Great Fingall Gold Mine (Day Dawn), Day Dawn Goldfield, Cue, Cue Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Great Fingall Gold Mine (Day Dawn)	Mine
Day Dawn Goldfield	Ore Field
Cue	- not defined -
Cue Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

At its height of production in 1905, the Great Fingall Mine was one of the largest and most profitable gold mines in Western Australia.

Gold was discovered at Day Dawn, about 8 kilometres south-west of Cue, by Ned Heffermen in 1891. After the initial alluvial gold rush, several companies established gold mines with shallow shafts from 1892 to 1900. Two of these, the Consolidated Murchison Gold Mines and Great Fingal Reefs Limited amalgamated to form the Great Fingal Consolidated in May 1899.

The Great Fingall Mine became the paramount gold mine on the field, and was largely responsible for the establishment of the town of Day Dawn, with 7 hotels, a workers club, public library, town hall and council chambers. Old Photographs show a huge processing plant, complex headframe, and at its height a 100 head stamp battery. Nothing remains now except the stone Mine Manager's Office built in 1902, and a headframe ruin on the south side of the open pit.

Experts gushed over the mine in the very early 1900's, with what appeared to be a never ending stream of gold, sent share prices rocketing, dividends continuously increasing, and machinery and processing plant equipment expanding. A London mining expert stated at the time it was one of the soundest and richest mines in the world, with its consistent richness and great length and breathe of its main ore channel, with phenomenal gold returns. A London journalist at the time noted the mine was earning the biggest profits of any gold mine in the world, and was within the top four for gross output. Another said' I would call it the ideal gold mine of ones dreams'.

Company secretary Anthony Stanley Rowe was sentenced to 10 years jail for fraud in 1904. He had forged documents to obtain loans to repay speculating losses, then fled to Canada, where he was arrested.

The effects of World War One were felt far away. It had a significant impact on gold mines in Western Australia, with increased costs for supplies, and a shortage of labour. At various stages between 1914 and 1918 the Great Fingall Mine closed operations for developmental work. Gold grades decreased at depth below level 18, and the mine closed altogether in 1918.

During the period 1899 to 1918, the mine produced 1 862 953 tonnes of ore for 1 182 802 ounces of gold and 169 210 ounces of silver worth at the time over 4 million pounds. Investors received over
1 250 000 in dividends, a return of 310% on their original investment.

The upper workings were let to tributors who set about removing the pillars in the underground workings for the valuable gold they contained. By 1920 this caused the overlying huge mullock sands to subside into the underground workings. Compounding matters this event caused the water level to rise several levels within a few minutes. This effectively ended all mining at the site for the next 70 years. During this short tributing period the mine produced 2 993 tonnes of ore for 2 413 ounces of gold, and a further 789 ounces from the dumps.

The Great Fingall Consolidated Company was purchased by the General Exploration Company Ltd in 1923. The new company gradually sold over several years all the equipment and buildings at the old mine. The last to go was the headframe in 1946, which was dismantled and carted to the Boulder Perseverence Mine on the Golden Mile at Kalgoorlie where it was re-erected.

Western Mining Corporation did some drilling on the workings in 1936.

The historic workings were developed as a large open pit from the early 1990's. The tailings were also reprocessed, both at the Big Bell Gold Mine processing plant. Subsequent owners till 2015 have conducted no substantial mining. The last owners were Harmony Mining, who halted production and sold the mine to Monarch Gold Mining, along with the Big Bell Gold mine and Hill 50 Gold Mine at Mount Magnet. Monarch went into administration. In 2010 the Great Fingall Mine was owned by Aragon Resources, then the Great Fingall Mining Company which was a shell entity of little importance in 2011. Westgold Resources from 2013 till 2014, and Metals X Ltd in 2015 when this was written.

The ore shoot crosses the Great Fingall Dolerite, a 600 metre thick tholeiitic sill, striking north north-east, and dipping 60 to 70 degrees west north-west. The ore shoot is only auriferous where it crosses the sill. Geologist J. Malcolm Maclaren in 1911 wrote of the mine the fissure contains quartz of two ages. (1) the older dark blue to black quartz and (2) the younger white quartz deposited during the re-opening of the fissure. Only the former contains gold. At the 14 to 16 level in the mine the old lode is crushed and laminated by the younger quartz, or impregnated and cemented by it, giving the lode a mottled appearance.

UPDATE 2024
Westgold describes the Great Fingall deposit as growth project:
"Production from Great Fingall is expected to commence in the first half of FY25, with the decline development having commenced in October 2023.

At steady state, Great Fingall will be a long-life, high-grade, high-margin underground mine, producing more than 45,000oz a year. (=1400 kg, representing a value of $104M)"

https://www.westgold.com.au/exploration/growth-projects

https://www.australianmining.com.au/spectacular-drilling-at-great-fingall/

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References