The Paladora deposit is located 48 kilometres west of Edgewood near the headwaters of Fire Valley Creek. The Ballarat occurrence (MINFILE 082LSE024), the extension of the Paladora, is located approximately 350 metres to the south east.
The area is underlain by granite and granodiorite of the Jurassic Nelson Intrusions. Quartzite and basalt of the Devonian to Triassic Harper Ranch Group is occasionally present.
Four parallel quartz veins have been traced for greater than 3.2 kilometres. The veins average 90 centimetres in width with local swells up to 180 centimetres wide. The veins carry pyrite, small amounts of native gold, galena and sphalerite in a granitic host rock. The veins strike 082 degrees and dip 70 degrees north. Several opencuts and three shafts occur along 400 metres of outcrop exposing a quartz vein in granite. The vein has been faulted up the hill between the No. 2 and No. 4 shafts. By 1927, the shafts were already dilapidated and access was limited.
A sample of sorted ore from the Meadowview shaft assayed 52.8 grams per tonne gold and 274 grams per tonne silver (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1927, page 232). A sample from a 2- metre wide vein in an opencut 21 metres east of this shaft assayed 4.8 grams per tonne gold and 34.28 grams per tonne silver (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1927, page 232). A 1.8- metre wide sample from the third shaft on the Paladora assayed 11 grams per tonne gold and 54.8 grams per tonne silver (Minister of Mines Annual Report 1927, page 232).
In 2006, 11 grab samples of tailings assayed from 4.35 to 134.34 grams per tonne gold and 0.1 to 332.5 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 28613). In 2012, sampling of a quartz vein near a former adit assayed 41.8 grams per tonne gold and 174.0 grams per tonne silver (Assessment Report 33478). The following year rock samples yielded up to 0.549 per cent lead and 0.126 per cent zinc with greater than 100 grams per tonne gold and silver (Sample 2161460; Assessment Report 34182).
Surface work and shafts are first reported on the claims in 1899. In 1900, 2 veins were stripped and 4 shafts, 6 to 8 metres deep, had been sunk. "Several hundred tons of ore" were treated, containing $15 to $30 in gold and "several ounces" silver per ton. The claims were worked in 1902 and 1903. The Paladora (Lot 2153) and Meadowview (Lot 2152) claims were Crown granted in 1905. In 1916, assays of "$30 gold per ton" were reported. Numerous opencuts, a shaft 8.5 metres deep, an opencut on the Meadowview close to the boundary line and three shafts, 6.1, 1.2 and 4.5 metres, respectively, were reported on the Paladora. A crosscut tunnel was driven 15 metres below the upper working for 12 metres without hitting the vein.
Production for 1935 to 1938 totalled 99 tonnes yielding 10 ,295 grams of silver and 2022 grams of gold.
In 1983, Tylox Resources completed a program of prospecting and geochemical sampling on the area as the Au 1-2 claims. In 1985, prospecting was conducted on the area as the Golden Marten 1-2 claims. An unsuccessful attempt was made to locate the old workings. In 2006, the area was prospected as the Ballarat property. Four shafts, two of which were still accessible to a depth of 9 metres, were identified at this time. In 2012 and 2013, the area was prospected and sampled as the Kannika claims.
