Um TIUR – Gold (Gippsland 50%)

Location

Um Tiur gold deposit is one of the most famous gold mines in Wadi Allaqi district. It lies between Gebel Um Tiur El Tahtani and Gebel Adrag at the intersection of Latitude 22° 18'15.1" N and Longitude 34°38'6.0" E.

Historical mining

The Um Tiur mine was known to the ancients as there are numerous remnants of stone buildings and grinding stones. The old workings show that a considerable quantity of ore was extracted by the ancients, particularly in the central area where gold was mined in shallow stopes via several vertical shafts. The area also contains several waste dumps and a small quantity of tailing.

An early technical report dated 1912 reported that there were five prospecting shafts of depths 82m, 64m, 40m, 36m and 34m. Two of the shafts were connected at the 70m level while the same two were connected with another two at a depth of 40m. A good supply of water was encountered in the South shaft at around 70m. The mine was still being worked in 1925 with a reported average grade of 15dwts (25.5g/t) throughout the mine.

Geological setting:

The country rocks are predominantly crystalline schists cut by a series of north-northeast trending shear zones orientated parallel to the schistosity, one of which hosts the main auriferous vein. The vein is lenticular in form containing mostly blue quartz and some white quartz, both with abundant traces of pyrite and with some galena; visible gold was reportedly limited to the blue-grey quartz.

Exploration

Exploration to date has included some surface sampling with a best result of 2m at 20g/t across reef material exposed in an old pit.