Mount Gee
Under Threat by Proposed Uranium Mine...
Mount Gee, the site of the proposed uranium mine by Marathon Resources P/L, is part of the heartland of Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. The following information is provided to show you the significance of this area to all Australians.
Click here for information about the very real threat this proposal means to Arkaroola.
Mount Gee - the site of the proposed uranium mine on Arkaroola:
Where is Mount Gee?
Mount Gee and Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby
MountGee is one of South Australia’s natural geological wonders, and is part of the very heartland of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, in the spectacular northern Flinders Ranges, 660km north of Adelaide.
Winner of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 South Australian Tourism Awards for Ecotourism - Arkaroola was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007 for Ecotourism - and the 2006 and 2007 awards for Sustainable Tourism, Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary is undoubtedly South Australia’s premier ecotourism destination. This is further strengthened by Arkaroola having won the prestigous Major Tourist Attraction award in both 2005 and 2007.
Founded by Dr Reg Sprigg and his wife Griselda in 1968, Arkaroola was purchased as an under-developed pastoral property for the sole purpose of natural protection and conservation. Reg, instrumental in the founding of mining companies such as SANTOS and Geosurveys, was a very practical geologist, interested in a wide range of earth sciences and an advocate of mining in South Australia.
However, having studied and worked on Arkaroola as a student under the famous Sir Douglas Mawson, Reg recognised the natural significance and importance of Arkaroola and the Mount Gee and Mount Painter regions, the heartland of Arkaroola, and decided that this area was of too great a value to mine or otherwise exploit for its mineral wealth. His guiding principles in the purchase of this magnificent country was to allow all to come to know and admire it as he had; and these principles are continued today by his children, Marg and Doug, who currently operate the Sanctuary.
What is the Significance of Mount Gee?
Mt Gee is a unique geological feature located in the heart of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary that is the fossilised remains of an ancient hot spring system that was created around 440 million years ago.
Mount Gee from the Ridgetop Track, Arkaroola
The mountain was formed when super heated waters from deep underground, possibly kilometres below the surface, dissolved large amounts of silica and iron with small amounts of other elements such as uranium.
Unimaginably huge pressures produced an enormous hot water geyser which exploded away a large part of the ancient landscape, above which probably consisted of low rolling hills and lakes. The cooled waters and breccia (broken rock containing angular fragments of rocks or minerals) fell back into the crater and the iron silica and other minerals were precipitated. Since then the ranges have been gradually uplifted, whilst the processes of weathering and erosion continue to wear the mountains back down again. What we see today is the exposed plumbing systems that lead to that long gone hot spring.
A great many internally interconnected caverns, which are lined with magnificent sparkling quartz crystals, are contained below the surface of this mountain – it was so special to Sir Douglas Mawson that he called it the “crystal candy mountain” - in fact, many of the boulders on the surface of Mount Gee also contain large and small pockets of quartz crystals and other minerals - see the photograph on this page of a large boulder with a resting Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby nearby.
These caverns connect the surface with deep underground - when a high atmospheric pressure system passes overhead, the mountain is pressurised. When the system passes on the mountain "breathes" out. As the next high pressure system approaches, the mountain "breathes" in again.
Mount Gee – Heritage Listing:
Australiais a complex and diverse nation composed of both Indigenous and immigrant peoples from nearly 200 countries. But we all have a common heritage that makes us distinctively Australian. By knowing our heritage - our past, our places and the source of our values - we can better understand our special place in the world. The Australian Heritage Database helps you find information about particular heritage places.
To be entered in the Register as a State Heritage Place, a place must satisfy one or more of the criteria in Section 16 of the Heritage Places Act 1993. The decision to enter a State Heritage Place in the Register is made by the South Australian Heritage Council, a seven to nine member body established under the provisions of the Act. Advice to the Council is provided by the Heritage Branch, whose staff maintain the Register on the Council's behalf.
Mount Gee is such a place and is registered on the South Australian Heritage Register, which lists the full range of South Australian heritage places within one database, including World Heritage, Australian Government Listings, State Heritage Places, State Heritage Areas, local heritage places, Historic (Conservation) Zones and Historic Policy Areas.
Click here to see the Heritage Listing for Mount Gee
See what the media is saying about mining on Mount Gee - please click here
Aerial view of Mount Gee country, Arkaroola, showing the "Armchair" in the immediate foreground.
