Nardoo Hill (Beryl Hill), Yinnietharra, Upper Gascoyne Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Nardoo Hill (Beryl Hill)	Hill
Yinnietharra	Station (farming)
Upper Gascoyne Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

This pegmatite sits between the Cairn pegmatites and Bismuth Hill pegmatites, and some references include all three as the same location, due to their close proximity to each other. Nardoo Hill is also known as Beryl Hill.

This history covers all three locations, as the reports fail to distinguish between the three sites. The first report for the location was in 1944, describing ten tonnes of alluvial beryl, with part crystals up to sixty one centimetres in diameter, colours ranging from deep to pale green and white. In 1945, low grade tantalum ore was reported from the site. Minor surface collection of this occurred in the mid 1960's, then Universe Metals in 1968 conducted additional near surface mining for columbite, but ran out of funds before any could be processed.

In 1978, D.N. Calderwood for Jay Exploration (a subsidiary of Greenbushes Tin)and Mount Edon Mines P/L mined seven tonnes of columbite between 1979-1981. The eluvial concentrates contained 10% xenotime. Soon after, Mt Edon Mines extracted four tonnes of beryl. Around the same time Pilgan Mining extracted fourteen tonnes of tantalum concentrates, but mining was abandoned by 1982, due to low commodity prices.

Rare Resources explored the site in 1989, then Border Gold did the same in 1999, but the drilling did not find economic amounts of tantalum. In 2000, Kanowna Lights Ltd took over the lease, but could not find a buyer for their initial tantalum concentrates at a profitable price, and placed the operation under care and maintenance. In 2003, Tantalum Australia Pty Ltd purchased the licence.

The pegmatite is east-west trending, steeply dipping and poorly exposed, 320m long and 120m wide. The reference could make out a quartz core, with large blocky microcline masses adjacent to this, within a coarse grained quartz - muscovite matrix. Then a muscovite rich wall zone of quartz - plagioclase - microcline.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References