OK MINE
SKYLINE ROAD DEVILS RIVER, MURRINDINDI SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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OK MINE - History
Heritage Inventory History of Site: According to Maud, the OK mine was the most productive in the Alexandra district during the early 1870s, employing more than 100 men. The first OK Gold Mining Co. was formed in 1871, to work a lease on the Eldorado Reef, at the head of UT Creek in the Puzzle Ranges. When it was first worked in 1867, the ground had yielded between five and 15 oz per ton. Operations at that time were shortlived, due to heavy water close to the surface and the expense of carting stone long distances for crushing. In 1871, the OK Co. let a contract for driving a tunnel. The next reference found to the OK mine is dated 1873, and appears to refer to a new OK Co. The company had been floated just two months before, and was erecting pumping machinery on its shaft. In 1876, the OK lease had recently been forfeited, but was taken up again by Milroy and party. The former lease holders had spent nearly £2,000 in tunnelling, and the new party continued to tunnel towards the reef. 'This will be a fortune to the shareholders,' said the Alexandra Times, 'when they erect machinery on the spot. There are great natural facilities for erecting tramways, dams, etc.' Maud refers to a 'hydraulic battery [on UT Creek] mentioned in contemporary literature' and two stone-retained dams along the creek to store water for the battery and for domestic purposes. Activity at the OK mine seems to have been virtually over by the end of the 1880s.No further reference to the OK mine has been located. However, a reef, possibly the Eldorado, was being worked at UT Creek, about 10 km from Alexandra, in 1914.References: Alexandra Times, 11 August 1868, 6 January 1871, 5 April 1873, 27 May 1876, 10 March 1877Department of Mines Annual Report, 1914Maud, pp. 3-4Mining Surveyors' Reports (Jamieson Subdivision), September 1867Heritage Inventory Description
OK MINE - Heritage Inventory Description
Features of the OK mine are mine workings, a benched track, battery site, quartz-roasting kiln, and a hut site. Mine workings - located at the head (north side) of a gully, the workings consist of several adits and small heaps, filled shafts and some open cutting. There are also workings on the hill above. Track - 500m-long benched track runs from the head of the gully to battery site. Battery - the site, on freehold land, has been bulldozed by the current owner in the course of constructing a boundary track. Quartz roasting kiln - down from the flattened battery site is a small quartz roasting kiln, 9ft in diameter, 8ft deep, with 2ft thick walls. The rear of the kiln is natural rock. The kiln is largely obscured by blackberries, and its stone front has collapsed slightly but the flue appears to be intact. The location of the kiln suggests the possibility of an earlier battery. Mine workings - the gully above the battery site has one adit and several subsided shafts with mullock paddocks. Switchback track and hut - a track and hut site are situated on the ridge, to the north-east of the battery site. Only the small stone fireplace of the log hut is still standing.
Heritage Inventory Significance: Regional. The mine was one of the district's most productive at an early period and retains a range of original features, including evidence of reworking during the 1930s Depression.
Informant/s: CFL, Fraser National Park/nRecorded by: R Supple et al; D. Bannear Date Recorded: 1989
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OK MINEVictorian Heritage Inventory
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