Mary Mac Gold Mine, Laverton, Laverton Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Mary Mac Gold Mine	Mine
Laverton	- not defined -
Laverton Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Small abandoned alluvial gold show a few km SW of Laverton.

Tom Potts, Harry Dennis and George McOmish were the first to discover gold in the Laverton area, north-east of Mount Margaret. They also discovered the British Flag deposit close to the present Laverton town site. They may also have had a hand in the discovery of the Mary Mac deposit, as the mine is named after George's wife, Mary McOmish.

The first owners of the mine however found was William Leaver, E. Gardiner and Harry Page in the early 20th Century. Leaver at least had been at Laverton since 1899, and passed away October 1914.

In 1910, they sold the mine to a Melbourne syndicate, floated as the Mary Mac Gold Mining Company. A 10 head battery and cyanide vats were transferred to the mine from the Euro mine in 1911. The company conducted intermittent mining until the early 1920's. There were periods when the mine was idle, as they tried to find new sources of ore underground to keep the mill running.

One notable period was in 1917. Mine Manager J. Potter had spent 7000 pounds on development, however the first parcel of ore through the mill came back with poor results. William Tasker was the underground manager, and recommended mining the hill next to the mine. When this request was refused he resigned. Potter followed soon after. Meanwhile Tasker had teamed up with a metallurgist called Hunt (surname), and took out an option over the mine. They immediately set about digging an adit into the hill finding much gold. The company paid the pair 12 000 pounds to release the option and regain control over the mine. Tasker was then appointed mine manager.

The company also took over the adjoining Lady Harriett lease, amalgamating the two. Frank Gregory a blacksmith at the mine, became entangled in machinery in 1915, and died from his injuries. As an example on how unsafe mining was at the time, 2 years earlier, 35 men had been killed and 491 seriously injured in 1913, across mines in Western Australia. This was normal for the time.

The company eventually went bankrupt, and William Tasker took over as owner. He is found as owner until 1939, however the mine had been idle for some time due to his illness. An option had been given to process the tailings in 1937, and another to Adelaide and Melbourne investors for the mine itself in 1939.

In 2011, Crescent Gold is mining the Mary Mac South via an open pit. Mary Mac has an Inferred JORC resource of 322 000 tonnes of ore at 2.7 g/t for 28 000 ounces of gold. Mary Mac South has an Indicated JORC resource of 460 000 tonnes at 1.9 g/t for 27 600 ounces, and an Inferred JORC resource of 140 000 tonnes at 2.1 g/t for 9 300 ounces.

The Mary Mac mine is 2 kilometres south of Laverton. It has produced 45 000 tonnes of ore at 8.6 g/t yielding 12 440 ounces of gold.

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References