Lubra Gold Mine (Lubra Queen; Virtuous Lubra; May-Be; Leipold Deposit), Kookynie, Kookynie Goldfield, Menzies Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Lubra Gold Mine (Lubra Queen; Virtuous Lubra; May-Be; Leipold Deposit)	Mine
Kookynie	- not defined -
Kookynie Goldfield	Ore Field
Menzies Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

In the early 1900's, three of the mine names were leases adjoining each other, with the May-Be the northern most, then Lubra, and finally Lubra Virtuous at the southern end. Then a company was formed which amalgamated the leases called the Lubra Queen Gold Mining Company, and the leases were called the Lubra Queen. A recent exploration company recently renamed it the Leipold deposit after one of the historic owners of the leases. All are on the same north-south trending lode.

The location is four kilometres west of Kookynie. The site is marked by a recent trial small pit or large trench, with a pile of tailings just to the west. Access is from a track which heads west south-west, leaving from the Kookynie Road just beyond the western outskirts of the Kookynie town site.

Information was found from 1906. The Lubra is owned by George Leipold, although sources state four men own the lease including Shepherd, possibly William Leipold, and another who is unknown.

At the same time, the Lubra Virtuous was taken up 300 yards to the south by Percy Watts, W. Watts, and Rosewarne. This group floated the Lubra Queen Gold Mining Company in 1908 and became paramount over the leases. As part of the float, a government subsidy was sought, which caused the mine to fall into the hands of the State government, when the company collapsed. Jacky Pearse was appointed underground manager. A five head battery was erected.

Varying widths of the lode was given in the sources from 4 to 20 feet wide. Great things were predicted from the mine. The main shaft at the Lubra reached 200 feet, containing three compartments, and well timbered. The country rock was badly decomposed. In the upper levels the shoots pitched south, although the recent exploration company states the reef as a whole dips 50 degrees east. There was strong inflow of water into the mine. The reef strikes for 400 metres. Down to 10 metres below the surface is a gold depletion zone.

In 1908, Jim Thomas erected a new winding gear assembly at the mine, he had invented himself. The mines inspector stated: ' The machinery was the safest, simplest and most unique he had ever seen'. It was also cheap, and gained universal acclaim at the time.

It was often said with shareholders investing funds from London, they had little idea what was happening in Western Australia, and often lost their money. On the other hand, the Lubra Queen Gold Mining Company was a local concern, and it appears the shareholders became too familiar with the mine. Several tried to take over management of it, and an acrimonious fight broke out, with threats of legal action. With mining paralysed by infighting, the shaft collapsed, and battery became inoperable. Mid 1914, the mine closed and the company folded.

The old Lubra Queen leases are owned by T. Barrett in 1917, who purchases a battery from the government, and begins subsidised crushings for local prospectors.

September 1918, the battery was sold and removed to the Bindah mine at Linden. And that was it for the Lubra. The mine had produced 7988 tonnes of ore for 3745 ounces of gold.

JORC resources remaining are estimated at 0.53 Mt at 2.0 g.t yielding 33 000 ounces of gold.

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