Venus Gold Mine, Boogardie Goldfield, Mount Magnet, Mount Magnet Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Venus Gold Mine	Mine
Boogardie Goldfield	Ore Field
Mount Magnet	Mountain
Mount Magnet Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

The Venus Gold Mine is in the Morning Star area, and like many of the leases in this area was later gobbled up by the large Morning Star open pit. A number of other leases were historically in the area. Adonis adjoined to the north and Monarch to the south. It was on the same lode as Star of the West and Havelock. Three Stars and New Chum are also mentioned as being close by. The Mindat co-ordinates are approximate, and denote only the Morning Star pit.

The deposit was discovered and worked by Michael Warren and George Pritchard, both in their early thirties. The shaft was sunk at the head of a small alluvial dryblowing patch.

Like many of the mines here it was initially phenomenally rich, but it didn't last. W. Alexander was a local MP, and made the following comments about the mine :

'The formation of the Venus is entirely different to that of the Welcome (in the Lennonvale Goldfield). It consists of ironstone. I desired particularly to see this mine, because as a rule, ironstone lodes contain gold in very minute particles, the metal being called leaf or paint gold, and I was told it was otherwise at the Venus. I found the owners very reticent, and at first refused me permission even to look at the mine. (We are talking about a politician here, so he wasn't going to take no for an answer). After a very considerable amount of persuasion I prevailed upon the men to let me go down the shaft. In the mine they have gold going down in a continuous stream. They are going down about 27 feet, with gold literally clinging to the stone. It was a wonderful sight. The men showed me a box of very rich specimens containing a very large amount of gold, but owing to the reticence of the owners, I was unable to get any idea of how much they had taken out'. Alexander goes on to bemoan the lack of information owners of the field are providing to the public, or allowing them to examine the mines. He states Warren and Pritchard had refused to sell or deal with their claim, 'in any other way than they are doing'.

Warren was known as 'Jack' or 'Warren of Venus'. Warren made 2500 pounds from the mine, and as mines in the area usually sold for between 2000 to 3000 pounds, and Pritchard would have taken half, they did well from their work. Warren had come out to Australia from England in 1884. Sometime late 1898, he left for the California gold rushes, then went to Vancouver British Columbia, before returning to England. In 1901, in London he was arrested for aiding a house break-in by a well known criminal. The house happened to be owned by a policeman, and they were arrested. Warren was found not guilty by the jury.

The mine was developed in 1896, and from late that year to early 1898, there are regular crushing reports. June 1896, it is stated 1000 oz had been dollied, with 40 tonnes of ore at grass, with every stone showing gold. Crushings show high oz per tonne. One early 40 tonne crushing produced 1200 oz. The shaft eventually reached 90 feet. In total the mine produced 189 tonnes for 1407 oz.

In 1904, the mine is being worked by a lone prospector, said to be making modest returns from his work.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References