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.

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Limestone Caves of NSW

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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).

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

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

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Limestone Caves of NSW

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Shoalhaven District Geology.

TOURMALINE IN QUARTZ LOCALITY WALLANGRA NSW

TOURMALINE IN QUARTZ LOCALITY WALLANGRA NSW

Photo by Wwoofa via the Australian Lapidary Forum

This is a well-known mineral collecting locality in northern NSW, on the western edge of what is commonly called the New England region. Unfortunately it is a place I’ve never visited so I am depending on the descriptions of others.

The Inverell Tourism website has this to say:  

“Wallangra Fossicking Area. Wallangra located north of Inverell has an area near the hall where you can hunt for Black Tourmaline in Quartz, once again this is a dry fossicking area. Contact Details: Wallangra Hall, Wallangra (65km north of Inverell) Ph: (02) 6728 8161.”

You may not find that particularly helpful. Knowing that the spot is near the Hall is good, but you also need to know that this is on the left hand side of the Yetman road. I’m sure you will find the place OK without ringing Wallangra. 

The spot is open freely to fossickers. Please do the right thing and leave your mechanical diggers at home. As well as your specimens, take home all your rubbish and other people’s as well if you come across any.

There is a stack of information available on the Australian Lapidary Forum. I suggest you become a forum member so you can access it. Here. You can then contribute to the Forum by telling members about your visit to Wallangra.

I will point out at this stage that Wallangra and Wallangarra are quite different places. The latter is just across the NSW border into Queensland on the New England Highway.

This is an extract from the Inverell 1:250000 geological map. It shows that Wallangra is situated in an area marked Pg (Permian Granite, actually part of the Bundarra Suite).

The Australian Stratigraphic Units Database contains this definition of the “granites” of the Bundarra Suite:

“Coarse- to very coarse-grained, porphyritic and equigranular (biotite)-(muscovite)-(garnet)-(cordierite) granite and leucogranite; K-feldspar megacrysts abundant in places.” This is the host rock in which the Wallangra tourmaline in quartz bodies are found.

I have been unable to find any account of the detailed geology of the occurrence.

Mindat (here), however, regards the site as significant. Here is what a search on the location produces:

“Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	29° 13' 54'' South , 150° 53' 4'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-29.2316666667, 150.884444444

Located south of Texas, Qld.

Wallangra (in Northern New South Wales) was the site of a quarry, the area is now a designated Fossicking area. There is a quartz outcrop which contains tourmaline.

Mineral List: Anatase, Brookite, Muscovite, Quartz, Schorl,'Tourmaline'”

You will notice that the word ‘tourmaline’ is in quotes. This is because tourmaline is the name of a mineral family, rather than an individual mineral. In this case, the mineral is schorl – commonly called black tourmaline. If you want to read more about the tourmaline group, check this Mindat reference here.

Photo by Wwoofa via the Australian Lapidary Forum

Photo by earthound via the Australian Lapidary Forum

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Limestone Caves of NSW

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Shoalhaven District Geology.

THE ASHFORD LIMESTONE CAVES

THE ASHFORD LIMESTONE CAVES

From the Ashford Tourism website

The Ashford limestone caves are located about 20km north-west of the town of Ashford, between Inverell and the Queensland border. What was once a crown reserve (set apart in 1915) is now part of the Kwiambal National Park (pronounced Kiamble), best known for the spectacular MacIntyre Falls, near which is a delightful camping area at Lemon Tree Flat. Picnic and toilet facilities are also provided at the caves.

These caves are not in the same league as the well-known show caves at Jenolan, Wombeyan and Yarrangobilly, in fact there are very few speleothems (decorations) to be found. What you will find is bats, guano (bat droppings) and a sense of adventure as you explore the unknown (to you) cave system. If you would like to read a fascinating account of “An Excursion to the Severn River and the Wallangra Caves” dating from 1892 (here) you will appreciate that some things have not changed, but others have considerably. The most notable change has been the removal of thousands of tonnes of phosphorus-rich guano for use as fertiliser, a process that was underway long before the reserve was established and continued as late as 1967.

There is a lot of information available about the geology, history and biology of Ashford Caves. I have given a list of downloadable resources at the end of the blog.

The caves have been formed in a bed of Lower Carboniferous limestone (probably, though estimates range from Devonian to Permian), which has been considerably deformed and largely converted to marble. It contains marine fossils (mainly crinoid and coral fragments), but remember that this is a National Park (no collecting allowed) and beyond the fences is private property, which limits the collecting possibilities to road reserves outside the Park. As the limestone has been traced for more than 10 km there must be some accessible outcrops, since the road basically follows the strike of the limestone. If you locate specimens of interest, tell us about it by adding a comment below.

There are a few typical karst features, notably the dolines where caves below have collapsed. You

Calcite formations 1999 (my photo)

might also come across solution grooves, widened joints and potholes as you walk around the limestone hill.

Early references note the existence of two main caves. The removal of so much guano has lowered the cave floors considerably and the two caves are now joined, making a through trip possible. There are a few other small caves but none appear to have much potential for new discoveries.

Three species of bat frequent the caves: Miniopteris schreibersii (the eastern bent-wing bat), Rhinophilus megaphyllus (the eastern horseshoe bat) and Eptesicus pumilus. Most of those you will see are bent-wing bats. Do not disturb them by making loud noises or shining lights on them. During the summer breading season, do not enter the main cave at all.

Bats 1999 (my photo)

The guano had accumulated to a depth of several metres in the most favourable places. A typical chemical analysis reveals that it contains 5-10% of phosphorus. Especially during the Second World War, when supplies of phosphate from Nauru and Ocean Island were cut off by the Japanese (both islands were occupied by them) alternative supplies were identified all over Australia. Ashford Caves was one of these.

Some useful references.

The Ashford Tourism site (here); (missing: you will have to search for it)

Guide to NSW Karst and Caves pp 10-11 (here); (missing. Try DIGS website or search Trove)

DIGS website (needed for the listings below) here. (missing - please let us know if you find it)

Annual Reports of the Department of Mines, New South Wales, for the period 1939-1945 (DIGS reference R00001425). This includes cave maps and guano analyses (beginning on page 82).

The Limestone Deposits of New South Wales (DIGS R00050689). An excellent report from 1919 giving information about all the then known limestone deposits.

The Limestone Deposits of NSW (1986) Lishmund, Dawood and Langley (DIGS R00056921). A modern, revised version of the above.

Geological Age of the Ashford Caves Limestone (DIGS R00019198). Report by Raggatt and Booker, 1940.

A Report on a Visit to the Ashford Cave, Northern NSW (DIGS R00023521). 1973 Anonymous.

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Limestone Caves of NSW

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Shoalhaven District Geology.

CASSITERITE CRYSTALS FROM ELSMORE HILL NEAR INVERELL NSW AUSTRALIA

CASSITERITE CRYSTALS FROM ELSMORE HILL NEAR INVERELL NSW AUSTRALIA

Photo from ALF

A recently reactivated thread on the Australian Lapidary Forum (ALF) about a well-known mineral hunting locality near Inverell, in the New England region of NSW Australia, should remind us all of how precarious our access to collecting localities really is. Read the thread here. Follow it and if a petition is commenced, be sure to add your name to it. It would be a good idea to get involved with the Forum if you aren’t already.

There is a wealth of information available on this locality. I’ve gathered together a number of photographs from some of these and assembled them, into a You Tube slide show, which you will find here. Not only is Elsmore the site of one of the earliest 

Photograph from Minerama book "Cassiterite"

payable alluvial tin deposits in Australia (1871), but it has (in more recent years) become the source of some of the most superb cassiterite crystal specimens in the world. A search on eBay will show that they are in great demand. Until recently, access to the fossicking spot had been made legally possible in an unusual way. The local Inverell Lapidary Club has held a mining lease over the area for the use of its members. By becoming a member of the Club, visitors could legally fossick there. I imagine that the revenue raised has been used to defray the cost of maintaining the mining lease.

What has caused the Club to surrender its lease I cannot say. It may be that income was falling behind expenses or perhaps that the Club has an aging membership (as many lapidary clubs do) and continuing to provide this service simply became a burden. It could be that changes in the mining law are making it difficult for smaller operators to stay in business. Whatever the reason, follow the ALF thread for more information.

Here are some useful references for you to follow up. As you read you will discover that cassiterite and quartz are only two of the many mineral species which have been found at Elsmore Hill.

The first few are to be found in the DIGS data base and can easily be downloaded. The most comprehensive reference is: Geological Survey Report 45 (1966): The Geology and Tin Deposits of the Elsmore Area. The DIGS reference is R00050621. Related to this document, and incorporating much of it, is Elsmore Tin Mine, Inverell which incorporated material from mine records 1934-1981 (DIGS R00046476).

Diggings on the lease

You will discover that the basic geology consists of granite intruding Palaeozoic sediments, overlain by Tertiary basalt. The primary cassiterite deposits are associated with the granite intrusion. Secondary deposits include modern alluvial material and, in particular, “deep leads” – older alluvial material lying beneath the basalt. Much of the prospecting in the area has been (and still is) directed to locating payable wash in these concealed leads. The classic geological map is “Geological Map of the Tin-bearing district around Tingha, Stannifer and Elsmore” by Carne and Pittman (1910). (DIGS R00030525). There is a lot more recent material available also (Inverell metallogenic study) but these should help you to understand what the place is all about.

A search through DIGS shows that there many other reports available from this source. One is Partial relinquishment report EL7177 Elsmore 2011 Malachite Resources (DIGS RE0001817), which is quite recent. The article in Mindat includes further photographs, mineral lists and references here.

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Limestone Caves of NSW

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Shoalhaven District Geology.

Tin Sluicing at Elsmore

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.

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

All New England and other Geology blogs and videos

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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.