The undercover Rover field in central Australia contains ironstone-hosted copper–gold–bismuth mineralisation (Rover 1, Explorer 142 deposits) similar to that in the Tennant Creek mineral field, as well as base metal mineralisation at the Explorer 108 deposit and Curiosity prospect. The geology of the Rover field is dominated by Palaeoproterozoic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the ca 1.85– 1.84 Ga Yungkulungu Formation, but the timing of the deformation and lower greenschist facies metamorphism of the rocks has remained poorly understood.
New in situ Rb–Sr geochronology results from four samples collected from Rover 1, Explorer 108 and the Curiosity prospect has helped to constrain the age of tectonic-metamorphic and mineralising events that occurred in the Rover field to a period roughly between ca 1.80–1.65 Ga. This indicates that at least some of the mineralisation in the Rover field may be significantly younger than in the outcropping Tennant Creek mineral field.
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