From Geoscience Australia

Report on the Commonwealth mica mine at Yinnietharra, Gascoyne River, Northwest Division, Western Australia

ARCHIVED

Created 13/01/2025

Updated 13/01/2025

The area was visited in company with Mr. R.S. Matheson of the Geological Survey of Australia in December, 1942, when eleven pigmatite bodies bearing mica and beryl were examined. The report furnished after that visit (1943/2), gives details of access, topography, climate and vegetation which are not repeated here. In view of the urgent demand in Australia for "strategic" mica, i.e. mica of quality equivalent to Clear and Commercial-clear, it was recommended that one deposit at Yinnietharra should be opened and prospecting of others carried on simultaneously. As a result of these recommendations, the Deputy Controller of Mineral Production started mining operations on the selected dyke by open-cutting in June, 1943. Although it was stressed in the abovementioned report that poor exposure of the dyke, on which there were no workings, rendered any estimate of the probable yield of marketable mica speculative, the results actually obtained were far below expectations, and a heavy financial loss on the project was incurred. Consequently, while the question of abandoning the mine was under consideration, a detailed examination of the workings was carried out in June, 1944, again in the company of Mr. Matheson, and the results of this investigation, which was not wholly confined to geological aspects, are embodied in the present report.

Files and APIs

Tags

Additional Info

Field Value
Title Report on the Commonwealth mica mine at Yinnietharra, Gascoyne River, Northwest Division, Western Australia
Language eng
Licence notspecified
Landing Page https://devweb.dga.links.com.au/data/dataset/4f5ff3ae-b142-4867-92f8-bf7bfd789de5
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[116.0, -25.0], [116.5, -25.0], [116.5, -24.5], [116.0, -24.5], [116.0, -25.0]]]}
Data Portal data.gov.au

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on data.gov.au "Report on the Commonwealth mica mine at Yinnietharra, Gascoyne River, Northwest Division, Western Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://devweb.dga.links.com.au/data/dataset/report-on-the-commonwealth-mica-mine-at-yinnietharra-gascoyne-river-northwest-division-western-