McPherson's Reward Gold Mine (Macphersons Reward), Coolgardie, Coolgardie Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
McPherson's Reward Gold Mine (Macphersons Reward)	Mine
Coolgardie	City
Coolgardie Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

All sources state the location as McPherson's Reward (or McPhersons Reward) until 2010, when the Macphersons Reward Company was formed to take over the tenements, and all information after that date the name is spelt MacPhersons.

Located approximately 6 kilometres south-east of Coolgardie, on the south side of a low hill. Gold at the site was discovered by John McPherson early 1894. He was a Scottish immigrant who had migrated initially to Victoria during that state's gold rushes. The deposit was sold to the Western Australian Gold Exploration Company for 22 000 pounds mid 1896.

McPherson did not enjoy his money for long. In February 1898, he was feeling unwell, and decided to return to his home town of Rutherglen in Victoria, where in died in April of that year from a burst blood vessel.

A new company was floated in Adelaide with 30 000 pounds capital called the McPhersons Reward Gold Mining Company. They set about erecting a 10 head battery by May 1897. In January 1899, the company applied for a six month exemption stating it needed to raise capital, but mining never resumed. During this period the company mined 1631 tonnes of ore for 1650 ounces of gold.

S.J.M. Green has crushings listed as McPherson's Reward across 1937 to 1938. It is stated at the time, he had discovered a parallel lode missed by the original miners. Later research suggests this was the Lady Grace workings, neighbouring to the McPherson mine. This research states this period was active 1937 to 1940. During this period 600 tonnes of ore was crushed for 15 g/t Au.

Bill Powell was a life long prospector who was wandering through the country in 1983, around the long forgotten McPherson's Reward mine. An area 125 metres south-west of the mine looked promising, and under the calcrete he uncovered gold everywhere. The discovery of the bonanza, in the middle of a share market boom (yes it went bust later), caused a sensation at the time. Life is short, so nobody bothered about drilling. Bill went in with a large front end loader, metal detecting for gold nuggets as he went, eventually getting to a depth where he discovered what was later named the Powell Reef. Ore was carted to the state battery. In the first 2 months, 600 tonnes was crushed for 22 g/t, with 7-8 g/t left in the tailings. Gold was showing as freely detachable sheets.

Bill was offered its claimed 25 million for the mine, however his dream was to develop his own mine. He invested 10 million dollars in machinery, and a series of open pits were developed from 1984. By 1985, Powell had produced 7115 tonnes of ore at 20 g/t Au yielding 3980 ounces of gold through the state battery at Coolgardie. This was from the Powell Reef but the figures do not include the gold nuggets found around the reef. Powell had proceeded too big too early, and was forced to sell his interests to Elders Resources in 1985, but they went into receivership in 1987. During this period Elders produced 458 000 tonnes of ore for 2.24 g/t Au yielding 32 984 ounces of gold. The Kerry and Salvo Reefs were discovered at this time.

From 1987-88 Belgravia Resources NL/Electrum NL Joint Venture controlled the mine producing 121 500 tonnes of ore at 4.3 g/t Au yielding 16 797 ounces of gold from the McPherson deposit, and 47 000 tonnes of ore at 2.9 g/t Au yielding 4382 ounces of gold from the Kerry deposit. They went into receivership as well.

In 1989, the lease as awarded back to Bill Powell, who the same year produced 1500 tonnes of ore at 8.18 g.t Au yielding 250 ounces of gold from handpicked material from the Kerry and Salvo waste dumps. Little happened until 2008 when the mine was sold to newly formed MacPhersons Reward Pty Ltd, with Powell employed as prospecting manager at the site. Much exploration work then followed, especially along the line of lode south-west and south of McPhersons. A small deluge of information was produced until 2012, when things fall quiet. It appears the company is focussed on other projects it controls in the region. It is clear there is still much gold to be mined around this location, and it is only a matter of time.

The location at present is marked by 4 interconnected pits called McPherson (32 metres deep), Powell (44 metres), Kerry (16 Metres) and Salvo (20 metres). Adjoining to the south west is a shallow 14 metre deep pit called A-Cap after the company who made it. These pits are sited on a tonalite porphyry dyke, approximately 100 metres thick in the mine area, striking north-east to south-west for 2.4 kilometres. The dyke contains a low grade 0.5 to 2.0 g/t biotite-chlorite/pyrrhotite stockwork envelope. Within the envelope is quartz reefs, dipping 30 to 40 degrees north-east and trending north-west, with higher grade gold mineralisation ranging from 1.0 to 138.2 g/t Au. Gold is also found as shear zone hosted style along the contacts of the tonalite.

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