REGOLITH-LANDFORMS OF THE PINNACLES 1:25,000 SHEET, WESTERN NSW: MAPPING AND GEOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISATION

There has been a lot of mineral exploration interest in the Pinnacles 1:25,000 scale map sheet area due to its close proximity to the world class Broken Hill Pb-Zn-Ag ore body, and the large number of known mineralised sites and ore bodies in the area. The most famous area of mineralisation in the area is the Pinnacles, a Broken Hill-type deposit, the largest volume of mineralisation in the district away from the main Broken Hill Line of Lode. Previous exploration has largely targeted exposed bedrock across the area and the regolith has been seen as something to 'penetrate' or 'punch through' in the search for bedrock-related sampling media. Regolith however can be used advantageously in exploration programs where dispersion haloes, and hence target size, may be larger than bedrock signatures. However, before regolith can be advantageously used in exploration programs it needs to be understood. Regolith-landform mapping and characterisation within a landscape evolution framework is one of the first steps in this. STUDY AREA SETTING