Lake Cooper
Quarry, Corop, Victoria
Lake Cooper Quarry (see photo below) is situated on the western side of
the Corop-Heathcote Road, near to the township of Corop in central
Victoria. It is a working quarry producing "road metal" from a
metabasite (a subaqueous lava flow), part of the Cambrian Heathcote
Greenstone Belt.
For collectors, the quarry has been a source of fine specimens of the
zeolite stellerite. This occurs as colourless crystals usually less
than 2 mm long. Other minerals associated with the stellerite include
calcite and pyrite. Quartz, gypsum, siderite, chalcanthite, brochantite
and chrysocolla have been known to occur for some time, although
possibly not published anywhere. My last visit to the quarry was in the
late 1980s. One of the main features that I remember was a vertical
seam of sulphide-rich rock. This showed up in faces on both sides of
the quarry.
In August 2004, I passed by the quarry on my way up to visit friends at
Echuca (Margaret and Keith Brown). Margaret and Keith had collected at
Lake Cooper for many years and showed me some specimens from various
trips. Minerals from some of these specimens are reported here for the
first time, and include goethite, hematite, opal (as 'hyalite'), and
aragonite.
A full list of minerals from the literature and from my personal
knowledge is:
Albite,
aragonite, augite, axinite-(Fe) (previously
‘ferroaxinite’),
barite, brochantite, calcite, chalcanthite, chalcopyrite, chrysocolla,
clinochlore,
clinozoisite, epidote, goethite, gypsum, hematite, muscovite (as
‘sericite’), opal
(as ‘hyalite’), prehnite, pumpellyite, pyrite, quartz,
siderite, sphalerite, stellerite,
titanite
Links:
References:
- Broom, J. (1992), Lake
Cooper Quarry Research Thesis: The Cambrian Volcanics of
Colbinabbin, their Stratigraphy, Petrology, Geochemistry and Potential
as an Ore Forming Environment.
- Day, B. (1989), Northern Victoria in Zeolites
of Victoria, Special Publication No. 2, Mineralogical Society of
Victoria.
- Henry, D.A., Birch, W.D. & MacRae, C. (2005),
Manganaxinite from Pyles limestone near Benambra and ferroaxinite from
Corop Victoria, Australian
Journal of Mineralogy, Vol. 11, No. 1
Lake Cooper Quarry from the Corop-Heathcote Road, August 2004