Bonya Mine, Bonya, Jervois Station, Central Desert Region, Northern Territory, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Bonya Mine	Mine
Bonya	- not defined -
Jervois Station	- not defined -
Central Desert Region	Region
Northern Territory	Territory
Australia	Country

The Bonya Mine is centrally located amongst the scattered copper/scheelite mines of the Bonya Hills. It contains a small overgrown eroded pit, and neighbouring timber lined shaft. An old derelict ore truck remains, as well as several dozen rusting drums of oxidised copper ore. Both the drums, and surface of the surrounding area holds much malachite covered rocks, some chrysocolla, and possibly other secondary copper species. Access to any of the mines in the Bonya Hills area is virtually impossible with tracks long faded, active mining leases, an indigenous settlement, and the Jervois Station all potentially blocking access.

The mine provides the name to the Bonya Metamorphic Complex or Bonya schist, in which a lot of the lodes in the district are found. This is sub-divided into (1) basal amphibolite (2) pink quartz feldspar, hornblende schist, and quartz-epidote-calc silicate rock, interlayered with fine muscovite, and biotite-muscovite schist with scheelite (3) coarse grained knotted muscovite schist, or andalusite-muscovite schist, with pods and layers of quartz-epidote calc-silicate rock (4)the Kings Legend Amphibolite Member being amphibolite containing 'crystal clots' in places, minor calc-silicate rocks with scheelite, and finely disseminated chalcopyrite/pyrite in amphibolite (5) fine to medium grained biotite-muscovite schist, quartz-garnet-epidote calc-silicate rock, amphibolite, felsic schist, and sulphide bearing magnetite-quartz-hematite rock.

Unit 5 is further divided into 1) gneisses 2) magnesium silicates 3) the lode horizon within andalusite-muscovite schist of garnet-chlorite-magnetite rocks 4) layered actinolite-K feldspar calc-silicate rocks, acid meta volcanics, calcareous metapelite, muscovite rich schist, quartzite, and amphibolite.

The Bonya deposit was discovered and worked for copper to a small degree during the 1930's. Little is documented for this period. Scheelite in the area was not discovered until the early 1970's. Several minor scheelite and copper prospects, or occurrences are found in the area surrounding the mine.

The Bonya deposit is a pipe like body, of hydrothermal origin, close to the axial zone of a major fold. Country rock surrounding the deposit is knotted schist and quartzite.

Copper at Bonya is malachite-chalcocite-quartz ore in a quartz breccia, biotite-feldspar quartzite, andalusite and mica schist. The mineralised horizon is dominated by magnetite bearing quartzites, 150 feet long, 10-15 feet wide. A rich pod of azurite-chalcocite was mined from the open cut. Chalcopyrite, bornite, and pyrite was found at the bottom of the shaft, at a depth of 110 feet. Minor gold was also found. There is extensive malachite staining of rocks at the surface in the area.

Copper mining resumed after the 1930's, only in 1947, when James Coppock from the Mirror Finish Mica Mine (eastern Harts Ranges) took over. K.G. Johannsen was active in the area in the 1950's, and 60's, but it was not until 1972, that with his son Lindsay Johannsen, they set above mining at Bonya. Lindsay had been prospecting in the area for some time, and had found several scheelite deposits. When Kurt suffered a heart attack, and with Lindsay's wife sick, they abandoned the mine. In 1977, the lease was sold to Petrocarb Explorations NL. Various companies have subsequently explored the area. Rox Resources explored the site in 2014.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

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