Can you help? Blue / grey shale / slate with pyrite / sulfides

It looks to me to be most likely a banded fine-grained pyrite in shale and very likely formed in Precambrian times. Pyrite is common in many hydrothermal veins, shales, coals, various metamorphic rocks, and massive sulfide deposits. These sulphides originated as mentioned by Stalker whilst Australia was 80% submersed beneath the ocean, eventually in the drying stages the sulfate source becomes evaporitic gypsum which when subjected to metamorphism ( compression and heat ) created the pyrite crystals. The coloured bands are more so due sedimentary deposits of different particles sizes deposited during erosion ... same as when you are panning off ... the amount of force (water flow) determines the size and weight of your residue.

Here's the link to how gold makes it's way into the rocks http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/trek/4wd/Over44.htm for anyone who hasn't already read it.

silver said:

Wouldn't the grey blobs have been like pipe clay in their day(maybe).

Click to expand...

It was all clay in its day. As it was deposited in thin layers upon layers of thin layers. You can see a small line just under the pyrites showing something happened at this time line and a change of clay happened. It couldn't have been a fire as the pyrites shows plants where only just evolving. The layers have a constant thickness, so may have a cycle, possibly yearly. After drying out to slate it was subjected to pressure causing the crack below the pyrite, the one below that which now contains quarts and the one below that on the bottom now containing quartz.

I started discussing this rock further but had a government prick start playing with my conversation, so sorry Atom can't reply anymore until we find out who and why a government employee or IT smartarse is hacking into the PA web site.

We get that with television,.. just when the news is going to say something important the screen goes funny and you can't see or hear the good bit. :/