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Post by michael on Sept 13, 2012 18:07:36 GMT 10
just received my angus mckirk au trap (foreman) and new garret pan set,looks great should be abel to speed up the production now cant wait to get out and use it ,but off course iam on call so have to wait another week will be great to organize another trip when its daylight savings, i really enjoyed the last one ,was a little worried a tree was going to fall on my car , just wondering if any one has panned around Lefroy , would be good to have a camp there and maybe find some good sized bit. good hunting michael ;D
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Post by cashman on Sept 14, 2012 7:56:37 GMT 10
G'day Michael,
In answer to your question regarding Lefroy. Most of the area over there has had the surface scraped, especially around the area of the existing Gold Treatment Plant which used to be privately owned. (Not sure if that's still the case anymore as BMJV took over leases to much of the area some years ago).
The former historical mines run underground and some of them were eventually combined together. The main ore bodies and mines producing the gold (apart from numerous small mines) were The Golden Point, Native Youth, The Pinnafore and Volunteer Reefs and Lodes.
This Goldfield (Lefroy) was discovered in 1872, and during the main life of the field yielded somewhere in the vicinity of around 172,000 ounces of gold from approximately 168,765 tons (not tonnes ) of ore. That equates to 31.7 Grams per ton on average, or just over 1 oz of gold. ( 31.1 gr/oz).
It is part of what is known as The Mathinna Beds, on the far western tip and is part of a fault system with numerous barren quartz reefs, and siltstone and claystone. Mineralisation on this field consists of a mixture of pockets of Pyrite, Stibnite, Chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite, with the gold more commonly associated with the pyrite and stibnite. Much underground mining was carried on following the higher grade ore shoots. The ore bodies dip between 30-50 degrees in a South Westerly/North Easterly direction, approx 330 degrees on the compass card.
Last time I was over that way, (some years back), the Tailings Dam/Settling Pond, had numerous dead animals and birds in it, as well as was leaking through the banked up walls in a number of places. The dead animals, suggested to me that there was still cyanide in the water which had not been treated or neutralised properly, and this was running across open ground into the creek bed. BEWARE!
Having worked at Beaconsfield gold mine and Processing Mill as Security back in 1999-2000, I can tell you this, not once during my time there did I ever see one dead or sick animal in or near the tailings Dam/settling Ponds, yet saw many birds swimming and drinking in the water. Also, it was a drinking/watering hole for kangaroos, wallabies, etc. This water was processed to the point of being drinkable, unlike that across the river at Lefroy.(mind you, I would never chance drinking it.)
This might give you an idea of the surface potential, and that is, that there are quite a number of people from Lefroy whom have prospecting and mining leases in Western Australia. Why would they go all that way looking for gold if there was some in their back yard?
Hope that helps you Michael in some way, but you can go have a look for yourself, no harm in that. Who knows, you might find some thing others didn't, and that is the beauty of our little hobby. Good luck, Cheers Cashman.
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Post by diggerdude on Sept 14, 2012 10:24:39 GMT 10
I managed to detect a few nuggets near there at the start of this year. This is one of them, nice course crystalline looking stuff. I never did pan there but it should be ok if you find the right spot. Of the spots I panned at tobacco crk and Golconda seemed to have potential, lisle had lots of colors when I test panned there too. Here is a map of the lisle/golconda area. Goodluck Diggerdude
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Post by riverrat on Sept 14, 2012 16:03:27 GMT 10
hey digger dude are the shaded areas present mining fields or old, can anyone go out there, i used to ride dirtbikes round Lisle 20 years ago.
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Post by diggerdude on Sept 14, 2012 17:42:08 GMT 10
The red areas are the goldfields, the little faint black squares within these are the old leases. Some of the lisle area is under current lease but no one was there working it when I was there, quite a few people go out there panning/sluicing I ran into 3 groups over the 4 days I spent in the area, most of them were digging where the track crosses tobacco crk, not sure how they were going, just don't go past any trespassers shot signs ;D
Diggerdude
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Post by michael on Sept 14, 2012 21:18:40 GMT 10
thanks all for the great replies, cashman you seem to know your stuff i wish i could retain that much info , i also worked at beaky as a diamond driller for several years and have a great understanding on how rich the surrounding areas can be and may of got a whisper that recent exploration was not to bad but cost effectiveness was not the best , any way its good to see that digger dude has found a bit of the good stuff ,i do have a question though ! when drilling for gold i would often get serpentine in core samples, is this just coincidence or is this related directly to gold bearing grounds,or though it did not lay close to the ore body it was in the vicinity.
good hunting michael
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Post by cashman on Sept 14, 2012 23:00:49 GMT 10
Hi Michael,
Your query regards Serpentine in the core samples. I can tell you this, Asbestos has been produced from Low-Grade deposits of serpentinized ultrabasic rocks of Upper Cambrian age in the West Tamar district, more so near Andersons Creek.
These small deposits are scattered and earlier limitations on accessing some of the Areas put a hold on the amount able to be processed due to the limited access and so was only done in small scale operations. These deposits also occur under Beaky, and is possibly the reason you hit them whilst drilling.
The processing of the serpentite ceased back at the end of 1945. The asbestos was in the form of Chrysotile, or the cross fibre variety.
Andersons Creek deposits were in lodes of about 8 feet in width and were composed of a number of elements/minerals in the veins, of the following: Chrysotile Asbestos, Picrolite, Amphibole Asbestos, Serpentine, Magnetite, Chromite, Hematite and Talc. Yep, in case you are wondering, you have been drilling through Asbestos.
As for the association or proximity of the Serpentine to the gold deposits, I would say it is more of a freak of nature rather than a direct relative pointer to the gold. It could well be a phenomenon just in this area that is repeated nowhere else, but then again it may well bear some kind of relation to the gold lode itself.
This I am afraid, I am unable to answer for you. Maybe some more research may help you with the answer. Hope that helps in some way for you Michael, albeit maybe not what you wanted to hear. Cheers, Cashman.
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Post by diggerdude on Sept 15, 2012 15:57:10 GMT 10
It's pretty rare to get gold with serpentine but possible. Usually the tassie serpentine deposits are associated with platinum metals ( osmiridium mainly ) this stuff was mined alluvially the same as gold, the stuff I got down there is a very bright silver that I panned. But I have heard its a blackish color up northern tas. It is easy to pan as its even heavier than gold.
Diggerdude
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