Carnation Gold Mine (Payne's Carnation), Paynes Find Goldfield (Goodingnow), Paynes Find, Yalgoo Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Carnation Gold Mine (Payne's Carnation)	Mine
Paynes Find Goldfield (Goodingnow)	Ore Field
Paynes Find	- not defined -
Yalgoo Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

The Carnation Gold Mine is the best known, or remembered gold mine on the Paynes Find goldfield, largely for its central position, long mine life, and connections to Thomas Payne.

The mine occupies a central position on the goldfield, west of the old disused highway which cuts the field in half, and just south of a small shed. The main Carnation shaft can still be seen, surrounded by old wooden beams. Numerous shafts and trenches are in the area, from the mine and neighbouring leases, trending north-west to south-east.

The mine operated more or less continuously from July 1911 until around 1950, and was the most consistent producer on the field.

After discovering gold at Pansy lease in June 1911, Thomas Payne wandered north-west about 2 kilometres, and discovered more gold at what would become the Carnation lease. Thomas owned and operated the mine from July 1911 until his death, sometime shortly before 1925. GML 608, 24 acres, Carnation, taken out by T. Payne. Three known lines of reefs are known on the property in 1912. Tributors are also on the lease during this period.

Government geologist Harry Woodward visited the mine in August 1911 and stated the following. Carnation Paynes is in decomposed schist, with cleavage planes striking north. The reefs cross at an acute angle, being a little more to the west. From a 9 foot deep shaft on the lease at the time he states the east line is a well defined quartz body 2 feet to 2 feet 6 inches wide, dipping 70 degrees west. The stone is laminated amber coloured quartz, slightly iron stained, with only a little visible gold, but crushed at a far higher value. The reef was exposed on the surface for 300 feet. Various small trenches had been opened across the lease on the main and minor reefs. He noted Thomas Payne had picked up a slug from the surface here of 2.5 oz. In 1913 there were three shafts, seven men employed, and Saul/Robertson tributing also on the lease.

In the mid 1930's, the mine was owned by a local syndicate (C. Scadden, J. Martin, L. Zanga, A Gerado and J. Pearse). The main shaft is 330 feet deep, on a 90 foot long shoot, with the lowest return at 27 dwt. The goldfield was particularly active during the 1930's gold boom, but as always largely individual, pairs, or small groups of miners. There are also three tributing parties, elsewhere on the 12 acre Carnation lease. Fifteen to twenty men are working on the lease during this time.

In 1947 the mine is owned by a syndicate of J. Green, J. Martin and party. This is towards the end of its most active period from 1911, and a total across these years is 17 205 tonnes of ore crushed for 12 615 oz at 14 dwt average. Tonnages gradually increase from around 10 to 100 tonnes per crushing in the years just after 1911, to over 1000 tonnes per crushing in the 1940's. Dwt and oz appear highly variably across this extended period, and probably reflect the nature of the field being high grade narrow shoots, separated by low grade stone.

1982 230 tonnes of ore was produced from the Carnation and Daffodil mines but no more is known. Aaron Minerals was found to be active on a neighbouring lease at the time (The Ark). Exploration of the field after 1950 include 1985 GR Dales and Assoc, 1986-1987 Forsyth NL, 1987 Falcon Australia Ltd, 1996-1998 Kirwood Gold NL, 2002-2003 Hallmark Mining, and 2012 to the present (2015) Paynes Find Gold NL.

Apart from the last company, Falcon Australia Ltd was the only company through this period to do a systematic examination, and this was on the old Carnation lease. It states the mine contains felsic to mafic rocks intruded by quartz-biotite feldspar porphyry, dipping west. The workings are on the west side of a number of sub-parallel shear zones, converging to the south. The shear zones are up to 2 metres wide, in association with one major 1.2 metre wide quartz vein. High grade zones are separated by low grade areas. The gold is structurally controlled by distinct high grade ore shoots, within narrow tight shear zones, having variable limited wall rock alteration. The weathering is minimal, but on the southern part of the lease it is weathered to 10 metres from the surface.

Paynes Find Gold NL in recent years has plans to develop the goldfield as an open pit. The company has been beset by internal disputes. Intense exploration has made a negative impact on the historic values of the goldfield. The goldfield saw intense underground mining from 1911 to 1950, on narrow high grade ore shoots, separated by low grade stone, and many barren pegmatites. Some small gold shoots may remain. Whether it is enough to support an open pit, no-one really knows. The writer argues it would be fairly unlikely it could be proved before digging takes place. Investors should proceed with caution.

There is an estimated 36 recognised historic gold mines on the field. Mindat only includes those where something meaningful could be written. The field is a confusing mix of small miner groups,
minor diggings in many cases, changing lease numbers and boundaries, and a revolving ownership. Many named diggings, prospecting leases, and minor mines were found at various points of time, with no location details or much information.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References