Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	29° 51' 34'' South , 122° 37' 53'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-29.85957,122.63129
GeoHash:	G#: qdxnns1rk
Locality type:	Mine
Köppen climate type:	BWh : Hot deserts climate

The Patricia gold deposit was discovered by Alf Thompson in 1930. The location was initially called Thompson's Find.

It was soon under option to the Kimberley Oil Options Co., who produced regular crushings between 1930 and 1935. Ore was extracted down to 100 feet, and in the first year 600 tonnes was obtained for 1070 ounces. The leases included the Patricia Reward, Patricia South, Patricia Deeps, Patricia North and Patricia North Extended. Active mining was initially from two shafts on the Patricia South lease.

Several companies immediately pegged leases north and south of the main find, although little in the way of mining was found. The Australian Mining and Exploration NL pegged several leases, one was optioned to the Bulolo Gold Mining NL. The Argos syndicate pegged three leases to the south, one called Northwoods. Ives Proprietary Gold Mining Co NL took out a six month option over this lease, adjacent to the Patricia South lease. Lanarkshire Gold Mining Co NL took out 24 acres adjacent to the east of Thompson's original find. The Kangaroo Mining Co NL also
purchased a 24 acre lease adjacent to one of Thompson's original blocks. The King of Creation Company also took out leases in the area. Ivan Gold Mines took out a 12 month option over Block 815, two blocks north of the Patricia North lease, and adjacent to the lease held by Bulolo.

The reefs run north north-west to south south-east within the western borders of the Lake Raeside salt-pan. The reef was traced for 2400 feet. At the Patricia Reward lease the reef was 25 feet wide. To the west of the lode is a large greenschist lode 150 feet wide which in 1930 had not been prospected. The main lode is east and parallel of a porphyry bar which can be traced for miles. West of that is a jasper bar parallel with the porphyry bar and again can be traced for miles. Inbetween are greenschist lodes of varying width impregnated with gold.

In recent decades a shallow open pit was developed on the salt-pan, where the Patricia leases once were. The pit is now filled with hypersaline water. No information could be found about this open pit.

In 2010, a company called Legacy Iron Ore Ltd drilled to the north of the open pit. It states the deposits are within a major deformation zone, bordering a small granitoid . It is a mixed sequence of mafic schist, sediments, and porphyry intrusives. Gold is found with and without quartz veining, and variably with oxidised pyrite.

The most likely area for alluvial gold is south of the pit.

Access is convoluted. The easiest access is to head south 15 kilometres along the road that borders the Edjudina line of lode. At the southern end the road diverges from the gold workings, then a cross-road is reached. Head due east to the Glengarry Gold Mine. The road then zig-zags in various directions as it negotiates a gap in the Edjudina Range. Immediately after this is the Lake Raeside salt-pan and the Patricia open cut.

Commodity List

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

Mineral List

2 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

Archean 2500 - 4000 Ma ID: 733698

intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks 74244 Age: Archean (2500 - 4000 Ma) Description: Intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, intermediate schist; basaltic andesite; andesite, meta-andesite, commonly porphyritic, locally carbonate-altered Comments: igneous intermediate volcanic; igneous volcanic; synthesis of multiple published descriptions Lithology: Igneous intermediate volcanic; igneous volcanic 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]

Neoarchean - Mesoarchean 2500 - 3200 Ma ID: 3187518

Archean volcanic rocks Age: Archean (2500 - 3200 Ma) Comments: Yilgarn Craton Lithology: Greenstone belt; mafic-ultramafic volcanic 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]

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

References