Hill 60 Gold Mine, Boogardie Goldfield, Mount Magnet, Mount Magnet Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Hill 60 Gold Mine	Mine
Boogardie Goldfield	Ore Field
Mount Magnet	Mountain
Mount Magnet Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

A major gold mine near Mt Magnet, located immediately west south-west of the town, founded about 1895 and operated intermittently to 1941.

The mine is a large but low grade gold mine, which is typical of the gold mines around Mount Magnet. From 1896 when the mine started till 1900 it was known as the Mount Magnet Gold Mine. After this it was called Hill 60. The first crushing from the mine was reported in December 1896. In 1897 the mine employed 45 men. The 20 head battery was dismantled in 1900 and removed to the Windsor Castle gold mine, east of the Mt Magnet townsite. It may indicate mining stopped at this time.

In 1895 J Perryman was mine manager, 1897 Richard Piper, 1898 T Creer and 1908 D.C. Doolette. In 1928 the mine manager was W Bestwick and 1937 T Peart.

Little activity was reported at the mine from World War One to 1928 when Mount Magnet Gold Mines NL was floated to take up an option to work the Hill 60 mine. Later the same year it abandoned the option citing poor ore grade at depth. However, another factor may have been a dispute which arose with the accusation the directors had benefited themselves financially over shareholders with the mine option. The issue ended up in court.

The Mount Magnet Mines Limited was a British company formed in 1933 to purchase and operate the mine. It was purchased from W Clarke and S Sawyer who had been sending ore for crushing from the late 1920's. They had been working the mine with a 5 five head battery and cyanide plant.

The company then set about constructing a new processing plant able to treat 4500 tonnes of ore per month, and opened in 1935 to much fanfare. The state governor, two state ministers, the opposition leader, and fifty businessmen arrived by train for the event. Mining however didn't commence till 1937. In 1938, the company erected new poppet legs, a winder, ore bin, and refurbished the shaft. All this expense saw the company enter into receivership sometime around 1941.

The mine was sold in 1942 to the Commonwealth Government as part of its war effort. No mining took place at Hill 60 over the war years. The mine was placed out to private tender in 1945.

In 1954 it was reported the Mount Magnet Development NL had been floated to purchase the mine from Yenberrie Mines NL, along with nearby New Chum, Edward Carson, Morning Star and several other Mount Magnet mines and leases. Only exploration drilling was reported.

Subsequent to this being written, and the photograph attached taken, the pit may have been filled in.

UPDATE 2024:
From the website of Ramelius Resources:
"The Hill 60 underground deposit is located 500m south of the current St George/Water Tank underground mine. Historic mining consists of a shaft access underground mined up to the 1940’s and an open pit mining remnant lode and fill in the 2000’s.

Mineralisation is hosted within a BIF unit and associated with strong pyrrhotite-pyrite. The lode is steeply dipping and typically 2 to 8m wide.

The latest Ore Reserve stood at 120,000t @3.1 g/t for 12,000 oz (September 2023).

The mine is accessed by link drives from St George and production commenced in 2019."

https://www.rameliusresources.com.au/hill60/

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References