Gold Mine Districts of Australia

Welcome to the Gold Oz Australian Gold Mine & Precious Metal Mining District Guide

Australia is richly endowed with gold and other metals in additional to vast coal, bauxite, rare earths, uranium and iron ore deposits. The history of this nation is also shaped by gold rushes and mining - this continues to this day.

We have included the vital information on this page for visitors and in support of the Australian mining industry. Because gold deposits are generally formed in districts and geological regions it stands to reason that companies stand a better chance of locating new deposits or expanding existing deposits in these areas.

This especially applies to prospective areas with known geological similarities to already existing deposits. Chances of defining a significant deposit are also further heightened along direct likes of strike from prolific deposits. We therefore consider this section of the site valuable information and worth some study time for all potential investors.

Mining and large deposits occur in districts and there are vast open spaces of little activity outside these districts. Occasionally these area are extended by new mineral provinces. Called "greenfields exploration" new areas are serched for rock chip samples and outcropping mineral formations.

Note: Regions are graded by importance based on present and or past production combined with current known resources. Data was collected and compiled from a range of sources including company web sites.


Major gold mining districts / geological regions:

Number 1
The leading gold mining district in Australia is in Western Australia - it includes Kalgoorlie, Menzies and Laverton and surrounds these areas. To the far south it extends to Norseman Goldfields and to the north it extends to Wiluna Goldfields: Wiluna mine & Jundee - Nimary depositsof the Yilgarn Craton Yandal Belt. To the east it includes the techtonic contact zone of the Yilgarn Craton and the Albany / Fraser Province - Tropicana mine (new gold province).

Other Major Mines in area include: Kalgoorlie Super Pit (Australias second largest gold deposit), Kanowna Belle, Saint Ives, New Celebration, Wallaby, Sunrise Dam, Granny Smith, Tarmoola and Sons of Gwalia.
There are also many large mines including Paddington, Mount Pleasant, Ora Banda and Bronzewing. This large gold rich area contains a large number of other less prominent mines.

Number 2
By volume of gold only - not by number and size of mines, dominated by Olympic Dam (Australias largest gold deposit) in South Australia. Now 7.7 billion tonnes. Contained copper resources are 67 million tonnes, contained uranium 2.2 million tonnes. Contained gold resources are almost 82 million ounces. However main earners from the deposit are copper then uranium followed by gold. This area should also contain the Prominant Hill mine to the North West.

Number 3 The Greater Central Goldfields region of Victoria which also contains The Golden Triangle. This wider area mainly includes the area bounded by Stawell, Bandigo and Ballarat. Containing Australias third largest deposit at Bendigo and known to be the worlds richest source of alluvial nuggets. The area is marked by Avoca (South West), the City of Castlemaine (South East), and the apex at the township of Wedderburn to the North.

Number 4 The Lachlan Fold Belt Vic - NSW which is a large area containing a large number of mines and extends almost from Bourke in the north down through the border across the eastern tip of Victoria. The largest two deposit areas are Cowral and the Cadia system.

From here on out it is beyond the scope of the resources of this web site to order the remaining gold districts. That is not to say that the following are not highly important goldfields and mineral provinces.

Other areas for GoldOz to upgrade in future: (page under construction)
South West WA
Patterson Province Western Austraia
Charters Towers and North Queensland
South East Queensland
Mount Isa Queensland
Pine Creek Northern Territory
Tanami Region Nothern Territory
Tennent Creek Region Northern Territory
Gawler Craton South Australia

Next we have a lower category again - in terms of resource volume mined or discovered to date:
Port Hedland / Ashburton Western Australia