WAUKARINGA GOLD MINES

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:55]Good evening, YouTube and to all our followers out there. Eb here with you again, as always. We're in the desert and I hope you're ready for a true Australian Outback adventure. I don't think many of our viewers have ever seen a shoot at a location like this, so I hope you all absolutely love it. We certainly had a great time exploring the site. Today, we explore the gold mines and mills of Waukaringa, SA, mined for its gold and a very interesting sandstone host for just over 1.2 tons of gold recovered. In today's episode, we explore the Sebastopol edit and mill and wait until the very end of the video for what we have in store for next fortnight's series final episode. We hope you enjoy tonight's adventure.

[00:01:33]All right, we are well and truly out in the desert now, guys.

[00:01:36]I don't even know the name of this town, Olary, I think.

[00:01:39]We are on our way to a ghost town right out in the desert.

[00:01:44]It was a former mining town, about an hour and a half away, should be pretty cool.

[00:01:48]Some of our mountain goats.

[00:01:52]Some of our highway goats.

[00:01:54]Oop.

[00:01:56]One of us got hit.

[00:01:58]Don't know if they're friendly or not.

[00:02:02]Hey buddy.

[00:02:09]Nope.

[00:02:28]Oh, this place feels like it's going to be infested with snakes.

[00:02:32]I just want to get a quick shot of that fireplace.

[00:03:44]Well guys, we are very remote.

[00:04:00]Looks like the floor would have been here.

[00:04:05]And then every room had maybe basement, maybe for cold storage cuz of the heat of the desert.

[00:04:10]It's about 38° here. Whoa.

[00:04:18]Think this is the old miners barracks, guys.

[00:04:23]Look at the chimney stack up there.

[00:04:26]We'll be going there this afternoon.

[00:04:31]Wow.

[00:04:38]Old fireplace there.

[00:04:58]All right.

[00:05:01]Oh, that desert heat stings your eyes.

[00:05:12]Mill?

[00:05:13]Huh? Just the mill? I think so. Smelter.

[00:05:16]Smelter and then workings? Yeah, and then up.

[00:05:22]There's a caravan I thought there was a tool shop at the mill.

[00:05:25]Oh, there's a caravan down here with spray paint, "Please help me." Okay.

[00:05:29]Yep.

[00:05:32]Uh it's quite remote.

[00:05:34]Stand up.

[00:05:36]There ain't much traces of humanity out here, is there?

[00:05:38]Nope.

[00:05:40]Not even animal life.

[00:05:44]This is maybe someone slightly more modern accommodation.

[00:05:48]Obviously, the barracks are down there.

[00:05:52]Or maybe not. It's all brick.

[00:05:55]Old stove.

[00:06:03]Oh, [ __ ] I thought that was you playing a playing a prank.

[00:06:24]Someone in there? Where? In the hopper or whatever it is.

[00:06:30]Oh, there is a little thing in there.

[00:06:31]You go in. I wouldn't go. Hey? I don't want to go in. No, cuz it'll be a kangaroo. You can just go around the corner.

[00:06:38]Kangaroo!

[00:06:42]Pretty weird.

[00:06:54]You try to find the mine?

[00:06:56]Yeah.

[00:07:01]Oh, is it?

[00:07:06]And see, probably another building here, guys. This is like building number one.

[00:07:09]That's all that's left after all the desert has taken its toll.

[00:07:12]When was this founded? That's asbestos for you.

[00:07:16]Oh, that actually is. No, that that is asbestos.

[00:07:19]Uh your shoelaces are undone. Yeah, both undone.

[00:07:26]What's with the flue from the Smelter.

[00:07:29]Smelter, yeah, but what's with the flue?

[00:07:30]Um I've no idea. Is that what they ran the Maybe they had to draw more oxygen through it or something to heat it. I don't know.

[00:07:37]Yeah, I think I did read something about that.

[00:07:40]When was this founded? Um, for grace almost.

[00:07:48]This is obviously all the milling operation, guys.

[00:07:58]A kangaroo just scared the [ __ ] out of me.

[00:08:00]This is probably a processing vat, leaching vat.

[00:08:05]You can tell by the big concrete walls.

[00:08:20]Wow.

[00:08:22]What a view.

[00:08:24]Where's the shaft?

[00:08:29]Woah.

[00:08:44]Hey. It goes down a long way. Does it?

[00:08:49]One of their draw points for the mill.

[00:08:51]All right.

[00:08:59]Some kangaroos up on the hill, guys.

[00:09:00]I've got no idea whether you're going to be able to hear me or not. I've got noise cancellation on absolute maximum.

[00:09:09]There's a shaft just down in there that goes down a couple of feet.

[00:09:20]Another vat leach tank.

[00:09:22]All the plumbing still on it.

[00:09:33]And this looks like a slag dump.

[00:09:38]Well, parts of it do.

[00:09:45]Actually not slag.

[00:09:48]This is tailings from a mill. You can see because it's all that kitty litter size.

[00:09:52]Now they're working over there.

[00:09:54]We are very curious as to what's up there.

[00:10:09]Rock test.

[00:10:16]Stopped.

[00:10:21]There's a big kangaroo guarding the chimney.

[00:10:31]I'd be careful getting directly underneath it, John, cuz all these look like they're from it.

[00:10:36]See how loose the ones at the top are?

[00:10:39]Especially in this wind.

[00:10:42]I'm going to go around it.

[00:11:11]Woo.

[00:11:17]There's bad air, but I doubt it.

[00:11:19]Well, we've got like three gas meters.

[00:11:22]You got a monitor? I gave you one.

[00:11:25]Oh, I don't have All right.

[00:11:29]Well, you can't piss in the windy, you know that.

[00:11:39]Oh, it just got about 5° cooler.

[00:11:41]>> It's cool in here. Yeah, yeah.

[00:11:44]All right, so we got a couple branches we can go down straight deep line and one goes straight ahead.

[00:11:49]And nice and cool in here, so Look.

[00:11:55]Look at that vein.

[00:11:56]I'll go this way towards the smelter. I think it's a big long tunnel. Yeah.

[00:12:00]Let's wait for the others cuz I've got the air monitor.

[00:12:03]Take the easy one first. I don't know, whatever. That looks like it faces.

[00:12:09]Wow.

[00:12:11]Wow, wow, wow.

[00:12:12]I'd say the one going towards the smelter cuz they had a uh uh a long one, right? All right, lead the way, mate.

[00:12:19]After you. I've got the gas monitor. Do you want me to go first?

[00:12:22]You been in here, BC?

[00:12:24]I can't remember. It's so long ago.

[00:12:28]One that went into I think might have been one of the Yeah, all of this doesn't work.

[00:12:31]>> What's that?

[00:12:35]I can't remember.

[00:12:41]Decent looking veins, John.

[00:12:42]Look at that. I didn't bring my yard. I don't think I got it. Yeah, it would have been high grade in the bottom of it. Yeah.

[00:12:48]I didn't bring my UV torch, either.

[00:12:50]Did or did not?

[00:12:53]Oh, it's just gotten out about another 5° cooler. Oh my god, that's nice.

[00:12:58]Not quite as hot as What? Look at that.

[00:13:09]Yeah.

[00:13:10]Few crystals, cousin crystals starting out. Yeah.

[00:13:14]What is that? Baryte in the one of those?

[00:13:16]Gold. Gold. Gold?

[00:13:19]Really?

[00:13:22]I don't really bug you for Yeah.

[00:13:24]Yeah, look.

[00:13:28]I thought I could feel Imagination is what I feel in here.

[00:13:30]Yeah, me too.

[00:13:32]Holy crap, why did they stop mining this?

[00:13:42]Oh, they've hit like a big pocket of gossan John. Look at that, that red earth.

[00:13:45]Yeah. Maybe that maybe that's like that's it like a change of grade here maybe, do you think? Yeah, I think they stopped getting it. Yeah.

[00:13:53]Well, they've got drills. Yeah.

[00:13:58]No date. Do not disturb that.

[00:14:00]You know even out the hole.

[00:14:04]Yeah, that's not real big.

[00:14:06]Most of the volume, is it? No, no, no, definitely not. All right, it's probably cheap wire and I guess it's going to come down.

[00:14:16]Oh, I could hang out in here all day. It is very nice. I hope you got a car to be able to come. Hey.

[00:14:22]I could camp.

[00:14:25]Yeah, I I almost got molested by a kangaroo. Did you not see that?

[00:14:29]One was sitting in the little tin shack and I walked through his little house.

[00:14:33]I think we're going down.

[00:14:37]Quite possibly.

[00:14:43]Holy smokes.

[00:14:45]That is the vein, guys. That's like 6 ft high.

[00:14:48]Probably about 2.2 m high.

[00:14:52]They've obviously knocked this out of it.

[00:14:56]On the strike and down at the dip.

[00:15:00]Looks like originally had rail ties in here.

[00:15:02]Possibly.

[00:15:09]Hey John.

[00:15:16]Looks like a nipple. This thing got holes like that. Do you know what they are? For candles or something?

[00:15:20]No, no, it's just the bottom of the bottle, but It was a pressurized bottle, I think.

[00:15:24]Oh, just one Just like that sitting on the side here.

[00:15:27]I saw other ones so Does this one face as well? Mhm. Yeah. Oh, it's pure.

[00:15:40]It's almost like native gold speckles in it.

[00:15:42]Yeah.

[00:15:44]You going to taste it?

[00:15:48]Oh, you're not Frank? Yep.

[00:15:49]Go. Look at the pyrite.

[00:15:53]Have a look on the surface.

[00:15:54]Yeah, it looks like gold. [ __ ] Oh.

[00:15:58]Oh, you have to come and do a bit of mining John.

[00:16:02]Oh, that's Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [ __ ] Look at it out in the sun. Oh, that basically is the sun, I guess.

[00:16:09]All right, am I getting in your way?

[00:16:10]>> it smelted as well.

[00:16:17]Yeah, I'm going to the end.

[00:16:21]Oh.

[00:16:30]There has been hardly any water in here.

[00:16:33]All right, we'll get out of your way, buddy.

[00:16:35]Holy [ __ ] John.

[00:16:38]That's pretty gold for sure.

[00:16:44]Yeah, I use this one.

[00:16:48]Yeah, give me a bit.

[00:16:55]Yeah.

[00:16:57]Maybe this Maybe it's It looks like gold, though.

[00:17:00]It's really chalky, though.

[00:17:02]No doubt that's where they get their gold from.

[00:17:05]Where did John get his from? Up in that pocket?

[00:17:09]He's been concealing it in his body.

[00:17:11]Hey, John.

[00:17:14]Have a look at this bit.

[00:17:17]I'll shine this other one.

[00:17:20]Maybe it's like decomposing it.

[00:17:45]Bad air. Ah, I don't know what I heard about that.

[00:17:48]>> Bad air was somebody was deported in there. Ah, it smell like piss.

[00:17:53]Is it pissy mine?

[00:17:55]Thank you so much for watching, guys.

[00:17:56]And as a teaser, here's what we have in store next QAM episode for the final of this 10-part summer exploration series.

[00:18:03]A great collaboration between Queensland Abandoned Mines and Exploring Abandoned Mines from Canada. We'll see you guys next fortnight.

[00:18:13]Yeah. So, this is the last part we walked.