In what seems to be a very similar story to much for the Bendigo-Ballarat goldfield, gold at Berringa was first discovered around 1850’s alluvial gold in gullies and water courses.  In 1864, William Schreck first discovered the now ubiquitous hard rock vein mines primarily at the Kangaroo Lode.

This was short lived having only reach approx. 40m with reports of the returns as too small and water too much to be worth continuing. 11 years later the Kangaroo Company returned to the lode and sunk a new shaft. This was far more successful and (spurred on by a new gold rush  treating the tertiary gravels the silt atop the older sandstones and siltstones) encouraged a new wave of underground mining in the area.

By 1876 The Nil Desperandum (later to be known as Williams Fancy) lode was found and the size of the lode encouraged serious prospecting throughout the area.  Alluvial processing continued in tandem and up to 3 hard rock mines were operating each with their own battery. In 1883 the express lode was found but little further work was done on the reef with the focus remaining on the Kangaroo main lode.

By 1896 worked ceased on the field with the Williams Fancy/Kangaroo as the only truly successful  operations . Between 1865 and 1897 an estimated 67,000 tonnes of gold was recovered at an estimated grade of 8.3g/t

Mining returned in 1893 with the re-opening of the Kangaroo Mine and in 1898 the discovery of the Birthday lode.  Mining continued as active production at Berringa form 1898 until the start of WW1 in 1914. During the period   production of the 5 mines operating in the area was a little over 280,000 ounces.

By 1917 lack of manpower, and resources to operate the mines saw the closure of the last mines at Birthday Tunnel and Williams Fancy.  The Birthday Tunnel was the second largest produce in the field developing to 311m depth  with quartz reefs as wide as 10 m. Production stats however indicated that gold values decreased with  depth towards the south.  Cross cuts form the Birthday tunnel intersected the Express reef and a second eastern reef, though again little is known of further development of these reefs..

Some returned exploration in 1937 with the Berringa syndicate establishing an adit and crosscut from Kangaroo Gully on the eastern side of the main lode structure but reporting little economic success, even with the intersection of the Kangaroo reef within 100m of the adit portal.   Two years later the Company let the mine on tribute and a shaft sunk on No3 lode was encouraging. By 1942 the new syndicate had sunk the shaft to 76m , erected a 10 stamp battery and was reported to be very profitable.

The Kangaroo mine comprised multiple reefs with the main Kangaroo lode extensively worked. Payable quartz was mined in widths over 12 metres and as stockworks, laminated veins and flat lying veins. To the south of the  mine at Williams  Fancy  the saddle reef stuck at the same level contained’ good ore”.

West of the main shaft at Kangaroo further wide refs of 1.2 to 1.5m with grades nearing 16g.t.

Mining to the south of Kangaroo (south Birthday mine) was considered  that whilst the reef was narrow it was considered continuous and of high grade.

Fire in 1948   impacted on production and by 1952 The Berringa Mine closed. Over the 15 year of operation a further 13,470 ounces was recovered at an average grade of 17.4g/t

1956 there was a short lived revival of interest at Berringa Mine but within the year it was again closed as a result of damage from a bush fire

In 1974  Multilode Gold Mines NL re opened the Berringa shaft  down to a depth of 43m and recovered 30 tonne sin a bulk sample averaging 9.8g/t  followed by Southland Mining NL  who deepened  the shaft to  116m

1974 to 1980   a new shaft was sunk on the property and a small parcel of ore treated encouraging Alluvial prospectors to extend the shaft   and partially rehabilitate the old workings until 1982 when the mine finally closed.

In 1984 the head frame was removed and  by 1985 all mining was  abandoned until  modern exploration commenced around 1985.

 In total 293,000 ounces of gold was recovered at an average grade of 9.8g/t

The geology of the Berringa Goldfield consists of north-south trending Ordovician metasediments that are tightly folded. A series of north south trending, steeply west dipping reverse faults cut across the strata. Gold mineralisation is primarily associated with the west dipping faults as structurally controlled gold-quartz lodes in the eastern and western limbs of the folds. Baragwanath (1907) subdivided quartz veins into three categories: saddle reefs, fault reefs and spurs. The main line of historic workings occurs over a strike of 2.2km, located approximately one km to the west of the regional scale Berringa Fault. d’Auvergne (2002) subdivided the Berringa goldfield into three geographical zones, each characterised by its own mineral control (Figure 3.2);

• The Northern Zone includes the Birthday Tunnel mine which produced 73,474oz at an average grade of 6.2 g/t Au. The upper mine levels worked saddle and spur reefs on a major anticline. The lower mine levels worked fissure reefs on the western leg of the anticline. The structures pitch gently northward.
• The Central Zone includes the Southland Mine (including Berringa Prospecting Syndicate), the Kangaroo Mine and Williams Fancy Mine. Combined the mines produced 107,345oz at an average grade of 8.35 g/t Au. The northern end of the central zone is characterised by relatively flat pitching structures trending south pitching to the south. The Kangaroo Mine worked saddle reefs on the main anticline. The Williams Fancy Mine worked saddle reefs in the upper mine levels and western leg fissure lodes at depth.
• The Southern Zone includes the Birthday and South Birthday Mines which collectively produced 112,432 oz at an average grade of 12.6 g/t Au. The geology of the southern zone is distinctly different to the central and northern zones of Berringa goldfield. The mines worked fissure  reefs on the western leg of an anticline and the ore body pitches to the south. There is no known development of saddle reefs as in the northern and central zone mines. Folding is open with only one fold pair recognised across the extent of the historic workings (d’Auvergne, 2002).

The previous operators of the Berringa Gold Project, Ballarat Goldfields NL and Lihir Gold Limited developed a geological model for the ongoing exploration and development of the project.  The geological model hosts similarities to the Ballarat Gold Project in that an upright Anticlinal fold dominates the field, with a relatively simple westerly dipping west limb leading to the Berringa Syncline to the west.  The eastern limb of the anticline is more complicated, with a series of parasitic folds plunging in and out of the eastern limb along strike.  In addition there is an apparent doming structure along the main Berringa Anticline resulting in a 20^o southerly plunge to the south of the field, and a 25^o northerly plunge to the north of the field.

A series of steep westerly dipping reverse faults intersect through the fold hinges, at irregular vertical intervals.  These are understood to be the conduits for the mineralising fluids with historical ore shoots being developed upon:

• The intersection of the reverse faults and the fold hinges forming breached fold hinges with variable quartz content ranging from massive quartz to wide quartz spur zones.
• Western legs/limbs of the Anticline, these were typically mined as narrow bodies of higher grade mineralisation, and maybe additionally influenced by lithology.
• Intersection of west dipping reverse faults and favourable lithology on the eastern limb of the Berringa Anticline.

In addition a further complication to the geology of the Berringa Goldfield results from the presence of east-west cross course faults, which throughout their traverse of the goldfield have displaced the fold axes and reef faults along strike. Figure below displays the fold geometry and steep westerly dipping reverse fault.

Soon after the mining activity ceased, exploration returned

1984 to 1985 and again in 1987   CRA conducted field mapping of the lease providing a base map of locations.  Minor rock chip sampling of surface material was reported from this mapping, but assay data has not located.  The report did indicate a strong As association with the auriferous lodes.  CRA also completed 700m long soil sampling traverses to the north of the area looking for northern extensions.

Drilling was undertaken at this time with 14 RC holes and one diamond tail for a total of 832m (77m diamond) The drilling targeted the area between the Birthday and William Fancy mines. Results comprised a single anomalous result of 1m@ 1.53g/t

CRA in 1987 in regional drilling also completed 2 RC holes for 120m targeting the Express and Birthday Tunnel Rees but no significant assays were reported.

 Exploration continued in 1992 and again attention returned to the Berringa shaft. By 1998 Berringa Syndicate had re-established entry via the old Kangaroo Adit.

2003 saw two large costeans   for 568 m excavated to the south of the Main lode (birthday south region) This was followed up with 8 Diamond hole s for 2,763 m  in 2006.    looking for extensions of both lode systems to the south.

 2012 GCT complete a 20-sample soil programme evaluating the Cainozoic sediments. No anomalous results found

Red rock acquired the tenant in 2022 as a transfer of ownership from CGT /Balmaine Pty Ltd who through multiple changes to both company structure and tenement status were unable to continue to explore.

Having acquired the tenement as recently as August 2022, Red Rock embarked on an extensive remodeling process resulting in a detailed 3D mines and geology model. The work has included detailing all stopes, workings shafts and geology and now provides answers the surprising lack of success from previous diamond drilling. Of key importance is the recognition of cross cutting faults displacing the reefs for upwards of 10ms of meter in an east west direction.

 New drilling is to commence before the end of 2022 with up to 1,000m of diamond drilling to be undertaken at three target sites: South Birthday, Kangaroo and Syndicate lodes.  The first phase drilling will allow the Geoscientist to determine if the model is correct, by specifically targeting pierce points in the models where hard data is lacking but thought is thought to occur based upon the science.

Although short programme, the proof of concept, will determine the next step.  IF positive, then further drilling will be required to define the depth extent of the mineralisation hundreds of meters below the current surface.  IF ambiguous results, further pinpoint drilling will be required to retest the model.

First phase drilling is anticipated for completion by early 2023 but remains dependent upon complying with many social, economic, environmental and stakeholder considerations.