Wonder Well, Riverina Station, Menzies Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Wonder Well	Well
Riverina Station	- not defined -
Menzies Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

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PhotosMapsSearchMineralogy

Emeralds are found associated with a series of pegmatite dykes concordantly emplaced along schistosity planes within ultramafic rocks. The host schists formed through K metasomatism during intrusion of the pegmatite. Beryls occur in the pegmatite, but are more abundant in the microschist.
Locality description: 44 km west of the township of Menzies in the Mining District of Ularring.
Latitude: -29.69739
Longitude: 120.576
Coordinates: 265474mE, 6712287mN.
References: Minedex Database, Geological Survey of Western Australia, 2006.

Local folklore states the deposit was discovered by workers grading the dirt road north of Riverina Station in 1974. Irregular mining has taken place since then, but specimens are rarely seen. The reason could be the small size of the crystals found. Low quality emeralds are relatively common in Western Australia, where beryl bearing pegmatites have intruded chromium and vanadium bearing ultramafic greenstone.

From 1974 to 1980, Norm and Wilma MacKay, Frank Trask, and Peter Goodeve as partners, reputedly recovering 48 165 carats of emeralds. David Vaughan and Luigi Madonini, mined the deposit for one year in the late 1970's under tribute, but could not make the enterprise financially viable. Roger Lindsay took over the lease in 1983, and was joined by mining partner Donald North in 1994. By 2001 they had recovered 14 409 grams of facet grade emerald. In 2011 the mine was still active, and signage/road bunds would indicate the casual fossicker is not welcome, although organised groups have been allowed into the mine.

The deposit is a series of narrow pegmatites showing albite-oligoclase with minor biotite and plagioclase, and albite-oligoclase- quartz with minor biotite, with phlogopite schists along the contact. The schist near the pegmatites is tremolite/actinolite-phlogopite-biotite.

Emeralds found along the contact zone are medium green, while those within the pegmatite are blue-green, yellow-green or green. Some gem quality phenakite crystals have also been found at the mine.

The emphasis seems to be to produce material for cut stone, when the deposit would also lend itself to specimen collections. More material needs to be seen on the specimen collecting market for this site.

Mineral List

9 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded