Yaloginda Goldfield (Bluebird; Eight Mile; Yallowgindat), Meekatharra Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Yaloginda Goldfield (Bluebird; Eight Mile; Yallowgindat)	Ore Field
Meekatharra Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

The Yaloginda Goldfield is 15 kilometres south of Meekatharra, and is not hard to miss with a processing plant, accommodation village, open pits, and tailings heaps right next to the Great Northern Highway.

Gold was first discovered here at what was to become known as the Sirdar Veins by E. Dickson and R. Richards in January 1899. The Revenue ore bodies were discovered by J. Dunn and party at the end of 1904, which yielded rich patches until the end of 1908, when the Black Jack deposit was found. The field initially remained the preserve of prospectors, although a couple of companies became involved at the Karangahaki and Two Bells mines for a short time.

By 1911, activity on the field had subsided.

Even the 1930's gold boom, only encouraged a few prospectors to give the field a go. This is largely because of the geology of the field, making underground mining methods unsuitable. There are at least six parallel lines of gold reefs trending north north-west to south south-east as part of the Meekatharra-Wydgee Greenstone Belt. These lodes are each split into several other more minor lines, which generally are chaotic broken rock, embedded within are erratic short quartz lenses, with some carrying gold. The best lodes often have a jasper bar running parallel and next to the lode. The goldfield is approximately 8 kilometres long by 3 kilometres wide.

Recent geology investigations of the area state it as narrow vein quartz-carbonate stockwork systems within the pressure shadows of a granite intrusion. Gold is found in various rock types including basalt, felsic porphyry, and sediments. In the western part of the field is a band of high temperature rocks, hosting the Batavia Au and Chunderloo Cu-Au-Ag prospects.

Recent production saw St Barbara Mines Ltd develop the field with several open pits from 1991 to 2003. The processing plant has over this time produced over 1.5 Moz in gold from over a dozen pits. Mercator Gold purchased the mine in 2004 for 18 million Australian dollars, and mining resumed in 2007 at the Bluebird and Surprise pits. This last open pit was very close to the Great Northern Highway, and when cracks in the ground appeared next to the highway, mining stopped in September 2008. With a lack of income flow, and inability to raise extra capital, Mercator went into administration in October 2008. The mine was sold to Reed Resources Ltd for 26.7 million Australian dollars in January 2011. The mine was being operated by its subsidiary GMK Exploration Pty Ltd, which also went into administration in August 2013.

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