Gessner's Gold Mine, Kurnalpi Goldfield, Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Gessner's Gold Mine	Mine (Abandoned)
Kurnalpi Goldfield	Ore Field
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Frank David Gessner and Thomas Huffa formed a prospecting partnership in 1907, and for the next 30 years, they explored for, and mined gold deposits in the region east of Kalgoorlie.

Kurnalpi was the initial focus, and they mined leases here before the Great War years. On discovering a 220 ounce nugget in 1913, and some rich ore, caused a second rush to the locality. The nugget was purchased by the State Government, and exhibited in London. It may have found its way back to Gessner and Huffa, or another local, as it was exhibited in Kanowna in 1938 to raise money for the local hospital.

In the years after the Great War, they were mining at Mount Monger. They discovered the Perkolilli deposit, near Kanowna in 1929, and a gold deposit at Jubilee, 40 miles from Kalgoorlie in 1934.

In 1925, the pair found gold at a remote location north of the Trans Australian Railway line, and south from the eastern end of the Lake Yindarlgooda salt-pan. The reef was 2 feet wide and 300 feet in length, and another source states it was a huge quartz blow, never prospected before. A rush of prospectors arrived from Kalgoorlie, and pegged adjacent land, but no work was ever done. Gessner and Huffa may have done some minor work on their reward lease, but the high cost of cartage caused it to soon be abandoned.

A map located Gessner's on the edge of Lake Yindarlgooda, but the historic accounts disagree. About the same time, the Rising Sun deposit was located about 7 kilometres further north north-west, of Gessners, which places the mine far further south. No evidence could be located of workings, and it is doubtful this remote location has been visited much since 1925.

Gessner's and Huffa's partnership came to a sad end. After 30 years of prospecting together, at ages 75 (Gessner) and 65 (Huffa), they fell out over a lease ownership dispute. Huffa was working a lease at Kurnalpi, when Gessner left to attend his brother's (Alfred Gessner) funeral. Frank Gessner decided to work his brother's old lease at Bulong. Frank found little gold, while Huffa at Kurnalpi uncovered a rich patch. Gessner took Huffa to the Warden's Court to claim half ownership of the Kurnalpi lease, but the warden determined they had agreed to end the partnership when Gessner left.

References

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality