Gympie gold mining: LiDAR technology reveals new deposits

Gympie’s gold miners did well to “save Queensland” all those years ago, but they might have missed a spot or two.

Great Divide Mining (GDM) reported a second independent third-party had affirmed the prospect of gold deposits in historical mines just northwest of Gympie.

A technical mining company has made a surprising discovery more than 150 years after gold was first found in Gympie.

Those that spent their days toiling for gold in tunnels during the gold rush might feel short-changed to know LiDAR technology now does the heavy lifting in spotting deposits.

Nevertheless, the gold rush lives on, and today’s pioneers — like Great Divide Mining Ltd, who have been prospecting gold northwest of Gympie — stand on the shoulders of those who came before with pickaxe in hand.

Great Divide Mining (GDM) reported a second independent third-party had affirmed the prospect of gold deposits in historical mines just northwest of Gympie.

Devils Mountain near Gympie is one of GDM’s main prospecting sites for not only gold, but other valuable minerals such as copper and silver.

This time, the search also extended to the nearby Kilkivan Prospect area.

GDM’s Devils Mountain project has identified “650 known and independently confirmed historical mine workings, including 23 shafts,” company chief executive Justin Haines said.

GDM is using LiDAR technology to map out forgotten gold mining sites around Devils Mountain to get an idea of where large deposits could be. Picture: provided.

This confirmation follows a previous survey which also used LiDAR, a technology which shoots light into a body of land to create a 3D model of the area, penetrating through foliage.

The Devils Mountain project consists of five sites scattered through the area, with the surveys having revealed many old workings “not previously known to GDM”, a company spokesman said.

“The region is also known for copper, silver, lead, tungsten, mercury and manganese. The region’s geology is very similar to the proven and nearby Gympie gold fields.”

Due to the physical effort of digging out mining shafts — particularly before heavy machinery — there is good reason they were made, and are therefore reliable indicators of gold mineralisation, Mr Haines said.

“The LiDAR results have now twice confirmed GDM’s strategy of targeting areas of abundant historical workings and applying modern exploration technologies to those sites,” he said.

While GDM’s efforts employ the latest technology, Gympie has never lived down its moniker as “the town that saved Queensland” in the nineteenth century through discoveries of gold in abundance.

Gold is still being fossicked in the hills around town — GDM might just find a lot more of it.