Sunday, Dec 07, 2014 at 12:31
March 1970 was just after the Poseidon Nickel shares bubble burst - but the exploration search for nickel was still ramping up.
The Goldfields was chock-a-block full of exploration teams, peggers, geo's, gridline cutters, bulldozing contractors (some peggers just used their Landrovers and axes to bulldoze in gridlines, the bigger operators used dozers) - and drilling rigs.
The nickel exploration and nickel mine development boom ran
well into the late-1970's, but 1970-72 was the period when nickel exploration went completely berserk.
There wasn't a piece of the Goldfields that wasn't pegged in that period.
With the laws relating to pegging an exploration lease in that era (under the old W.A. Mining Act), one could tie up large areas with an exploration permit very cheaply - and every man and his dog did so.
Then the lease-holders set to to
grid the block they pegged. It was reasonably cheap to do this, and it fulfilled the expenditure requirements and made
the block attractive to, and set up for, immediate drilling (when you could get a rig!).
So the answer to the question is - it could have been any one of a hundred possible nickel search operatives.
Perhaps a hint might be it was someone who was
well-prepared with a hammer and chisel, and who had pretty good dexterity skills to do the engraving so neatly.
I'd suggest a
drill rig mechanic, or someone of a similar trade, with a good comprehensive toolkit.
You couldn't do that engraving neatly with just a geo's
rock-chipping hammer, it's been done with a hammer and chisel.
So we're looking for the local hammer-and-chisel merchant who calls himself a mechanic. O.K., own up - who fits the bill? [;-)
Cheers, Ron.
AnswerID:
542673
Follow Up By: equinox - Sunday, Dec 07, 2014 at 22:34
Sunday, Dec 07, 2014 at 22:34
That's a great summary and hypothesis Ron, thanks.
Hopefully someone may know, you never know.
FollowupID:
829186
Follow Up By: The Bantam - Monday, Dec 08, 2014 at 10:22
Monday, Dec 08, 2014 at 10:22
So it may in fact be a claim marker, not just a bit of mindless grafiti.
cheers
FollowupID:
829195
Follow Up By: Ron N - Monday, Dec 08, 2014 at 10:49
Monday, Dec 08, 2014 at 10:49
No, it can't be a claim or tenement marker. Both the old W.A. Mining Act and the current W.A. Mining Act stipulate precisely the method to be utilised for claim or tenement pegging or marking.
Under the old Act (current in 1970), the method was either a clearly-defined peg at each corner of the tenement - or if it wasn't possible to drive in pegs, clearly-identifiable lines of stones, laid at 90 degrees in a short approximate line of the boundary at each corner, were sufficient.
A copy of the claim paperwork had to be posted at one corner as
well, preferably protected from weather.
The current Act still utilises that old and tried method - but an additional method used for boundary marking today, is the graticular marking technique, where graticules are used to define the boundaries of a tenement.
So, IMHO, the engraving is simply someones initials and the date, as is common with most graffiti markings, when someone feels they need to leave a mark that they have reached a remote point, and they need to leave a record of their visit.
Cheers, Ron
FollowupID:
829197