BALLARAT

Ballarat is one of Victoria's two major goldfields. Here is a comparison to show why -

Gold yield aggregate 1853 to 1860 (official figures)

Ballarat	Bendigo
4,806,477 oz	4,305,996 oz

Bendigo - a quartz mining centre - went on progressively with its development, on much the same basis through to the early 1950's.

Ballarat - a gold from washdirt production centre in the years to 1869 - passed through a first major revival in 1871 (when it discovered the upper washdirt deposits) and then a second major revival in 1879, when the rich quartz Consols Lode and Guiding Star developments began - mines which lasted over 20 years.

History emphasises that gold discoveries on the west side of the Ballarat field shift the knowledge about its different parts - the out-of-favour location of one day becoming the gold mine in a later phase - all because the surface is hidden under basalt cover.

The assembled facts show -

• the field is immature (example : discoveries Ballarat East, September 1985)
  
• that higher grade gold - in quartz was found at Redan
  
• that space once missed is anomalous for that reason in a centre with so much wide-spread distributed gold , and
  
• the same space has anomalous geophysics of the kind we would expect as modern-day explorers
  
• the same space is being pursued by Bonshaw Gold, the 100% owned subsidiary of Mount Rommel Mining Ltd.

REDAN WEST - is where the anomaly is

The aerial photo above is from an archive series over Ballarat, taken 12 March 1934 (at 12000 feet).
The whole of this photo area has, since 1997, been the subject of progressively collected close-spaced ground gravity data, including the eastern part of Lake Wendouree when dry.

For some time the Company has been collecting and collating press records of exploration data about the Ballarat Goldfield. This work continues, because the information is revealing a greater prospective scope for this goldfield than as outlined by past publications of government.

The larger white splotches and white patches on the photo are places where mine dumps existed in 1934. Some (as in Victoria Park) remain today. The past activities of these gold mines, circa 1865, are little understood today.

Seeking only 5 Ha, the now-refused Bonshaw Gold application former MIN 5470 went before the State Mining Warden at a formal hearing on 4 December 2006. Representatives of Ballarat Goldfields strongly opposed the application at that hearing. At its close, the State Mining Warden requested both parties to lodge final written submission by close of business 12 December 2006. Bonshaw Gold did lodge a written submission. The outcome was a letter of refusal dated 8 November 2007, whereby the Minister turned down an opportunity for new exploration in a selected 5 Ha area. The Department discloses its position - again open for applications 7 December 2007.