Spotted Tiger Mine, Mount Riddock Station, Harts Range, Central Desert Region, Northern Territory, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Spotted Tiger Mine	Mine
Mount Riddock Station	Mountain
Harts Range	Mountain Range
Central Desert Region	Region
Northern Territory	Territory
Australia	Country

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An abandoned mica mine. Located about 2 kilometres south-west of the Spotted Tiger camp ground. There is a very rough track which follows an ephemeral creek to the location. A long walk is an option. Lauded as the greatest mica mine the world has seen in its day, the size of the dumps may not meet expectations. There is said to be the remains of two stone huts at the site.

A man named Mitchell from the Spotted Dog mine went prospecting nearby and discovered the Spotted Tiger deposit. Thompson states this was in the early 1930's, however other information would indicate it was discovered earlier. Mitchell and others from the Spotted Dog, worked the mine for 18 months and sold it for only 500 pounds.

Bill Petrick was an early owner. Just before World War One, the mica field contained thirty miners, most employed on the Spotted Tiger mine, the highest producing mica mine on the Harts Range field. Italian syndicates took over from the late 1920's onwards. Innocente Vendramini is seen in a photograph as part owner in 1927. He had migrated from Italy earlier the same year, and obtained a foothold on the field due to help from his distant cousin Gilindo Rossetto. Innocente's son, Eugenio (Gigetto) Vendramini joined him in 1933, and Innocente's wife and other five children joined him in 1937. They lived in a shanty camp by the above mentioned creek during this time, sending mica by camel train to Alice Springs.

Lena Moscheni in an oral interview stated around this time there were eight shares in the mine, consisting of several Italian owners, including her father Gelindo Moscheni who owned three/eighths.

Sam Weller is noted as owning the mine in 1938, although there is still heavy Italian involvement. The Commonwealth government took over the mine for a short period during World War Two. Mining continued into the 1950's, with one example 15 368 lbs of mica worth 7820 pounds in 1950, and 5000 tonnes of mica sent in 1953, the largest production for any mica mine in the area for the year.

The dump contains muscovite, with some red and black hematite stains, forming an attractive hexagonal pattern. Biotite books are also found but smaller, and in the nearby host rocks. Smokey quartz is reasonably common, but garnet is scarce. There are good examples of perthitic feldspar (microcline), some graphically intergrown with quartz. Schorl is scarce, found with quartz and feldspar. Some beryl in the country rock also.

Mineral List

6 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded