Keillor 1 Gold Mine (Keilor; K1), Plutonic Gold Mine (Plutonic Dome Project), Neds Creek Station, Meekatharra Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Keillor 1 Gold Mine (Keilor; K1)	Mine
Plutonic Gold Mine (Plutonic Dome Project)	Mine
Neds Creek Station	- not defined -
Meekatharra Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

An elongated relatively shallow open pit, part of a collection of at least 8 small pits within a couple of square kilometres of what was known as the Marymia area. Originally this was mined as a separate area by companies, with its own processing plant, until the leases were taken over by companies controlling the Plutonic mine. It is located about 40 kilometres north-east of the Plutonic mine. The K1 mine is the most north-east one of this group. The K2 mine is about 500 metres to the south-west. A gravel airstrip remains 200 metres east of the K1 pit.

Mining at K1 and K2 pits began in 1992 by Resolute Resources Ltd. The pit had dimensions of 170 metres by 150 metres and 50 metres deep. There were four major geological units. These are a highly strained talc chlorite schist; mafic amplibolite; gold hosting BIF; and massive hanging wall mafic rocks. Shearing along the contacts of these units is common, with pervasive foliation sub-parallel to the shearing with the talc chlorite unit.

At K1, the gold was found in a series of north-east plunging irregular high grade shoots. These were up to 2 metres thick, but only 10-20 metres long. These shoots occurred in highly boundinaged and folded amplibolite, and BIF at the contact with barren ultramafic schist/ The ore shoots plunged sub-parallel to D2 fold axes, forming two distinct elongated stratabound ore zones, closely following the fold structures. More general geology of the area can be found under the Keillor 2 (K2) Mindat location.

In 1995, waste material from the Marwest mine elsewhere on the field was found to contain significant fibrous actinolite and tremolite. For health reasons, a location was needed to confine this material, and the cheapest option was to dump it into the abandoned K1 pit. This is possibly why pictures of the pit show a rehabilitated level compacted pit floor.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References