Palmerston Gold Mine (Invincible; Knight Commander; Camperdown; Hazel), Siberia Goldfield (Waverley), Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire, Western Australia, Australiai
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
30° 12' 18'' South , 120° 57' 47'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Locality type:
KΓΆppen climate type:
The Palmerston Gold Mine these days is an elongated abandoned north-east to south-west trending pit. This covers several leases in the old days, and some name changes.
It was initially discovered as a deep lead, being fine gold found at depth in granular soil at 30 feet. Under this was oxide ore, until the relatively shallow depth of 50 feet, where heavy sulphide took over.
Palmerston was a relatively insignificant lease on the line of lode, but has been chosen when the modern pit was developed. Past production from the pit is 26 000 tonnes of ore at 2.9 g/t, and resources remaining 292 000 tonnes of ore at 2.4 g./t yielding 22 000 ounces of gold. The mine is just north-east of the Sand King pit, about 5 kilometres north-east of the former Siberia town site.
For the Camperdown lease, the discoverer was William W. Douglas from the Richmond River region in NSW. He gave up the lease after a disagreement with his mining partners. The first definitive date found was the appropriately named Lucky and party in 1895, stating specimen gold had been found showing more gold than quartz. Leitch (surname) is also mentioned, with gold being displayed from the find in a jeweller's shop in Coolgardie. O.A. Archibald is noted as owner in 1896, and re-appears later under the Invincible and Hazel names.
Under the Invincible name, the main players were Joseph Armstrong and the brothers William and Benjamin Outred, who took up the lease in 1900. Initially the deposit was worked as an open cut, with gold said to be patchy. They were accessing a leader running alongside a large low grade ore body of quartz, ironstone and schistose formation
Archibald mentioned previously, purchased the mine from Armstrong/Outred's in 1912, however he found most of the oxide ore had been worked out, and the heavy sulphide ore was impossible to treat with the technology of the day. The lease was soon abandoned. Later in the year, James Kirkham takes over and the mine is under option to a London Company, but no more is heard.
In 1922, Archibald is back at the mine, now for the third time, and now named the Hazel, hoping someone can process the heavy sulphide ore, which so far had prevented development at depth. When the battery announced it was closing, he offered to lease it, so he could install cyanide vats. The deal fell through when his Sydney syndicate backers withdrew.
It is reported in 1924, 10 men are still dryblowing the near surface for alluvial gold.
The Mutooroo Copper Corporation NL take out a 12 month option over the lease in 1931, but do little. Frank Nazzari then takes over the lease immediately after, and a number of crushings are processed by him across 1932 to 1934 under the name Knight Commander.
Nazzari had emigrated to Australia from northern Italy in the early 20th Century, and became a firewood contractor on the goldfields, and worked for a time underground at the Golden Mile. From the 1930's, he operated several leases including the Knight Commander and Majestic at Siberia, and the Monte Carlo and Good Hope at Ora Banda. Like many miners of the time, much of the money he won was bet on horse racing. He died aged 58 in 1949, still a resident of Ora Banda.
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Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
6 valid minerals.
Rock Types Recorded
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Alphabetical List Tree DiagramDetailed Mineral List:
β Azurite Formula: Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 Reference: Simpson, E.S. (1948), Minerals of Western Australia, Vol 3, p 428 |
β Chalcocite Formula: Cu2S Reference: Simpson, E.S. (1948), Minerals of Western Australia, Vol 3, p 428 |
β Gold Formula: Au Reference: Kalgoorlie Western Argus newspaper (1900), A Run Around the Siberia District. Deep Alluvial, 20/09/1900 |
β Malachite Formula: Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 Reference: Simpson, E.S. (1948), Minerals of Western Australia, Vol 3, p 428 |
β Pyrite Formula: FeS2 Reference: Simpson, E.S. (1948), Minerals of Western Australia, Vol 3, p 428 |
β Quartz Formula: SiO2 Reference: Kalgoorlie Western Argus newspaper (1900), A Run Around the Siberia District. Deep Alluvial, 20/09/1900 |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
Group 1 - Elements | |||
---|---|---|---|
β | Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
β | Chalcocite | 2.BA.05 | Cu2S |
β | Pyrite | 2.EB.05a | FeS2 |
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
β | Quartz | 4.DA.05 | SiO2 |
Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates | |||
β | Azurite | 5.BA.05 | Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 |
β | Malachite | 5.BA.10 | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
H | Hydrogen | |
---|---|---|
H | β Azurite | Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 |
H | β Malachite | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
C | Carbon | |
C | β Azurite | Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 |
C | β Malachite | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
O | Oxygen | |
O | β Quartz | SiO2 |
O | β Azurite | Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 |
O | β Malachite | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
Si | Silicon | |
Si | β Quartz | SiO2 |
S | Sulfur | |
S | β Pyrite | FeS2 |
S | β Chalcocite | Cu2S |
Fe | Iron | |
Fe | β Pyrite | FeS2 |
Cu | Copper | |
Cu | β Azurite | Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 |
Cu | β Malachite | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 |
Cu | β Chalcocite | Cu2S |
Au | Gold | |
Au | β Gold | Au |
References
Sort by
Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A)Coolgardie Miner newspaper (1895), Siberia, 05/12/1895
Coolgardie Miner newspaper (1900), Siberia, 19/03/1900
Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper (1921), Siberia State Battery, 19/05/1921
Kalgoorlie Western Argus newspaper (1900), A Run Around the Siberia District. Deep Alluvial, 20/09/1900
The West Australian newspaper (Perth) (1924), Mining Revival at Siberia, 16/01/1924
The Sun newspaper (Kalgoorlie) (1911), Ora Banda to the Pole, 25/06/1911
The Evening Star newspaper (Boulder) (1906), Mining, 07/12/1906
Western Argus newspaper (Kalgoorlie) (1926), Alluvial at St. Ives, 26/10/1926
The Sun newspaper (Kalgoorlie) (1910), The Wealth of Waverley, 11/12/1910
The Sun newspaper (Kalgoorlie) (1906), The Mines, 20/05/1906
Coolgardie Miner newspaper (1895), Local and General, 09/10/1895
Western Argus newspaper (Kalgoorlie) (1922), Siberia State Battery - to the ed., 25/07/1922
Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper (1913), Waverley, 28/03/1913
Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper (1913), Waverley, 12/07/1913
Western Argus newspaper (Kalgoorlie) (1923), Paringa Co, 24/07/1923
Newcastle Mining Herald and Miners Advocate (1931), West Australia, 31/10/1931
Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper (1932), Ora Band Crushings. Prospector Activities, 30/05/1932
News newspaper (Adelaide) (1931), Mutooroo. Prospects of New Option Discussed, 26/10/1931
Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper (1949), Obituary. The Late Mr. Frank Nazzari, 19/10/1949
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- Kambalda Nickel Metallogenic ProvinceGeologic Province
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