1851
Gold discovered by women washing clothes in Bendigo Creek.
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Bendigo vs Beauce
SADDLE REEF COMPARISON
The Bendigo region of Australia, which has so far produced 22 million ounces of gold, holds astonishing historical similarities to the Beauce
A Shared Geologic Story
Bendigo, Australia
Beauce, Quebec, Canada
1
Placer gold was found unexpectedly
1847
Gold discovered by Clothilde Gilbert as she walked her horse across the Gilbert Creek.
2
News led to a placer gold rush
1850s – Rapid expansion of alluvial mining with of thousands of miners working
Section of a Gold Mine At the Bendigo Diggings
3
As surface alluvial gold ran scarce, miners dug deep shafts and tunnels to get to richer placer gold deposits
1869
The Welcome Stranger Nugget weighs over 2,520 troy ounces.
4
Both regions produced some of the largest gold nuggets
1866
The McDonald Nugget weighs 45 ounces.
Early 1900s
Underground placer and lode gold (Saddle Reefs) mines
5
By the early 1910s, gold production petered out
Early 1900s
Placer gold mines
1850s
Bendigo Saddle Reefs proved to be incredibly rich in gold and were mined extensively from the 1850s onward
6
The Saddle Reefs – are quartz structures that formed in the anticlines of the folded bedrock. Believed to be the source of the gold placers
2021
In 2021, Beauce Gold Fields discovered the Saddle Reef formations
Fosterville Gold Mine, Bendigo
The Fosterville mine is a high-grade, low-cost underground gold mine.
7
Beauce Gold Fields
The drill program discovered a high-grade gold anticline structure of a Saddle Reef outcrop.
Bendigo, Australia
Beauce, Quebec
1
1851
Gold discovered by women washing clothes in Bendigo Creek.
1
1847
Gold discovered by Clothilde Gilbert as she walked her horse across the Gilbert Creek.
Swipe
2
1850s
Rapid expansion of alluvial mining with thousands of miners working.
2
1850s
Alluvial gold rush expands across the Beauce countryside.
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3
1850s–1900s
Miners dig deep shafts and tunnels to reach richer placer gold deposits.
3
1850s–1900s
Deep shafts and tunnels uncover richer placer gold beneath glacial till.
Swipe
4
1869
The Welcome Stranger Nugget weighs over 2,520 troy ounces.
4
1866
The McDonald Nugget weighs 45 ounces.
Swipe
5
Early 1900s
Underground placer and lode gold (Saddle Reefs) mines
5
Early 1900s
Placer gold mines
Swipe
6
1850s
Bendigo Saddle Reefs proved to be incredibly rich in gold and were mined extensively from the 1850s onward
6
2021
In 2021, Beauce Gold Fields discovered the Saddle Reef formations
Swipe
7
Fosterville Gold Mine, Bendigo
The Fosterville mine is a high-grade, low-cost underground gold mine.
7
Beauce Gold Fields
The drill program discovered a high-grade gold anticline structure of a Saddle Reef outcrop.
Swipe
What is a Saddle Reef?
A saddle reef is a curved quartz body that forms around the hinge of a folded rock structure. Gold-bearing fluids can move through fractures in the fold, depositing quartz and gold along the fold hinge, limbs, nearby faults, and stockwork veins. At Bendigo, repeated saddle reefs formed a major gold system. At Beauce, drilling is testing whether the Grondin–Giroux antiform represents a similar structural setting and a possible bedrock source of the historic placer gold.
Beauce combines two related gold opportunities: an established paleoplacer exploration target and an emerging gold-bearing Saddle-Reef system.
Bendigo demonstrated the scale that repeated saddle reefs can achieve.