Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	30° 57' 13'' South , 121° 10' 28'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-30.95379,121.17451
GeoHash:	G#: qdqpvmh94
Locality type:	Mine
Köppen climate type:	BSh : Hot semi-arid (steppe) climate

Alas this is not the mine of biblical legend. The proper name of the Coolgardie mine is King Solomon, but a number of sources have added a S to the end. Located on the eastern edge of the Coolgardie town site. The location is marked by a small elongated open pit.

It was one of the early leases pegged after Bayley's gold discovery at Fly Flat in 1892. The name of its initial owners was not found. An attempt was made to form a company with eastern states capital however this failed. A two stamp battery in April 1894 was erected to test the property, and with favourable results from this, a company was floated in London late 1894 called the King Solomon Gold Mining Company with 75 000 pounds capital. E. de Stout was appointed mine manager. The large low grade deposit produced consistent but unspectacular results over several years, before the grades faded, and the company went into liquidation.

The early holdings was 2 leases, but these were later added to amounting to 7 leases totalling 72 acres. One source in 1895 states a lot of energy had been put into development, little gold found, and the underground workings had been constructed inefficiently resulting in double handling and dead work. Crushings were found regularly to 1917, initially by the company, and later by tributers. The main shaft reached 550 feet depth, and there were at least 5 other shafts to 115 feet deep. An open cut was also on the leases eastern boundary. A battery was erected late 1898.

The skill of a geologist was not well appreciated by these early mining operations, and as usual little geology information was found. In 1899, a huge exhibition was held at Coolgardie, and the mineral section contained specimens from several local gold mines. The King Solomon Mine was case 6, containing gold evenly distributed through several specimens of diorite, feldspar and hornblende from the crosscut of two fissure reefs at the 150 foot level. There was also various quartz specimens showing free gold and galena. The source states the presence of galena at the deposit is a strong indication gold is nearby.

The Union Jack gold mine just north-east of Coolgardie was placed up for auction by the bailiff in June 1899. Few showed any interest in purchasing it, and the King Solomon Company obtained the lease (34 acres), plant and machinery for a whole 41 pounds. An additional 10 stamps was added to the battery, electrical engine, poppet heads and ore bins were installed on the King Solomon leases in 1900, possibly in preparation of treating ore from the Union Jack Mine. Around the same time, at a shareholder meeting the directors stated ' results obtained are such as to give full confidence as to the future prosperity of the undertaking'. It was confidence misplaced. Shortly after the company was applying for exemptions in the Warden's Court, usually a sign of problems. Mining largely ground to a halt by 1902.

A receiver was appointed to the company, with the mine, leases (71 acres),20 head battery, plant and machinery sold at auction in March 1905 to John Silverthorne for 1480 pounds. Few others showed any interest in purchasing it.

Half the 20 stamp battery was sold and removed to the Mararoa Mine at Norseman in April 1908. Dams are mentioned little in these articles, largely because mine dams are of little interest. However, the King Solomon Dam was involved in three incidents during its time. There was a safe robbery in June 1900 from the Shannahan's Coolgardie Hotel, the empty safe with prised open door found later next to the dam. The safe had contained 90 pounds worth of cash, nuggets and jewellery. In early 1902, a drunk William Sweeney fell into the dam and drowned. The jury recommended the dam be fenced. If this had been enacted upon, possibly Thomas Bibby (46) would not have drowned in the dam on 21 April 1913.

R.B Andrews and W.R. Roberts are noted as mine owners in 1909, and several crushings in their name are found over this period. Andrews appears to have had a history relating to the property. In 1897, he was convinced to sell his neighbouring lease to the company who assured him the King Solomon reef was not part of his property, and they needed the land solely to erect a battery. Andrews later claimed the company was mining the reef in its underground workings on his lease, had full knowledge the reef ran into his lease, and requested the sale be rescinded due to fraud. While this appears to have failed, he was a man with a long memory. His later purchase after the company's collapse could be seen as eventual revenge.

Andrews tried to form a local company to re-open the mine in 1911, but the attempt failed. Across 1912, at least two attempts were made by individuals to have the mine forfeited due to a lack of mining taking place.

In 1914, a Kalgoorlie syndicate erected a small mill and plant on the old Clyde lease, one of the King Solomon Mine leases, to test the property. Ore was being obtained from the old open cut. T. Burwash and J. Stripp are noted as owners in 1915. George Perkins as owner 1917. Across the period from 1900 to 1917, the mine was worked at shallow depths by several tributing parties. In 1921, Lindquist and 'mate' crushed 100 tonnes. B. Wilson was prospecting the old leases in 1931, and found a small quartz leader with gold in it. This was the last information found.

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.

Mineral List

3 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

Regional Geology

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Neoarchean - Mesoarchean 2500 - 3200 Ma ID: 3187518

Archean volcanic rocks Age: Archean (2500 - 3200 Ma) Comments: Yilgarn Craton Lithology: Greenstone belt; mafic-ultramafic volcanic rocks Reference: Chorlton, L.B. Generalized geology of the world: bedrock domains and major faults in GIS format: a small-scale world geology map with an extended geological attribute database. doi: 10.4095/223767. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5529. [154]

Archean 2500 - 4000 Ma ID: 848390

mafic extrusive rocks 74248 Age: Archean (2500 - 4000 Ma) Description: Basalt, high-Mg basalt, minor mafic intrusive rocks; some andesite; agglomerate; mafic schist; amphibolite; dolerite; komatiitic basalt; carbonated basalt; basaltic andesite; mafic rock interleaved with minor granitic rock Comments: igneous mafic volcanic; igneous mafic intrusive; synthesis of multiple published descriptions Lithology: Igneous mafic volcanic; igneous mafic intrusive Reference: Raymond, O.L., Liu, S., Gallagher, R., Zhang, W., Highet, L.M. Surface Geology of Australia 1:1 million scale dataset 2012 edition. Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia). [5]

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

References