Normay Mine, North Pole, Shaw River District, East Pilbara Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Normay Mine	Mine
North Pole	- not defined -
Shaw River District	Mining District
East Pilbara Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Gold mine. 1.16 tonnes of gold produced in one source, 475 Kg to 1989 in another. Resource estimate 1998, 162 000 tonnes of ore at 16 g/t Au.

The country rock is sheared 3470 Ma tholeiitic basalt, dolerite and pyroxenite sills, immediately overlying moderately north dipping northern contact of the North Pole Monzogranite.

Fine grained gold is hosted by 1 to 3 metre wide east-west trending quartz veins, dipping 75 degrees north, as parallel banded quartz veins, striking for one kilometre. In addition to the gold bearing veins there is also minor pyrite, and Cu-Zn-Pb sulphide mineralisation at depth, including pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and rare sphalerite. The Normay mine is at the northern contact of the North Pole Monzogranite, and quartz porphyry veins.

The lease was first taken up in July 1940 by William Walter Nichols. GML 1040. 18 acres. He still held the lease in the 1950's, although the names noted are Wally and Billie Nichols (brothers?). The only mining found was the early 1950's when the mine was under tribute with Jack King, Allan Coates, and George Hawkins are mentioned.

In the late 1980's Haoma Mining NL took an interest, and active underground mining took place in the 1990's. The mine closed around 2003, when further extensions to the shafts proved uneconomic, and the company focussed on their Bamboo Creek operations elsewhere in the district. The mine contains a camp, used mainly these days by scientists studying stromatolite fossils, microfossils, old ore deposits, and other issues relating to the early geology and life on the planet, evidence of which can be found in the area.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References