Paynes Find District
The Paynes Find District Project comprises a portfolio of five Exploration Licence applications in the Yalgoo Mineral Field, covering approximately 298 km² across 99 graticular blocks. The applications surround the historic Paynes Find Goldfield, a gold-producing district worked since 1911 when gold was first discovered by Thomas Payne. The Paynes Find State Battery, established in 1911, remains the only working state battery in Western Australia.
The applications were lodged in two stages: a foundation group of three applications (E59/3075, E59/3076, E59/3077, 36 blocks) and a subsequent expansion group of two larger applications
(E59/3078, E59/3079, 63 blocks). The combined ground sits along the Great Northern Highway corridor between Perth and Mount Magnet, providing direct sealed-road access.
Project Status
Four of the five Exploration Licences (E59/3076, E59/3077, E59/3078 and E59/3079) were granted on 5 June 2026. The remaining application, E59/3075, is pending determination. Any future field activity is subject to grant of tenement, statutory consents (including native title and heritage processes), and access arrangements with landholders.
Geological Setting (high-level)
The application areas lie within the southern Yalgoo–Singleton Greenstone Belt (YSGB), part of the Murchison Domain of the Youanmi Terrane, Yilgarn Craton. The YSGB is a ~120 km, north–south trending Neoarchean supracrustal belt that hosts orogenic gold occurrences along its length, including the historic Paynes Find Goldfield and the larger Mt Gibson gold workings at its southern extremity.
Historical Geological Survey of Western Australia mapping describes the Paynes Find district as a small greenstone and gneissic belt surrounded by granite, with the local stratigraphy comprising epidiorite, hornblende schist, serpentine, and foliated quartz porphyries; gold-bearing quartz veins are recorded principally in the epidiorites and hornblende schists. The setting is considered prospective for shear-hosted orogenic gold mineralisation typical of Archean greenstone belts within the Yilgarn Craton.
Information presented here is based on publicly available Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) datasets, WAMEX open-file reports, and historical Government Geologist reports (Woodward 1911; de C Clark 1920).
Snapshots
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Project Name | Paynes Find District Project |
| Mineral Field | Yalgoo, Western Australia |
| Commodity | Gold |
| Target Style | Shear-hosted orogenic gold (Yilgarn greenstone) |
| Status | EL applications lodged, pending grant |
| EL Applications | E59/3075, E59/3076, E59/3077, E59/3078, E59/3079 (5 applications) |
| Combined Area | Approximately 298 km² across 99 graticular blocks |
| Locality | Paynes Find district, surrounding the historic Paynes Find Goldfield, Mid-West Western Australia |
| Access | Sealed road via the Great Northern Highway, approximately 420 km north-east of Perth |