John's New England Minerals and General Geology Blog: KINGSGATE QUARTZ

KINGSGATE QUARTZ

The Kingsgate mines (near Glen Innes, NSW) have been a major source of bismuth and molybdenum since the 1870’s and recent exploration has revealed that economic amounts of these resources still exist.

The mines and their dumps have produced an extraordinary array of minerals, notable amongst these is quartz, and fine specimens of quartz from Kingsgate are to be found in collections all over the world. The clarity of many of these crystals led to the dumps being worked over during World War 11 for high quality crystals, which were needed for radio equipment at the time.

Much facettable quartz has been found in the dumps right up to the present and would be still if access were permitted.

Because of mining exploration in recent years, the public has been refused access to the area except under strict supervision on a few rare occasions such as during Minerama, the annual Glen Innes gem and mineral show.

As a result of Kingsgate's long mining history, there are numerous reports available about the area, all of which make reference to the presence of quartz crystals. Several of my reports are found in this Blog (2024)

Here is a list of easily accessible downloadable references:

Previous references in my Blog:

June 4 2013 DOWNLOADING PDF DOCUMENTS FROM "DIGS",

June 7 2013 The Molybdenum Industry in NSW (Mineral Resources 24, 1916, by EC Andrews) and Molybdenum in NSW (Mineral Resources 43, 1978, by CR Weber, IBL Paterson and DJ Townsend).

July 4 2013 MINERAMA BOOK DOWNLOADS FROM ALF Molybdenite

July 5 2013 MORE USEFUL BOOK DOWNLOADS FROM ALF Kingsgate Mines.