EL 25288 Annual Report Margaret River Diggings East

Abstract

The target for this year's exploration was gold. During the year numerous local and interstate metal detector prospectors asked for permission to detect on this EL. All were allowed and most operators found small water worn gold nuggets. Some nice Au/Qtz specimens were also found on the central EL block. The old nugget patch near the Sth end of the N.W. E.L. block was extended about 150m further south by an elderly gentleman and his three elderly female companions. They detected 12 small nuggets. I have relinquished this block because I believe the gold is low grade alluvial from the Sth. I have previously found many nuggets there and all were well water worn. During the year local Ferry owner/operator Gordon (Gus) Withnall visited me on site and gave me some Google Earth images of this E.L. that he had printed on photographic paper. One of his images shows a long and previously unknown fault trending NE/SW. This fault marks the South end of my manganese (pyrolusite) reef and also a messy Qtz/S.St/Fe reef to the N.E. and a narrow Qtz reef to the S.W. of the Mn reef. I have previously panned a little gold in the creek at the end of this Qtz reef. The most southern and most heavily worked area of the Margaret Diggings is about 500m to the N.N.W. of this reef. I cannot find gold by panning those diggings and to my extensive (30 years) knowledge of the area, nobody has ever detected a nugget there. I believe that these heavy diggings were probably due to the presence of large Au/Qtz specimens and/or large nuggets that the Margaret Diggings are famous for. Nuggets weighing up to 500 ozs were found by the early diggers. The largest Au/Qtz specimen found contained 700 ozs of gold. (Northern Territory Times & Gazette 1880.) The largest Au/Qtz specimen I have found on this E.L. contained 4.5 ozs of gold. The source of the gold may be associated with the Mn reef. There are several areas in WA where that is common. High grade Mn nuggets are spread throughout the Margaret Diggings and many of the gold nuggets are stained with pyrolusite. Exploration this year will focus on this southern area. Soil sampling and chip sampling of the laterite overlaying the Mn reef will be carried out. Local and interstate metal detector operators will be encouraged to thoroughly detect the area.