Gullewa Goldfield, Yalgoo Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Gullewa Goldfield	Ore Field
Yalgoo Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Located 50 kilometres south-west of Yalgoo, along the Yalgoo to Morawa Road. It is not hard to miss with the King Solomon Mine location marked by a bright white headframe next to the road.

Directly west of this is the tailings area, and west again the CIL plant under care and maintenance. A large mining camp is about 500 metres to the south-west of the King Solomon location. There is also a power plant, bore field, gravel airstrip, offices, workshops etc. Several mine locations stretch for 5 kilometres to the south-west including (from nearest the road) Monarch open pit, Shannadoah and Shannadoah South-East workings, Michelangelo open pit, Rock Steady open pit, the Mugga King and Mugga Queen workings. About 5 kilometres east of the road is the Golden Stream and Deflector open pits.

Gold was discovered in the area by prospectors Bryne and Gray who pegged the reward claim in 1894. Other prospectors quickly came and the town of Gullewa was established, which now is only a ruin. Historic mining took place between 1897 to 1919, and again 1932 to 1942. This was at underground workings such as Daisy, Gullewa Queen, Mugga King, Phoenix, Shannadoah and Victory United amongst others. The mines department reports that during this period the field produced 24 000 tonnes averaging 46.3 g/t Au.

Modern mining at the location is complex and fraught. It starts in 1982 when Goldfield Exploration Limited discovered the New Phoenix lode at the King Solomon Mine. The area was acquired by Goldwyn Resources NL in 1986 and they fell into receivership by mid 1989. National Resources Exploration Limited purchased the goldfield from the liquidators in November 1989. They formed a joint venture with Sons of Gwalia Limited in 1990, however National Resources bought out of their share in 1995. The present plant was constructed by this company in 1994.

National Resources then embarked on a rapid and dizzying process of re-opening the mines. This included Monarch October 1994, Michelangelo February 1995, Golden Stream September 1995, Rock Steady March 1996, Michelangelo West February 1996, development work at Deflector Central January 1996, and a joint venture with Scomac Mining Pty Ltd at the New Phoenix lode August 1995. None of this proved economic and operations were suspended by May 1996. The company had proceeded with mining before conducting proper exploration work, and found it had a shortage of mineralised material. By the end of March 1996 they had obtained 20 293 oz of Au from 304 236 tonnes of ore averaging 2.31 g/t Au.

The company changed its name to Gullewa Gold NL in November 1996, and re-acquired Scomac's stake. In 1998 it entered into a joint venture with Acacia Resources Ltd at the Michelangelo and Rock Steady mines. It shortly after tried to sell the goldfield to Western Districts Corporation Pty Ltd but they defaulted on payment. Acacia exited the scene. The King Solomon Mines Limited acquired the goldfield in September 2000, and inturn sold it to Menzies Gold Limited in December 2001.

They re-commenced mining at Rock Steady and Michelangelo West. Tributors operated the King Solomon Mine. Rock Steady open pit closed after an influx of water. In late 2002 the company was mining the Deflector Central and West pits. They then entered a joint venture with Hallmark Consolidated Ltd. Around this time Menzies Gold Limited was seriously in debt. A decision was made to mix the gold/copper ore from the Deflector mine, with ore from elsewhere on the field. The CIL plant could not cope with the copper content, and ground to a halt. The plant could not be repaired. Both companies went into voluntary administration as a result. Menzies was re-floated as Batavia Mining Limited, but only conducted exploration from this point at the goldfield.

At some point between 2003 and 2008 Canadian Miner ATV took over. The area was then acquired around 2011 by Mutiny Gold Limited, who have explored, produced loads of written material about how great the place is, and done no mining.

Geology information will be included under the individual locations.

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