James Cook University in Townsville has a geological garden which includes interesting ore samples from mining areas.
One chunk , above , is from an early goldmine , Mount Leyshon , near Charters Towers, which in June l887 was tipped to become one of the richest gold producing areas opened in North Queensland . It comprised about 75 acres across three leases and a newspaper report said 66 ton of stone extracted from Cornish Jimmy's Tunnel had yielded 28 ounces of gold .
Discovered in l871, it attracted the interest of prominent members of the London Stock Exchange and produced more than three million ounces of gold and silver over 130 years.
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The above sample is from the Pajingo Mine , 50kms south of Charters Towers, discovered by the American Battle Mountain Gold Company in l983 gold production beginning three years later. It is reported to have produced more than 3.4 million ounces of gold since l996 from open pit mines.
It is now owned by Yuxin Holdings and was visited by the Chinese Consul- General in Brisbane, Dr Ruan Zongze, in 2023.
A bicycle rack on campus is up against basalt and granite from Ayr.
(Gold. University. London.)
