (Py; FeS₂), chalcopyrite (Cpy; CuFeS₂), bornite (Bn; Cu₅FeS₄) and covellite (Cov; CuS). Specimen is from an unknown region within Argentina. 🧪⛏⚒🔬

#geology #petrology #mineral #copper #geoscience #petrology #orepetrology #microscopeimages #microscopy
A reflected light photomicrograph showing famatinite (grey) surrounded by minor bornite (brownish bronze) with abundant skeletal chalcopyrite (goldish yellow) and covellite (medium-blue colour). Pyrite (squarish in shape and light yellow in colour) is found throughout the image heterogeneously.
September 15, 2023 at 2:01 AM
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A reflected light photomicrograph showing coarse-grained magnetite (Mag; Fe₂O₃) from Mineville, New York. ⚒⛏🔬🧪
A reflected light photomicrograph showing magnetite, a magnetic iron mineral. Magnetite is a homogenous medium-grey colour. The magnetite has intragrain fractures, which are black and irregular throughout the image. Small black blobs accompany the intragrain fractures.
August 11, 2023 at 7:27 AM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
Reflected light photomicrograph showing davidite (Dvd; (La,Ce,Ca)(Y,U)(Ti,Fe3+)20O38) with minor fine-grained pyrite (Py; FeS₂) from Portugal, East Africa.

View our RL Library Here -https://www.oregradepetrology.com.au/photomicrograph-database-1
A reflected light photomicrograph showing Davidite, a REE-bearing oxide mineral containing Le, and Ce, which is dark-grey in colour with fine grained yellow inclusions of pyrite disseminated throughout. There is small fractures throughout the davidite.
August 10, 2023 at 1:27 AM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
Reflected light photomicrograph showing native gold (Au) mineralisation from an unknown location. ⛏⚒🔬

We are currently making a reflected-light library which is available following this link -

https://www.oregradepetrology.com.au/photomicrograph-database-1
This image shows a reflected light photomicrograph with native gold, which occurs as a right yellow to gold colour located throughout a single vein in the rock. The gold is irregular in form.
August 8, 2023 at 4:45 AM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
This week in our blog we look at the formation and mining of lithium brine deposits. Truly one of the most interesting deposit models out there! ⚒️⛏️🧪

https://www.oregradepetrology.com.au/post/on-the-formation-and-mining-of-lithium-brine-deposits
On the Formation and Mining of Lithium Brine Deposits
Lithium is considered one of the most important and discussed commodities in the recent years. Due to its utilization in lithium-ion batteries, which are used in a range of various energy storage syst...
www.oregradepetrology.com.au
August 7, 2023 at 10:57 AM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A reflected-light photomicrograph showing coarse-grained coronadite (Cor; Pb(Mn4+6Mn3+2)O16) from Bou Tazoult Morocco. ⚒⛏
A reflected-light photomicrograph showing greyish coloured coronadite, a lead manganese oxide mineral with a uneven and irregular microscale texture. There is a small fracture through the middle of the image. The rock in this image was sampled from Bou Tazoult Morocco.
August 4, 2023 at 1:05 AM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
A reflected light photomicrograph showing irregular shaped chalcopyrite (Ccp; CuFeS₂) from the Cobar region, NSW.
A reflected light photomicrograph showing chalcopyrite, a copper sulphide mineral, which is goldish-yellow in colour, and irregular in shape, forming around the multiple basil sections of transparent dolomite, which appears a dark grey to brown colour. The field of view is approximately 2 mm across.
August 3, 2023 at 12:40 AM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
Have you ever wondered how long it takes to form an ore deposit? Well you're in luck because last weeks blog discusses just that topic.

Here's the link -
How long does it take to form an ore deposit?
If you’ve ever had the chance to explore an ore deposit, or if you’ve even had the chance to look at mineralisation in drill core, or a hand sample, there’s a good chance you’ve thought about ...
www.oregradepetrology.com.au
August 1, 2023 at 12:11 AM
oregradepetro.bsky.social
Hello people of Bluesky! We are Ore Grade Petrology, a small business that creates interesting content, typically in the form of blogs, on the world of economic geology and ore deposit science. We can't wait to show you some content!
August 1, 2023 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Ore Grade Petrology
mindat.bsky.social
So, who likes rocks?
July 30, 2023 at 11:18 PM