1889 is the earliest record of gold at Mt Bute. The area was rich in alluvial gold, soon after hard rock mineralization was discovered.

Four Reefs have been recorded in the project area, The Linton, Yankee, Eagle and Lucky Woman Reefs. Reports are rare in this area and production figures for these early attempts at mine have been lost.
In the 1940’s after a period of closure, the Corbett’s Freehold Mine reopened and was renamed the Linton Gold Mine. The miners reached a depth of about 60m, intersecting the Linton reef on three separate levels. The mine was short lived, but over its life produced 4142oz.

Gold wasn’t the only commodity mined near Mt Bute, in 1869 Tungsten, Bismuth and Copper were reported in veined outcrops.
Most notably Bass and Watson mined Wolfram, Bismuth, Copper and Gold in 1917 at two claims named The Superb Copper Syndicate and the Bass and Watson Mine.

Figure 1. Linton Gold Mine 1940.

The Mt Bute Granite is a Devonian aged I type Granite, intruding into the Cambrian aged meta sediments of the Beaufort and Pyrenees Formations. Mt Bute is part of a much larger intrusive complex collectively known as the Chepstowe Granite. Close to the eastern margin of the granite is the Avoca fault, this large reverse fault bounds the older Stawell Zone from the younger Bendigo Zone.

Here, mineralization has been classed as intrusion related and is hosted in the hornfelse contact aureole between the Granite and surrounding sediments. Reefs are often seen as NNE trending quartz veining, stockwork veining or an array of thin veining. NEE striking reefs (Linton, Yankee, Eagle) are thought to have existed before intrusion and were reactivated by the influence of Mt Bute.  Mineralized structures have been dated to 340 Ma and are often associated with Tungsten, Bismuth, Tellurium and Molybdenum, as well as Gold.
As a result, not only is gold found in major reefs, but it is also found in vein altered wall rock.

Figure 1. Hypothetical IRGS cross section showing the relationship between a plutonic intrusion and surrounding country rock. As described by Hart, C.J.R Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold Systems.