The retrieval system was back up and running. Requested two books on the history of the Adelong region, and when I arrived at the Mitchell Library, there they were!!!! (this was my third trip).
This is not all, I will post in tranches
The first book is
Early Adelong, and its gold : a tribute to the work of gold pioneers William Williams and William Ritchie in the discovery and development of Adelong's goldfield / by W. Roy Ritchie.
The second being
The early days of Middle Adelong and Wondalga / Philippa Garnsey.
My primary interest for this visit was to read the work of the gold pioneers. I didnt expect to uncover a plethora of information not widely known, but rather get a better understanding and feeling for this region and is it realisitc to expect that 3D will be able to achieve a significant resource upgrade.
Additionally, As I have posted before, this report is, IMO, essential reading.The consultants report found here
https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20200131/pdf/44dnzykbw10bdn.pdf
Now to what I read.
There is a lot of speculation that this region produced substantially more gold that is officially accounted for. Possibly up to 50% more. Gold was traded, some was sent home (China) and alot was sent (smuggled) to Victoria for sale. POG was higher in Vic than NSW.
The next information that I found interesting was the photos of the diggings, mines etc.
1. The mines or shafts were very close to each other, surprisingly close!!
This map has a scale of one inch to 16 chains. The metric conversion is one 2.5 cm to 320 metres or 1cm to 128 metres. I dont know the original size of the map. The scale is 1:12800. If we look at tenement 29 (Victoria gold mine - the most productive) it is within in hundreds of metres of the neighbouring mines. Highly productive area ? I assume these were both shaft/reef mining and alluvial mining.
2. The mines were generally shallow, narrow and only followed veins of high gold content. Information differs some say 50 g/t while others say that earth with less than one ounce per tonne (30 g/t) was not economical to mine, so these lodes were not mined.
3.
" In addition to the three main gold bearing reefs -Old Hill,Gibraltar and Victoria, all of whichwere discovered in 1857,as many as seven other reefs were discovered in the adelong area. All of them lie parrallel to each other in a north south direction, with a tendency to dip towards the north.
The reefs along the Adelong Goldfields, varying from 2 to 10 feet in width" -direct quote.
The consultants report, and other sources, state that only reefs that have been found at ground level - visible at surface- have been mined.
It is reasonable that there are some or perhaps many reefs that have not been discovered.
The second last point is the highly labourious mining methods. Mostly human labour a few beasts of burden. The high costs of stamping, crushing and extraction meant that only high grade reefs were mined. The could dig deep and followed rich veins deep underground. The evidence is that reefs producing a minumum of 30 grams per tonne were mined. The cost of extraction and processing was not economical for grades less than 30g/t ( I have read elsewhere 50 g/t was the economic cut off).
Lastly, the person who made the first reef discovery, William Williams, and was very a succesful miner, claimed that the Adelong gold fields contain alot more gold, yet to be found.Williams stated that modern mining techniques and technologies and a higher gold price was needed to find that gold. He was norn in 1899 and died in 1903. He lived over the span of three centuries!!!
I will continue posting what I find.
IMO, 3D are in a highly productive region, as
CashfromChaos posted,
I agree with you mate and i have the view that it should be more cost and time effective to have a crack at known past producing areas where the old timers were totally limited by technology rather than stake a claim on some affordable ground in the middle of nowhere and have a stab in the dark as many many goldies have been doing.
Aplogies for the poor grammar and slighjt incoherency - long day.
Good luck and love to here some opinions on DDDD
(20min delay)