Ora Banda Goldfield, Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Ora Banda Goldfield	Ore Field
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Gold deposit in porphyritic tholeiitic metabasalts which are metamorphosed and altered under mid-greenschist facies PT conditions. General geology of the area: Ora Banda is in the westerly belt of the Broad Arrow Group of deposits, in the north-east limb of a north north-west trending syncline, dipping 30 to 35 degrees south-west. This contains massive porphyritic basalts, interbedded metasediments, massive gabbro, mafic volcanics, and intrusives of the Mulgabbie Group.

Mafic and ultramafic rocks become progressive more schistose to the north-east. Historical gold production has been from lode formations, particularly in the north. These trend east north-east, parallel to the intrusive contacts. They are steep dipping lodes, within broad zones 3 to 10 metres wide.

The southern part of the field, gold is mainly found in quartz veins, which are small but abundant. The veins are found in shear zones in basalt, and gold in lodes in shear zones in porphyry.

Ora Banda means 'band of gold' in Spanish. Gold was discovered in the area in 1893, and the town eventually gazetted in 1911. At this time, 2000 people lived at the site, with a commercial hub, which included the Huntington Mills Bank which was the largest in the southern hemisphere at the time. The still operating state battery was constructed in 1913, and the Ora Banda hotel in 1911. The hotel was restored and re-opened in 1981.
They are the only two major historic buildings still standing. That Ora Banda didnt become completely a ghost town like so many others in the region, is largely because of the shear amount of gold in the area. Frenzied recent activity has turned Ora Banda into part historical attraction, part mining camp.

The hotel has witnessed a violent episode in its recent history. In 2000, the hotel was owned and operated by former Criminal Bureau Investigation chief, Don Hancock. One night a group of Gypsy Joker Bikies was drinking at the pub. It is said, one of them, Billy Grierson, made an offensive comment to Mr Hancock's wife, and they were asked to leave. The bikies made camp across the road from the hotel. Later that night around the campfire, a shot rang out, and Billy Grierson was fatally shot dead. Soon after the hotel was fire bombed, and severely damaged. The state battery, general store, and Hancock's Ora Banda home suffered a similar fate. In 2001, Don Hanock had moved back to Perth, where he was killed after a bomb planted under his car exploded. The hotel changed ownership and was re-built.

Geochronology

Mineralization age: Neoarchean : 2692 Ma to 2674 Ma

Important note: This table is based only on rock and mineral ages recorded on mindat.org for this locality and is not necessarily a complete representation of the geochronology, but does give an indication of possible mineralization events relevant to this locality. As more age information is added this table may expand in the future. A break in the table simply indicates a lack of data entered here, not necessarily a break in the geologic sequence. Grey background entries are from different, related, localities.

Geologic Time				Rocks, Minerals and Events
Precambrian
	Archean
		Neoarchean		ⓘ Molybdenite (youngest age) 2674 Ma ⓘ Molybdenite (oldest age) 2692 Ma

Localities in this Region

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References