Golden Mount Gold Mine, Ora Banda Goldfield, Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

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

The Golden Mount Gold Mine was taken up in 1909 but a syndicate of local Ora Banda prospectors, all mature in age, with much experience in the local area. They were Jack Legg, Thomas Wall, Jack Corrigan, and Shepherd. They operated the mine from 1909 to 1916.

Between 1913 to 1916, there appears to have been a lack of focus by the party. Old age, wanderlust or lower gold values in the mine could account for this. Jack Corrigan in 1913, abandoned the syndicate, and went back to the Dark Horse mine near Black Flag, in which he obtained some rich patches in the past. Thomas Walls retired from old age. He lived near the Lady Evelyn mine, and had prospected in the district for 22 years. He died in 1919. Its noted his two sons, did some brief mining at some of their father's old haunts in the area across 1932 to 1933. Jack Legg was still part of the syndicate, but had in 1915 left it to others to work (assuming Shepherd being the only one left). Meanwhile Legg wandered the area nearby to the mine prospecting in alluvial workings and uncovered a 155 ounce nugget.

The mine is on the east side of a prominent hill. The exact location could not be ascertained as there are several old mines in the vicinity, but it is said to be on the same line of lode as the Denver City Mindat locality.

By the end of 1914, the prospectors had extracted 1673 tonnes of ore for 967 ounces of gold. The main shaft was down to 210 feet (290 feet by 1918), with levels at 60, 100, and 150 feet. The country rock is highly decomposed greenstone. The lode ranges from 2 feet 6 inches to 6 feet wide, averaging 4 feet. Mining was undertaken on a auriferous quartz vein, striking north-west to south-east, 6 to 8 inches wide, dipping south-west 35 to 40 degrees. Gold was also in the lode material, but low value. None of the gold was visible to the naked eye. The lode was soft clays of varying blues, yellows and browns. There were no defined walls. Pyrites were found in the quartz below 200 feet. Several other minor irregular quartz veins and leaders was in the lode, the quartz crumbly and sugary in the upper levels.

The property was sold to W. Healy in 1916, who at the time also owned the Victorious lease near the Ora Banda town site. Healy conducted mining between the 50 to 100 foot level and several crushings came out to 1918. The last in 1918 had a disappointing result in the amount of gold obtained, and he appears to have lost interest in the lease after this.

O'Brien and Coke put through a 20 tonne crushing from the mine in 1923. In 1929, R. Karatti is sinking a new shaft at the mine, to reach a known old reef, when a new lode formation is cut at the 59 foot level. P.A. 1392W. There is much publicity, several Adelaide companies look at taking an option, A.O. Archibald local miner at Ora Banda and Siberia takes a 14 day sampling option, all to no avail. A trial crushing of 52 tonnes of Karatti subsequently only achieves 16 ounces of gold.
C. Larsen put through a 50 tonne crushing from the location in 1930.

The Mindat co-ordinates are very approximate, and only highlight the general area, marking the Denver City or Cashman's line of lode, the mine is sited on.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References