Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	18° 20' 51'' South , 127° 49' 22'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-18.34746,127.82280
GeoHash:	G#: qudzsevwr
Locality type:	Mine
Köppen climate type:	BSh : Hot semi-arid (steppe) climate

The site is 500 metres west of the Duncan Road, and 32 kilometres east of Halls Creek. It can be accessed from the north from Duncan Road along a track about two bends further on from the access track to the Butcher Creek Gold Mine, or travelling west along a track a further two bends along, all from Duncan Road.

The mine was developed from shortly after the goldfield was discovered in 1885, by a 213 foot long tunnel, the reef cut at 110 feet. In some fashion this is likely to still remain, as the site has been little disturbed, containing a couple of small open pits, and some minor bulldozed ground. Mining relics can be seen at the location.

The mine is on the west side of conspicuous hill rising 200 feet above the surrounding countryside. The white quartz reef formed the crest of the hill, outcropping 5 to 10 feet, 10 to 15 feet wide, striking parallel to the shale and sandstone country rock. The tunnel passes through narrow bands of yellowish micaceous sandstone, interbedded with narrow bands of yellowish shale. The sandstone forms the Hanging or west wall, while yellowish greasy shale is the Footwall, penetrated by masses of leaders running from the main reef.

The tunnel intersects a shaft at 115 feet deep from the outcrop. This continues 96 feet below the tunnel. Quartz at the bottom is covered by lustrous black graphitic shale, with much pyrite. Two drives, 60 and 40 feet long were developed from the tunnel, with much stoping.

A shaft was 100 feet to the south, down 125 feet, stoped much of the way to the surface. A third shaft was on a smaller 18 inch wide reef close to the Hanging Wall of the main reef.

When inspected in 1903, the mine contained a 10 head battery, which had been on the lease for a number of years, formerly sited on the Golden Crown lease.

The mine is a classic example of bad early mine management. The original prospector, one Bradley, gave shares in the mine in lieu of wages, resulting in a number of people having an interest in the mine. He also provided food to his miners. A Huntingdon mill was erected at the site by a Brisbane company, but plant problems caused the mill to crush less than promised. This went to court, and it was decided the company should pay Bradley 1000 pounds, however the money was never forthcoming.

A 10 head battery was purchased from the Ruby Queen gold mine elsewhere in the district. This was erected in 1890 after much expense. The plant was not constructed properly, and was leaning dangerously to one side. Mine manager T. Hill was sacked and replaced by A. Donnelly. The mill was pulled apart and re-erected again, but it was still constructed incorrectly. The shareholders put to a vote the mine manager should be sacked. This motion was lost, but Donnelly resigned anyway. A.J. Best was appointed mine manager, and pulled the battery apart and re-erected it now for the third time. However the situation was no better, and he was also sacked. Bradly re-enters the scene and is appointed mine manager. The battery is re-erected for a fourth time, but he had little knowledge about the workings of gold batteries, and was erected incorrectly, and he resigned after only seven weeks.

J. Sneddon was appointed mine manager, when the bailiff arrived. While the shareholders had been fighting each other, and batteries going up and down at great expense, the mine's debts had been steadily mounting. One of the creditors saw no hope in the enterprise, and went to court seeking his money back. This led to the other creditors following suit.

The bailiff seized the mine, and it was put up for auction with a minimum price of 2000 pounds. There were no bids. R. Buchanan later purchased the mine and gave it back to the shareholders. Buchanan and Bradley were planning to float the mine in Melbourne, but shortly after Bradley died after a seven week illness. After this Buchanan sold the mine to the owners of the nearby Golden Crown mine, for 25 000 paid up shares.

W.J. Coleman was storekeeper and hotel proprietor at the nearby Brockman township (now long gone), who was owed 300 pounds by the Jacksons Reef Company, and won a court case against them. The sheriff seized the mine, with Coleman taking it over, and removing a 10 head battery from nearby Caroline Pool, and re-erecting it at the mine. He let the mine on tribute to an Afghan named Esau, and a mechanic named Simon De Putz. They worked the mine successfully for a time, while Coleman pursued other leases and machinery on the goldfield for debts owed to him for store supplies, taking over much of the goldfield.

De Putz left, leaving Esau in debt to Coleman. He was allowed to work off the debt, and was eventually offered half the mine ownership.
One source states the mine was operational in the 1990's, although an on the ground inspection is needed, as it appears to be minor, and was possibly a shallow alluvial exercise. Another source states it was active between 1986 to 1988, while another states there is a 70 metre pit at the site, possibly the small water filled pit which can be seen. Australian Coal and Gold Holdings Ltd was at the site sometime before 1993, where they produced a Measured resource for the site of 1.4 Mt at 3.1 g/t Au.

One of these groups built a dam about five kilometres further south, which is now a large body of water and haven for birds. One source names this as Lake Bradley, another Lake Monte Gordon.

Historic mining saw 2500 kg of gold obtained before 1928, and 196 kg 1940 to 1942. The 1940's result was tributing by A. Ross. Another source states before 1897 the mine achieved 1971 tonnes of ore for 1579 ounces of gold.

Gold is associated with pyritic quartz veins in altered andesite, interbedded with tuffaceous sediments and shales adjacent to the Ruby Queen Shear Zone. The lode trends north-south, and plunges south.

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

3 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

Regional Geology

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Statherian 1600 - 1800 Ma ID: 3184840

Paleoproterozoic intrusive rocks Age: Statherian (1600 - 1800 Ma) Comments: Halls Creek Orogen Lithology: Intrusive igneous rocks Reference: Chorlton, L.B. Generalized geology of the world: bedrock domains and major faults in GIS format: a small-scale world geology map with an extended geological attribute database. doi: 10.4095/223767. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5529. [154]

Orosirian 1800 - 2050 Ma ID: 767961

Koongie Park Formation Age: Orosirian (1800 - 2050 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Koongie Park Formation Description: Metamorphosed felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, metasedimentary rocks, metabasalt, and hornfels; locally migmatitic; minor chert, banded iron-formation, and carbonate; locally intimately veined by granitic rocks and gabbro Comments: igneous felsic volcanic; metasedimentary; synthesis of multiple published descriptions Lithology: Igneous felsic volcanic; metasedimentary Reference: Raymond, O.L., Liu, S., Gallagher, R., Zhang, W., Highet, L.M. Surface Geology of Australia 1:1 million scale dataset 2012 edition. Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia). [5]

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

References