Collinsville Copper-Gold Project
Background
In
2002-03, Queensland produced 925,000 ounces of gold and was Australia's
second largest gold-producing state.
The earliest gold discovery in Queensland occurred in 1852 when auriferous quartz veins were found at Black Snake, about 40 km west of Gympie. In 1860, gold-copper mineralisation was discovered at Mount Chalmers, 27 km northeast of Rockhampton. Similar discoveries were made in the 1860’s near Cloncurry. Subsequent gold discoveries were made at Far Fanning (1866), Gympie (1867), Ravenswood (1868) and the Palmer River alluvial deposits in northeast Queensland during 1873-76. An important gold discovery was made at Charters Towers in 1872, and about 7.2 million ounces of gold have been recovered to date. The Kidston mine has yielded over 4 million ounces, since alluvial gold was first discovered in the 1880’s and mining of vein deposits commenced in 1907.
The fact that some ore deposits were worked over and abandoned does not imply that such deposits cannot be worked profitably under different conditions. Commodity prices are always a primary factor in deciding the success or failure of mineral ventures. The utilisation of modern techniques of exploration, mining and metallurgy can bring renewed life to some mines. Accordingly historical mines commonly form a focus for new exploration.
The Collinsville Area contains 578 historical mines and mineral occurrences. The historical mineral fields in the Collinsville Area are characterised by a variety of styles of gold mineralisation. A common feature is that many gold veins, in particular those hosted in igneous rocks in or close to the Connors Arch are characterised by narrow alteration haloes and are associated with dykes or dyke swarms of similar orientation.
In particular three historic mineral fields stand out as high priority areas within Conquest’s ground for further exploration: the Normanby Gold Field in the central Connors Arch (gold associated with diorite host rocks and numerous dykes and a large number of high-grade gold veins over an area of about 10 sq kilometers) and the Mt Hector/Kelsey Creek Gold Fields along the eastern margin of the Connors Arch (high grade gold in quartz veins in intrusive and volcanic rocks).