Excelsior Gold Mine, Arltunga Gold Field, Central Desert Region, Northern Territory, Australia
This page is currently not sponsored. Click here to sponsor this page.
| Latitude & Longitude (WGS84): | 23° 26' 44'' South , 134° 45' 0'' East |
|---|---|
| Latitude & Longitude (decimal): | -23.4455793113, 134.750065919 |
The Excelsior gold mine was part of the White Range line of leases, with the South lease bordering to the south, and Extended lease bordering to the north.
Excelsior contained 6 reefs, averaging 57 metres long, and averaging 1.6 metres wide. The mine dates from the late 1890's. In 1956, S. McIntyre took up several leases at White Range, and drove an adit 69 metres into the hill at Excelsior in 1959 hoping to strike the reef at depth. It was the first test of the White Range leases at depth, however unfortunately he arrived 20 metres below the old workings, and below the extent of the reef at depth. In 1980, J.R. Brice took up the old Excelsior and Extended leases.
There are three main reefs. In the southern part of the lease is an east-west trending reef, 80 metres long; central part of the lease is a number of east-west trending reefs sub-parallel en enchelon; and in the northern part of the lease one major and one minor reef. Most mining historically took place in the northern and central parts, down to a maximum depth of 30 metres, the reefs dipping an average of 60 degrees south.
The reefs are close to the contact between the Cavanagh Metamorphics chlorite schist, and east dipping Heavitree Quartzite. The reefs are white, bucky to well jointed, Fe stained, and brecciated, containing vugs of massive sulphides, with anastromising veins forming a quartz stockwork. The 1 cm wide boxworks contain hematite, limonite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, covellite, gold, with un-named secondary copper staining the walls of the old stopes. Gold is found in free form, or as minute inclusions in the sulphides. Mineralisation is patchily distributed along the reefs.
The Excelsior mine was the second largest producer in the White Range area, achieving 2642.34 ounces of gold averaging 50 g/t.
Mineral List
7 valid minerals.
Rock Types Recorded
Entries shown in red are rocks recorded for this region.Note: this is a very new system on mindat.org and data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!
The above list contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to
visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders
for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.
References
Mackie, A.W. (1986) Geology and Mining History of the Arltunga Goldfield, 1887-1985, Department of Mines and Energy, Northern Territory Geological Survey, Northern Territory Government, Report 2.
