Harts Range, Central Desert Region, Northern Territory, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Harts Range	Mountain Range
Central Desert Region	Region
Northern Territory	Territory
Australia	Country

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Harts Range is about 190 kilometres by dirt road (Stuart and Plenty Hwys) north-east of Alice Springs. Areas most accessible and interesting tend to be along the northern limits of the ranges. The eastern and southern sections can be accessed by a track heading south of the Plenty Highway at the range's eastern limits. Its generally very rugged going, mines are small and difficult to find, with many areas not accessible at all by vehicle. Walking anywhere is possible of course, but hampered by lack of defined tracks and water. The highest point is Mount Brassey at 1203 metres, with several peaks only marginally lower.

Camping with some relative luxury (toilets, showers, and a shop) can be found at the Gemtree caravan park, along the Plenty Highway, about 140 kilometres by road north-east of Alice Springs. Basic camping is found at the Spotted Tiger camp ground (drop-toilets, otherwise be self sufficient), 8 kilometres south of the Atitjere indigenous community, about 200 kilometres by road north-east of Alice Springs, again off the Plenty Highway. This provides access to some nearby mica mines. A 4-wheel drive is essential for exploring beyond the campground, and be prepared to walk up steep hills.

Harts Range is of specific interest to mineral collectors due to the minerals and gemstones the region contains; many are of high quality. Twenty-three gemstone species are officially recorded from the area, Mindat showing probably the best collection of photographs on the internet, representative of this, in one website. Species include garnets (almandine, hessonite), zircon, feldspars (sunstone, moonstone, microcline, albite), kyanite, titanite, beryl (common, heliodor, aquamarine), quartz (common, sceptre, amethyst, smoky), corundum (ruby), sapphirine, tourmaline (schorl, elbaite), chrysoberyl, kornerupine, epidote, apatite, cordierite. Gemstones may be labelled from the mica mine they originate from, however some are labelled simply 'Harts Range', and could be isolated finds from unnamed pegmatites. These often come from members of the Atitjere community, or fossickers who have trekked cross-country (or the name of the mine has been lost or never provided). Fossickers discovering new sites are often not willing to divulge location details. The Harts Range is largely remote, waterless, and rugged, and wandering around in remote parts of it is not recommended. The range contains some minor base metal deposits, and nearby regions contain the Winnecke and Arltunga goldfields, and the Jervois copper deposits.

Mica mining started at Harts Range in the late 1880s, after Billy Benstead (Benstead Mine) noted high mica prices in London. Most miners came from the nearby Arltunga Goldfield which had not lived up to expectations. The first shipment to London (via camel and horse, firstly to Adelaide), saw only 5% of the mica survive the experience in a saleable condition. As a result miners drifted away to other areas. Mining continued sporadically until the 1960s, all small mines, no more than 100 metres down, and with little historic information. Italian immigrants were heavily involved with mica mining after World War One, and the most extensive mining took place during World War Two. Virtually all the mines contain mica (muscovite and lesser biotite) with some good examples showing transparency and patterning. Gemstones were thrown onto the dumps by the mica miners.

The central Mount Palmer area of the Harts Range are part of the Harts Range Group with a complicated structural and metamorphic history typical of the Arunta Block. The Harts Range Group forms a cover basement with the Irindina Gneiss forming the lowest part of the sequence. Above this is a volcano-sedimentary suite formed during continental rifting, with volcanism following the initial rifting with sandstones, mudstone, and some limestone deposited in the resulting basin. The Strangways Orogeny caused heating and deformation from the compression of the crust. Then folding and faulting. The numerous cross-cutting pegmatites are much younger, in the Cambrian period. The interactions of the pegmatites, and surrounding meta-sediments, and meta-igneous rocks provided the right conditions for the formation of high-quality mineral specimens. The Alice Springs Orogeny (Devonian) caused a major uplift in the area, bringing the older rocks near to the surface, subsequently exposed by erosion.

Notes:
Hillrise prospect was owned by Hillrise Properties NL and is one and the same as the Minstral Mine.

A location where some aventurine-style beryl has been found; sometimes marketed incorrectly as "Rainbow lattice sunstone".

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded from this region.

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

89 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

Rock list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities