Mount Cattlin Mine, Ravensthorpe, Ravensthorpe Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Mount Cattlin Mine	Mine (Active)
Ravensthorpe	- not defined -
Ravensthorpe Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Located 2 km north west of Ravensthorpe.

This was once a popular local fossicking site, but as of 2010 has been taken over by a lithium mine, and access is not permitted. Together with the Greenbushes mine (also in Western Australia) they account for a substantial proportion of the world's lithium supply.

The pegmatite was first noted in 1900, and was the first time spodumene was discovered in Western Australia. Until the lithium mine opened, no active mining other than test pits had occurred at the deposit. It was not fully mapped until 1952 (Sofoulis 1958). Western Mining Corporation in 1962-65, Reynolds Australia Mines in 1981-82, Pan West Tantalum in 1989 and Greenstone Resources in 1997, all explored the site, but found the resource to be uneconomic. In 2000, Haddington International Resources in conjunction with Sons of Gwalia Ltd announced they planned to open a tantalum and Spodumene mine at the pegmatite, however further tests again showed their lease was uneconomic. Galaxy Resources had control of the neighbouring leases, and bought out Haddington, opening a lithium mine in 2010.

Historic specimens are likely to have come from the test pits dug before this lithium mine opened. There were four quarries, all different in geology. The northern two quarries (arbitrarily named quarry 1 or white spodumene quarry; and quarry 2) show irregular masses of fine grained purple lepidolite mixed with albite, perthite, spodumene, quartz and muscovite. Fine grained lepidolite-cleavelandite-quartz masses contain pink, green and watermelon elbaite 2x7 cm in length, grey spodumene and finally montebrasite 1-2 cm in diameter.

Quarry 3 (known as the green spodumene slot) contained spodumene, grey to blue anhedral apatite, schorl and muscovite. Quarry 4 (known as the green spodumene quarry) contained manganocolumbite, sphalerite and yellow to white beryl intergrown with quartz and albite. Cymatolite pseudomorphs after spodumene could once be found in Cattlin Creek downstream from quarry 4.

To the west, across Cattlin Creek Road was once several small pits and a shaft, which is now part of the lithium mine. Here could be found albite-quartz-spodumene, with adjacent fine grained lepidolite masses, spodumene altered to white kaolinite, and acicular manganotantalite.

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