THE INVERELL METALLOGENIC MAP AND MINE DATA SHEETS

THE INVERELL METALLOGENIC MAP AND 

MINE DATA SHEETS

Before reading this blog, it would be best to read the similar blog about the Grafton-Maclean map. This may be found here. The relevant reference number for the map and mine data sheets in DIGS is R00056102.

The Inverell package may be found by opening DIGS. The reference number is R00050906 (which includes the map). The reference number for the map alone is R00027907.

The Inverell map seems to be a poorer copy than the Grafton-Maclean one, making an enlargement harder to read.

You will soon appreciate what a large number of mineral deposits there are in the area, including at The Gulf (north west of Emmaville), Tingha and the Copeton diamond fields.

Here is an extract from the map. 

To illustrate the information to be found in the Mine Data Sheets, I’ve chosen the deposit number 585. The location is south of Inverell, east of Copeton Dam. Fortunately for us, the data sheets are in a single volume, not dismembered like the Grafton sheets are. Upon opening the data sheets you will find quite a lot of valuable information on the geology of the region and the nature and formation of the many mineral deposits.

The data sheets commence on page 104. Deposit 585 will be found on page 377. Here is the information.

 This is a typical set of information, in this case for Fox’s Garnet Lode. I must admit I can’t locate it on the map – it’s quite a congested area – but the information is all there for you to use. Mindat (here) provides additional information when the deposit name is put in the search box. Here is what I discovered. 

By following the map Mindat provides (and choosing the satellite image) you will discover that the Lode is just north of the Howell Road, which leads to the old town site of Howell and the Conrad group of mines.

https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html All Blue Mountains blogs and videos

https://johnsnewenglandminerals.blogspot.com/2013/12/list-of-all-blog-entries-to-date.html

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1325599670344725659?pli=1

Limestone Caves of NSW

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1147003616874115974/2430103125095714141

Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1515863000684737715

Shoalhaven District Geology.

STAGGY CREEK GEM FOSSICKING AREA NEAR INVERELL NSW AUSTRALIA

STAGGY CREEK GEM FOSSICKING AREA NEAR INVERELL NSW AUSTRALIA

Extract from "Diamonds in NSW"

Staggy Creek reserve is one of the few places in NSW where fossickers can go and have at least some chance of finding an alluvial diamond. It’s part of an extensive deep lead lying beneath the basalt, south of Inverell. Tin (cassiterite) was the main mineral being sought by miners in this area in the nineteenth century and diamonds were discovered during the search. This created a lot of interest at the time – and still does, judging by the amount of prospecting that has been going on during the last twenty years. Search DIGS using “Staggy Creek” as the locality and you will be surprised.

There’s a lot of good background information in my Blog “Alluvial Diamond Mining in the New England Region of NSW Australia” (here) and especially in the NSW Geological Survey publication “Diamonds in New South Wales”. You can download a copy from DIGS; the reference number is R00047949.

I’ve been there just once, at least 25 years ago. All I can remember finding is pieces of black tourmaline, which are everywhere.

Here’s what the Inverell Tourism website (here) has to say about Staggy Creek:

“STAGGY CREEK FOSSICKING AREA

Copeton diamonds - Australian Museum

The district’s rich volcanic soils can offer other gems and minerals. One such gem, is the amazing Diamond found near Copeton Dam; the Staggy Creek Fossicking Area provides a site where you can look for the Diamonds together with Black Tourmaline and Quartz. This is a rough dry area 28km from Inverell, you can take your water or dry sieve.

Contact Details: Copeton Dam Road (24km from the turn off Copeton Dam from Inverell)”      

This is what “Diamonds in NSW” has to say about the place.

Photo courtesy of Jewellery Pirate

“The Staggy Creek deposit is an isolated area of diamond-bearing Tertiary gravels exposed at the surface. There is no basalt overlying the deposit and granite bedrock surrounds the Tertiary gravels. The granite is remarkable in that it contains a number of potholes of circular shape and its surface appears to be the surface on which the Tertiary sediments were deposited.

The deposit consists of quartz pebbles, cobbles and boulders ranging from 5mm to 0.2m in diameter, jasper, a relatively large amount of tourmaline (much of which is unabraded), topaz and garnet (which is invariably present in the diamond bearing gravels). Many of the quartz boulders contains pencil tourmaline. An ironstone band similar to those at Kirk’s Hill and the Banca is present.” Read page 52 of the report for a fuller description.

Mindat (here) includes a reference to Staggy Creek.

Photo courtesy of Jewellery Pirate

“Staggy Creek lead, Copeton Dam, Hardinge Co., New South Wales, Australia

Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	29° 50' 5'' South , 150° 53' 5'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-29.8347337025, 150.884830683

Map sheets: SH 56-5, 9038-II-N. Coordinates: 295600mE, 6697500mN.
Placer deposit.

Mineral List:  Calcite, Cassiterite, Diamond, 'Garnet', Ilmenite, Magnetite, 'Olivine', Pyrite.”

Rather strangely, the Mindat list doesn’t include ‘tourmaline’, the most obvious mineral at Staggy Creek.

Here is a list of other resources you will find interesting.

Photo courtesy of Jewellery Pirate

Jewellery Pirate’s Blog. Thank you, JP, for the photographs of Staggy Creek. (Blog  no longer on the Internet February 2024.)

An account of a visit by the Campelltown Lapidary Club (here).

https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html All Blue Mountains blogs and videos

https://johnsnewenglandminerals.blogspot.com/2013/12/list-of-all-blog-entries-to-date.html

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1325599670344725659?pli=1

Limestone Caves of NSW

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1147003616874115974/2430103125095714141

Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1515863000684737715

Shoalhaven District Geology.

ALLUVIAL DIAMOND MINING IN THE NEW ENGLAND REGION OF NSW AUSTRALIA

ALLUVIAL DIAMOND MINING IN THE NEW ENGLAND REGION OF NSW AUSTRALIA

 

Most gem hunters seem to be unaware that diamonds have been mined in NSW (off and on) since the gold rush days in the middle of the 19^th century. The list of places where at least one diamond has been found is very extensive and I suspect that it would be much longer if the old time miners had not suffered from tunnel vision. “If it’s not gold (or tin) we’re not interested in it. Chuck it out.”

Only at Bingara and Copeton (formerly called Boggy Camp, south of Inverell) were the workings extensive and even then they could hardly have been very profitable. Both places were being prospected for gold or tin when “these funny looking stones” turned up. Sufficient curiosity was aroused for specimens to be sent off for identification and minor rushes followed.

Subsequent searches for primary deposits (like those now being mined in Western Australia) have not met with much success, despite the fact that the diamonds had to reach the Earth’s surface somewhere. From the gem hunting point of view, this is probably a good thing, as modern diamond mining is very big business and casual fossickers are most unwelcome in the vicinity.

Your only real source of accurate information is in the records of the Geological Survey and the Mines Department of NSW. I have mentioned DIGS on numerous occasions, but it is a website that anyone with an interest in things geological needs to get to know. You will have to search Google to locate it. Make sure you bookmark it or put it into your Favourites, if that’s what your web browser does. Click on “Search DIGS” enter “diamond” in the Subject Terms/Keyword box, press “Search” and you will be confronted with a list of 1000 records.  If this seems somewhat overwhelming, try putting in a locality (eg Copeton). This reduces the 1000 to 94, a much more manageable number if you want to start researching. It’s a series of logical steps to bring up a document on your screen, where you can read it, save it or delete it as you please. Note the size of the document before you commit yourself to waiting for it for maybe half an hour.

If you want a short cut to a few interesting documents, just copy these numbers into the second box at the top of the initial search box.

R00003264 will take you to the Annual Report of the D of M for 1900. Notes on diamond mining for that year are on pages 60/61 of the report.

R00050830 takes you to the document “Industry 18: Mineral Industry NSW - 1980 - Gemstones 2nd Edition”. The section dealing with diamonds is on pages 32/67.

R00047949 brings up the most comprehensive document of them all – “Diamonds in NSW”, from which much of the previous document has been taken.

So you want to go and look for diamonds yourself? The references above will give you lots of clues to locations, nearly all of which will turn out to be privately owned. Make sure you get permission before entering any private property and respect the wishes of all landowners.

Staggy Creek on the Copeton Dam road near Inverell is the only place that seems to be easily accessible to the public. Google Staggy Creek fossicking and you will find lots of web pages to explore. Some of them even mention finding diamonds there! Check out my entry in myBlog as well. You can always go and look at the specimens at the Inverell Tourist Information Centre if you want to compare your finds with the real thing.

The illustrations accompanying this blog were adapted from the above references and similar ones found on DIGS.

I also recommend you check out my video on the subject, which does not include any footage of actual fossicking but does reproduce these illustrations and other similar ones. The link is here.

Addition 27/06/2015. I came across this interesting ebook today. It's called Sydney and the Cudgegong Diamond Fields, written in 1870 by Angus Mackay, MLA. It describes a journey from Melbourne to Sydney by ship, then by train to Bowenfels (the end of the line in 1870) and on via Mudgee to the Cudgegong River, where diamonds had been discovered not long before. It really does give a great insight into the conditions of the times. Download from Trove here.

https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html All Blue Mountains blogs and videos

https://johnsnewenglandminerals.blogspot.com/2013/12/list-of-all-blog-entries-to-date.html

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1325599670344725659?pli=1

Limestone Caves of NSW

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1147003616874115974/2430103125095714141

Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs

https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/1515863000684737715

Shoalhaven District Geology.