Enterprise Gold Mine, Tennant Creek, Barkly Region, Northern Territory, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Enterprise Gold Mine	Mine
Tennant Creek	Creek
Barkly Region	Region
Northern Territory	Territory
Australia	Country

The deposit was discovered in 1935, and came into production the same year, continuing until 1942, when the Federal Government placed an embargo on mining.

After the war, the mine was worked by a small company, who erected a three head stamp battery. However, it could not cope with the hard hematite ore, which was instead processed at the No. 3 government battery. Another source shows the mine was owned and worked by G.P. Richards since at least 1939, and into the 1950's. Stan Sanderson and Dan King were tributers at the mine in the late 1940's, so impressed with the gold they found, they threw a party at the Tennant Creek RSL hall in celebration, inviting dozens of guests.

The tribute expired in 1951, with Richards again taking over the operations of the mine. Another source states the mine was under option to the Warramunga Gold Mines Limited in 1947. Merloo Gold Mines Ltd took an option over the mine in 1953, stated subsequently it was developing 'satisfactorily', then abandoned the show by 1957. Richards took over again, deepening the shaft to 295 feet. The mine produced from 1935 to 1960, 10 136.61 tonnes of ore at 20.25 dwt gold, for 205.24 kg of gold.

The site was explored by Western Nuclear (Australia) Pty Ltd 1971-1977, CRA Exploration Pty Ltd 1984-1985, Tennant Creek Gold Pty Ltd 1987, Metana Minerals NL 1988-1989, and Tennant Creek Gold Pty Ltd again 1990.

The mine is 4 kilometres south of Tennant Creek along the Stuart Highway, and 750 metres east of the highway, along an east-west trending ridge, containing numerous historic gold mines, both east and west of the highway, representing the southern extent of the Tennant Creek goldfield. The site contains a shed, some rusting old tanks, and what appears to be a concrete building ruin.

The shaft has been sunk to 295 feet with levels at 32, 72, 122, 183 and 233 feet.

The deposit outcrops as two tear shaped quartz-hematite-magnetite ironstone bodies, tapering to the west, being 500 feet in length in total, and a maximum 50 feet wide. A saddle in the ridge occurs in the middle between the west and east hematite bodies. This is surrounded by brecciated chlorite sedimentary rocks, and silicified carbonate-talc-chlorite zones.

The western body is up to 70 feet thick of crystalline quartz-hard massive blue black hematite, with a crush zone of hematite, small quantities of bornite and chalcopyrite, surrounded by slate and greywacke bands dipping 20-45 degrees north. The eastern body quartz-hematite shows dense massive to more vuggy rock. Ore shoots are connected by thin hematite stringers.

Gold is finely disseminated in the crush zone, and erratic with patches and stringers up to 60 oz , then relatively barren areas to 3 dwt. Gold is up to grain size inhabiting fractures in the rock, intimately associate with bismutite. Little gold exits from the surface down to 32 feet. Gold occurs as flakes, scales, and grains, the result of much secondary enrichment from weathering. Gold is found in the sheared Footwall side of the ironstone lenses for a short distance.

Below the 183 feet level, the ore body changes to grey, black and white hematite, stained in places with manganese oxides, with crushed red mudstone containing free gold and hematite stringers. At the 223 level is hard massive quartz-hematite with softer patches containing high Au values. The upper levels is sericite rich hematite, impregnated with brecciated mudstone, containing small pods of hard hematite.

The nearby Sanderson, King and Tom Faults has altered the rock to sericite and chlorite schist with much brecciation and iron oxide in these areas. The main ore shoot occurs at the intersection of the Sanderson and King Faults.

This is surrounded by sedimentary country rock of the Warramunga Formation, which includes according to drill core samples, sandstone, shale, siltstone, greywacke and mudstone.

References

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality