EL 25288 Annual report, Year 1 Margaret Diggings

Abstract

This title is being explored by D. Langley for gold and manganese. A 2m wide pyrolusite outcrop was discovered and traced discontinuously for 1.8 km. Assayed samples ranged from 55% Mn on relatively fresh outcrop to 19% on weathered outcrop /float. The historical Margaret Diggings gold prospect is described. Nuggets up to 500 oz were recorded in the 1880's and many nuggets have been detected over the past 30 years with the first operator finding 87 oz in a week. The source of this coarse gold has never been discovered. A gully on the northern block of the EL was also extensively worked by the Chinese in 1880. Shallow nuggets and specimen gold were found there using metal detectors in 1981. The largest recorded solid nugget was 22 gm found in 1982. Alluvial sampling and rock chipping were undertaken during during 2007 to try to locate the source. This was unsuccessful. The central block of the EL has two creeks that carry coarse gold and have been panned by the present leaseholder in the past. Specimens containing up to 5.5 oz gold have been found using detectors. The quartz reefs in the area have been shown to be barren. The southern area of the EL was detected for many man-hours and several water-worn nuggets up to 27 gm were found. A 20 gm silver nugget and a 15 gm highly magnetic magnetite nugget were also found here. Again, the obvious quartz reefs proved to be barren, so the source remains unknown.