Historical information
The A1 Gold Mine is located north of Woods Point, near Jamieson, in the Upper Goulburn region of Victoria. Gold was discovered at the A1 site in 1861 and mining operations began in 1864. The A1 Mine Settlement refers to a small township known variously as Castle Reef, Castle Point, and Raspberry Creek, which developed in the 1860s around mining industry centred on a crushing machine that worked the three gold reefs in the area. Historically, the name "A1"referred to the high quality of gold found in the quartz reefs at depths of at least two thousand feet. Along with the Morning Star mine at Woods Point, the A1 gold mine produced almost sixty percent of Victoria's gold output in the 1950s to 1970s and continued operating until 1992 when it went into administration. Operations at the site were revived in 2016 and the A1 Mine is now considered one of Victoria's premier gold mines.
The A1 mine is part of the extensive and prospective Lachlan Fold Belt, a north-west trending belt of tightly folded Early Devonian sedimentary rocks extending from New South Wales to Victoria. Mineralisation is hosted within or immediately adjacent to diorite dykes. Contemporary development of the 'Queens Lode' at the A1 mine signals a move from high-grade, narrow vein airleg mining into larger scale, mechanical mining designed to increase ore production volume.
Significance
This original, undated photograph of the A1 Mine appears to depict an area or phase of disuse or abandonment. The aged and humble appearance of the cottage suggests association with the historical A1 Mine Settlement, therefore the image may have been taken prior to the 1950s-1970s revival period in which the A1 mine is known to have produced high gold yields. The photograph contributes to our understanding of the A1 Gold Mine's impact on the landscape and the social, environmental impacts of mining on communities and may be compared with others in the Burke Museum's extensive collection of mining photographs to deepen our understanding of mining in the Jamieson area.
Physical description
Black and white rectangular photograph printed on photographic paper
Inscriptions & markings
Reverse:
5577 /
A1 Mine /
Near Jamieson /
Vic. /
Subjects
- burke museum,
- beechworth museum,
- beechworth,
- gold fields,
- gold rush,
- victorian gold rush,
- mining tunnels,
- gold ming history,
- colonial australia,
- australian gold rushes,
- mining technology,
- beechworth historic district,
- indigo gold trail,
- indigo shire,
- upper goulburn shire,
- jamieson,
- woods point-walhalla goldfield,
- a1 gold mine,
- victorian high country,
- modern mining methods,
- orogenic gold province,
- gold mineralisation,
- devonian,
- dykes
References
- Kaiser Reef Ltd. A1 Gold Mine Current mining operations at A1 mine. In January 2021, Kaiser acquired 100% of Centennial Mining Ltd and assets; A1 gold mine, Maldon goldfield (care and maintenance) and the Maldon processing plant which treats A1 ore.
- Wikipedia
- Mindat.org - A1 Mine, A1 Mining Settlement, Mansfield Shire, Victoria, Australia.
- The West Australian Newspaper Contemporary news report on current mining operations at the A1 mine
- Mining Technology - A1 Gold Project, Victoria Mining operations at A1 mine (ca. 2015)
- Morning Star Gold - A1 gold project at Woods ponit Contemporary ming operations at A1 mine. A1 Consolidated Gold Co.
- Applied Mineral Exploration
- University of Melbourne Library Honours thesis by Heather Caswell (1985) 'Ways to Woods Point: the history of a mountain goldfield and its roads' (restricted access)
- Victorian places - Woods Point
- Monash University: Research Output ISBN/ISSN: DOI: 10.1080/08120099.2010.511262 2010 Research Paper 'Nature of gold mineralisation in the Walhalla Goldfield, southeast Australia' (restricted access)
- SMEDG - Nature of gold mineralisation in the Walhalla Goldfield, eastern Victoria, Australia
