WEBB’S SILVER MINE NEAR EMMAVILLE
NSW AUSTRALIA
Please take note:
Practically all localities mentioned in these Blogs are on private property,
under a mining lease or both. No-one should enter without permission from the
landowner or lessee as appropriate.
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| The mine is marked "Silver" 7 (upper left) |
I became aware of the existence of Webb’s Silver Mine (also known as Collison’s (NOT Collisions))
while I was still at school as a result of numerous visits to the late and much
lamented Geological and Mining Museum in Sydney. This would have been in the
mid 1950’s. The photos and specimens really piqued my interest in geology and
mineralogy in particular.
It wasn’t until October 1988 that I made my one and only
visit to the site when I rode my pushbike out there. The mine is reached by traveling 9-10 km after leaving The Gulf road, not far out of Emmaville, and
then following a track to the right for a further 2.5 km. The mine site is
usually described as being on Little Plant Creek, which runs into the Beardy
River not far to the north. The map illustrated is the Grafton 1:250000 geological sheet.
My notes made that day mention a steel poppet head
over a well-preserved shaft, numerous derelict sheds and ruins, 2X5 head
stamper batteries, one in reasonable condition, piles of drill cores and
specimens of galena, sphalerite and arsenopyrite on the dumps.
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| Photo by Wwoofa, Australian Lapidary Forum |
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| Photo by Wwoofa |
Since then, several fossicking trips have be organised to
Webb’s during the Emmaville Gemfest. The area is held under lease by Silver Mines Ltd; you can read their
summary of the future prospects of the site here (now missing). I quote from this source: “Highest grade undeveloped silver project in
Australia”, “a JORC compliant
resource of over 12Moz of silver”, “From
1884 to1901 approximately 55,000t were mined at an average grade of at least
23oz/t”, “The current resources at a
70ppm Ag cut-off are approximately 1.49Mt @ 245ppm Ag, 0.27% Cu, 0.71% Pb and
1.56% Zn”.
The silver price is somewhat depressed at the moment
(September 2014) which no doubt is quite depressing for the company, which is
sitting on a great resource waiting for the right time to begin extracting it
profitably.
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| Taken from Mole Tableland map DIGS R00041396 |
The classic reference to the geology of the
Emmaville and Torrington areas is TWE David’s “Geology
of the Vegetable Creek Tin-Mining Field”, 1887. (DIGS reference R00031676,
if you wish to download a copy.) The relevant pages are 156/9. David tells us
that the vein was discovered by Mr L Webb, that it can be traced for several miles,
that the metalliferous part of the vein is nowhere more than 3 feet wide and
that the ore minerals present are galena, copper pyrites, mispickel and “a
variety of grey copper containing silver and a trace of gold (silver fahlerz)”.
We know copper pyrites as chalcopyrite, mispickel as arsenopyrite and fahlerz
as “fahlore”, a complex mineral of the tennantite-tetrahedrite family,
containing at least 5 metals (iron, copper, zinc, silver and antimony) as well
as arsenic and sulfur.
Another reference, written around the time when mining was
at its peak, is “The Mineral Resources
of NSW” (DIGS reference R00051137) compiled by EF Pittman in 1901. If you
want to read what mining was like at that time, start at page 111. The photo of
the mine is taken from this source. This is definitely a book that readers of
this Blog should download.
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| From Pittman circa 1901 |
The comprehensive reference “The Mineral Deposits of NSW (Markham and Basden, 1975, DIGS
Reference R00037944) has a lot of information on the mine, commencing on page
379 in the section dealing with the Mole Granite. We learn that the main shaft
is 203m deep, with 7 major levels, that 3 separate ore shoots were mined, the
main one yielding over 40 000t of ore containing 760-920 g/t of silver as well
as significant quantities of the other metals.
The various documents available from the Web which have been
uploaded by Silver Mines Ltd will give you a summary of their prospecting and
that of their predecessors, which has been quite extensive since mining was active.
Here are several:
From DIGS: Review of Environmental Factors (Exploration
Activities at Webb’s Silver Mine) 2012 (R00070524).
This is a report prepared by Geolink Pty Ltd for Silver Mines Ltd.
Report for Silver Mines Ltd 2010. Here. This is a good
summary of the geology and potential of the mineral deposit.
All New England and other Geology blogs and videos
Limestone Caves of NSW
Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs
Shoalhaven District Geology.
