Management Team
Gold, Silver and Base Metals
Historic Mining in the Upper Mosquito Creek Silver-Lead-Zinc Province
Numerous old mines lie within a province known as Upper Mosquito Creek silver province. The map below shows the broad distribution of old mines in this province. For Silver-Lead-Zinc these mines may be grouped into three main clusters from west to east: New Moon group, Argent King group and Southern Cross group. The Southern Cross group mines have been mapped and sampled in detail and are now “drill ready for resource definition”.
Silver production appears to have commenced in 1906 at the Orion mine and extended until approximately 1930 with a second period of mining around 1947 – 52. The target mineral was galena (lead) in high grade veins. Silver values were presented in terms of ounces/ton of lead. Old records indicate that the converted grades for silver ranged from 6.8Kg/tonne lead produced for the New Moon group, 0.83Kg/t for the Argent King group, 2.5 – 3.95 Kg/t for the Orion – Southern Cross group. One estimate (CR 17255) suggests over 19 tonnes of silver has been recovered from small mines in this Province.
In the period prior to World War I ore was handpicked and carted a long distance to Chillagoe for treatment. This smelter closed at the start of the war so many mines in the Georgetown area were then closed. Little attention was paid to the extent of mineralization; either at depth or laterally to known veins. Detailed field mapping and core drilling is almost non-existent in the region. The deepest shaft appears to be 56 metres (Southern Cross) with most mines terminated at the water table around 25 metres depth. Subsequent exploration has been cursory in nature.
Locality Map of Historic Gold and Silver Mines on SMA/SMAM tenements
SMA – Historic Mines Legend
SMA and SMA Mining Queensland Tenement Interests
| LEASE NUMBER | LEASE NAME | STATUS | GRANT DATE | EXPIRY DATE | NO OF SUB-BLOCKS | AREA (Km2) | AREA (Ha) | HOLDER | |
| SMA MINING TENEMENTS (SUBJECT TO ARTEMIS JV) | |||||||||
| EPM13694 | Buchanan’s | Granted | 03-Dec-2002 | 02-Dec-2021 | 4 | 12.98 | 1298 | SMA Mining P/L | |
| EPM14988 | Georgetown | Granted | 25-Oct-2011 | 24-Oct-2020 | 3 | 9.74 | 974 | SMA Mining P/L | |
| EPM18490 | Mosquito Creek | Granted | 21-Apr-2011 | 20-Apr-2022 | 16 | 51.92 | 5192 | SMA Mining P/L | |
| STRATEGIC METALS AUSTRALIA TENEMENTS (NOT SUBJECT TO ARTEMIS JV) | |||||||||
| EPM25468 | West Buchanan’s | Granted | 05-Sep-2014 | 04-Sep-2024 | 5 | 16.23 | 1622 | Strategic Metals Australia P/L | |
| EPM25726 | Mosquito Creek (extension) | Renewed | 01-May-2015 | 30-Apr-2023 | 7 | 22.72 | 2272 | Strategic Metals Australia P/L | |
| EPM26415 | Ropewalk | Granted | 08-May-2018 | 07-May-2023 | 13 | 42.19 | 4218 | Strategic Metals Australia P/L | |
| EPM26567 | Georgetown South | Granted | 11-Dec-2017 | 10-Dec-2022 | 2 | 6.49 | 649 | Strategic Metals Australia P/L | |
| EPM27603 | Buchanans East | Granted | 26-Feb-2021 | 25-Feb-2024 | 1 | 3.25 | 325 | Strategic Metals Australia P/L | |
| EPM27751 | Ropewalker | Under application | 20 | 65.0 | 650 | Strategic Metals Australia P/L | |||
Gold Exploration
SMA is currently mapping and sampling a number of old mine areas with the intent of defining drill targets. SMA intends to prepare suite of targets to the status of “drill ready for resource definition” in the 2021 field season.
Numerous old mines lie with the SMA’s tenements in north Queensland and the Company is currently embarking on exploration for these resources and will update information on this page as it comes to hand.