Forrestania Goldfield (Mount Holland), Yilgarn Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Forrestania Goldfield (Mount Holland)	Ore Field
Yilgarn Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

The Forrestania Goldfield is 40 kilometres south of Marvel Loch, with mines and prospects both east and west of the Marvel Loch-Forrestania Road, and usually close to it. It represents the southern extent of the Southern Cross Greenstone Belt, named the Forrestania Greenstone Belt.

The Parker Range Goldfield is directly to the north, also bordering the road. To the south is a series of nickel mines south of the intersection between the Marvel Loch-Forrestania Road and Hyden-Norseman Road.

The landscape is flat to undulating, semi arid heathland with Salmon Gum woodland. There is no human habitation in the area, the nearest being Marvel Loch.

Gold was found in the area from around 1890, after the early Parker Range discovery in 1888. Further discoveries were made between 1900 and 1910. The Scots Greys mine battery was the main crushing point for prospectors in the area until 1950.

All the mines are generally on small lodes, although some rich crushings have been obtained from them over the years. The 1930's gold boom saw increased prospector activity in the area. A couple of sites saw small scale laterite strip mining in the 1980's and 1990's. The major and now abandoned Bounty Mine is to the south of the goldfield.

This is based on the Bounty Mine and its eleven satellite pits. The deposits were discovered in 1985 by a company called Aztec, which mined the deposits from 1989-2002.

Mining ceased when the amount of gold extracted did not meet expectations and Aztec hit financial difficulties. At the time of writing (2015), the mine remains abandoned, although this situation may not continue forever.

The Bounty Gold Mine listing (or Bounty Main) contains geology information for the deposit. The mine is an open cut with an underground decline at its base. It is about 200 metres east of the rapidly rusting, but otherwise still complete processing plant. Tailing heaps surround both. A gravel airstrip is 200 metres south, and little remains of the former accommodation village site further south-east. The mine is approximately one kilometre east of the Marvel Loch-Forrestania Road, although access roads from the south-west make the distance about 3 kilometres. The mine is approximately 70 kilometres south of Marvel Loch.

Various open pits are found as satellite mines mainly between the road and Bounty mine, and in a couple of instances west of the Marvel Loch-Forrestania Road. Little if any geology information exists for them.

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