Oversight Gold Mine (Tara; Oversight Tara United), Broad Arrow, Broad Arrow Goldfield, Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Oversight Gold Mine (Tara; Oversight Tara United)	Mine
Broad Arrow	- not defined -
Broad Arrow Goldfield	Ore Field
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

The Oversight and Tara were separate but adjoining leases, amalgamated in 1925. Present day the area is an east-west band of many modern tiny test diggings one kilometre south of Broad Arrow. These are immediately south of the Black Flag mines turn off, and cross the railway line and exist both east and west of the Goldfields Highway. This infrastructure has prevented the area being developed as a large open pit.

Both mines contained rich gold and were active at a later date than the main discoveries around Broad Arrow in the 1890's. It made at least five old prospectors extremely rich.

At the Oversight the original prospectors had sunk a 50 foot shaft, and only being interested in quartz had thrown the lode material containing gold on the dump. Later two other men put in a 100 foot east-west crosscut, then abandoned the lease. In 1915, two old experienced prospectors called Borland and Rudd (surnames) found rich gold at the mine, leading it to be named the Oversight.

One story states Borland and Rudd decided to dynamite a jutting rock that was annoying them as it was getting in the way of the bucket as it was hauled to the surface. The explosion revealed rich gold. Another story states the bucket swung and hit the side of the shaft, dislodged a piece of stone revealing gold. The leader in either case developed into a good body of stone showing specimen gold. One source states this patch alone produced 450 tonnes of ore worth 15 500 pounds.

Meanwhile Erickson and Godfrey (surnames) were working the adjoining Tara to the north from 1908 with similar results. The four men obtained in total about 50 000 pounds worth of gold, a fortune for the day. The Tara lease was 6 acres and the Oversight 12 acres in size

C.A. Barrett took over the mines in 1923, and amalgamated them as the Oversight Tara United. It was thought the mines had been worked out, but they still had more to give. 54 tonnes in 1926 yielded 104 ounces of specimen stone and 482 fine ounces from crushing. He found several further rich patches.

In 1919, the Oversight was taken over as a working option by a new company headed by Dorrie L. Doolette, floated in the eastern states for 6000 pounds. Around the same time the Tara which had produced over 20 000 pounds worth of gold for Erickson and Godfrey was let on option to a Kalgoorlie syndicate headed by Archibald O'Keefe.

The area immediately south of the old mines is owned by Taylor and Catchpole (surnames) since 1930, GML 1933W, who let out the mine on a working option to the Bardoc Consolidated Company in 1934. J. Echolm is mine manager, and six men are employed. A Huntington mill is installed and the company controls 96 acres. In 1937, the B.A.N.Z. company takes out an option on the Oversight mine. Little information was found subsequently on any of these companies making a success out of these ventures.

The lodes are a soft formation trending east-west, and to 4 feet wide. Within the lode is rich auriferous bearing quartz leaders and talcose schists. A large number of shafts are in the area, varying in depth from 50 to 200 feet. Most of the ore won was from relatively shallow depths. Water comes in at 150 feet, but the flow is not great.

From 1908 to 1925, the Tara produced 3174.28 ounces of specimen stone, and from 1194.24 tonnes of ore yielded 2088.59 ounces totalling 5262.87 ounces. The Oversight between 1915 to 1925 produced 2483.52 ounces from specimen stone and from 1222.95 tonnes of ore yielded 3734.96 ounces of gold totalling 6218.48 ounces. The combined area from 1925 to 1933 produced 983.6 ounces from specimen stone and 264.54 tonnes of ore yielding 727.25 ounces of gold totalling 1710.85 ounces. The total yield to 1933 was 13 192.20 ounces.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References