Gimlet South Gold Mine, Ora Banda Goldfield, Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Gimlet South Gold Mine	Mine
Ora Banda Goldfield	Ore Field
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Historic lease GML 1944W. 18 acres. Also tailings area 5 acres. Gimlet is a tree native to the Eastern Goldfields Region. The Gimlet South Gold Mine is a large, east-west trending open pit, 500 metres south of the Ora Banda town site. It was developed by BHP, with the first gold pour in May 1985, the mine active until the early 1990's.

The pit has destroyed historic workings covering several gold leases. The Gimlet lode was discovered in 1906, some years after Ora Banda. Activity was slow until rich ore was found in the Gimlet South Extended (Victorious) lease. This set off a gold rush and in no time 300 leases had been pegged, covering 3000 acres, some no-where near the original find. Those on the large lode prospered and included the Gimlet South itself, Golden Gimlet, Slippery Gimlet, Victorious, Mopoke, and Trafalgar amongst several more.

The Gimlet is a large lode formation containing many auriferous bearing quartz leaders, mainly trending east-west and some north-south. The ore was low grade, with some rich patches at the junction of the reefs/leaders. Oxidised ore ran at depth to 300 feet below the surface, which was important for early mining, as many sulphide lodes lower down in gold mines were untreatable at the time. Small amounts of tellurides was found in the Gimlet, Slippery Gimlet and Victorious leases, but no study was undertaken to identify the species.

John Edward Abbott was part of the syndicate which owned the mine. Abbott had come from Maryborough Victoria, and arrived in Western Australia in 1895, living and working most of the time in the Ora Banda area. He died in 1929, aged 59.

The first crushing at the Gimlet South was 2500 tonnes of ore for 1300 ounces of gold. The best to 1910 was 203 tonnes for 200 ounces. The main shaft was down to 196 feet, with 1900 feet of development work. In 1909, Johnson, Friedman, Archibald and Cutbush secured a 6 month option over the mine. A three head battery was on the lease.

In 1910, Abbott and party are infighting, causing the mine to be placed up for option, the next few years the Associated Northern Blocks Ltd from London controlled the mine, and neighbouring Victorious. The company purchased several large cyanide vats from Westralia Mount Morgans mine near Laverton, but found they were so rusted, they could not be used. A new battery was erected regardless in 1912. By 1914, the mine had produced 38 379 tonnes of ore for 7779 ounces of gold.

The original syndicate are reported to still be fighting amongst themselves in 1917, all with a different notion on how the mine should be handled, distrustful of the uninterested mine manager, with a now 10 head mill, but only good for scrap, and just covering costs with output. The same year the mine manager's house on the lease burns down.

From the late 1920's into the 1930's, the property was owned by the Wilson brothers, including W. Wilson and George Wilson and two sons. The workings at this stage covered a length of 638 feet, and down to 130 feet of oxidised ore mined to a width of 40 feet. In 1933, the Gold Recovery Syndicate Ltd was treating the 200 000 tonnes of tailings. Between 1929 to 1933, the Wilson brothers extracted 1863 tonnes of ore for 958 ounces of gold.

In 1935, a company was formed in London with 400 000 pounds capital, to acquire the Gimlet South and Mopoke leases, south and adjacent to the Victorious lease. This was the B.A.N.Z company, which purchased the leases for 27 500 pounds, and 45 000 fully paid shares, in its subsidiary, Ora Banda United Mines. This operation lasted into the late 1940s.

To 1986 the mine had produced 755 027 tonnes of ore for 5090 kg of gold at 6.74 g/t, but further mining took place by BHP in the late 1980's after this.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References