Bonnie Doon Mine, Bamboo Creek District, East Pilbara Shire, Western Australia, Australia
| Latitude & Longitude (WGS84): | 20° 56' 28'' South , 120° 13' 19'' East |
|---|---|
| Latitude & Longitude (decimal): | -20.94136,120.22206 |
| GeoHash: | G#: qsm2zexp9 |
| Locality type: | Mine |
| KΓΆppen climate type: | BWh : Hot deserts climate |
Bonnie Doon is a historic gold mine just north-east of the Hidden Treasure mine, and north of the Kitchener mine.
GML 408. Initially 6 acres, later expanded to 21 acres. The reef strikes north-east to south-west, and dips north by 60 degrees. There are cross reefs also. The quartz contains minor pyrite, manganese oxides and talc. The reef is 4 to 8 feet wide, and much larger than other reefs at Bamboo Creek.
The original prospectors in 1893 were George Quirk and Tom Stevens. Gold at the time was said to be patchy.
Around 1895, the Pilbara Goldfields Company was developing the mine. It closed down late 1898, finding the mine unpayable. Mine manager was L. Parker. A shaft had been sunk to 90 feet, the water level, with two levels driven east and west.
Regular crushings were then found until the outbreak of World War Two, although names were often lacking. The mine limped along until 1900 when it closed, but was revived again in 1912 by J.B. Sanderson. Atkins, Royer and Macavan (surnames) are also mentioned, as possibly a tributing party. Crushings are found each year until 1920. Bill Daley and Dan Breen are reported next to crushings in 1918.
James Maher is sinking the main shaft further in 1933. In 1934, a shaft at the mine was being used to supply water to the state battery. Crushings are also reported from the mine from 1934 to 1939, by the Greater Bonnie Doon 1935 Ltd.
Mineral List
11 valid minerals.
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
| Neoarchean 2500 - 2800 Ma ID: 3186668 | Archean sedimentary and volcanic rocks Age: Neoarchean (2500 - 2800 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Fortescue Group Comments: Pilbara Craton Lithology: Mafic volcanic rocks; shale 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] |
| Paleoarchean 3200 - 3600 Ma ID: 750632 | Kelly Group Age: Paleoarchean (3200 - 3600 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Kelly Group Description: Felsic tuffaceous sandstone, quartz sandstone, siltstone, shale, chert, banded iron formation, schist, tuff, conglomerate, rhyolite, basalt, serpentinised peridotite; local dolerite sills; intrusive porphyry and microgranite; metamorphosed Comments: sedimentary; igneous volcanic; synthesis of multiple published descriptions Lithology: Sedimentary; 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] |
Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
References
