Generalised Cross Section across Sheet North & South from Mount Newman.
To the North East is Ethel Creek Station which is located about 68 kilometres north east of Newman and 111km’s south of Nullagine. This station was established in about 1880 by Charles Smith and a new Stock Route passed through the area, running along the course of the Fortescue River, in 1895. Daisy Bates and her husband Jack acquired the station in 1902 droving cattle from near Broome over 1000km’s to Ethel Creek. They relinquished the lease in 1914 and it was taken over in the same year by William Albert Snell (1872-1942), another West Australian Outback identity. The station is now owned by BHP Billiton and is run as a working station under the stewardship of managers.
South east of Mt Newman, Stewart & Wehls Station (Sylvania) is named; and east of that; Murrmunnda Station. The Coobina Chromite mine, operated by Consolidated Minerals Pty Ltd is located on the former. First described in 1924, the location was originally referred to as Jimblebah, before being named Coobina after some gold workings in the area (these are annotated on this map). It has also been referred to as Murramunda after a homestead approximately 10 kms to the east (Simpson, 1948). The deposit was mined sporadically in a series of small open pits over the following decades, and is currently being mined for metallurgical grade chromite. The majority of pits are less than 70 metres deep.
The area was surveyed by geologist W H B Talbot in 1913. He travelled through the area north of Peak Hill as part of a larger survey that commenced in 1910. The survey was mostly interested in gold and copper, and made no mention of the iron ore  deposits, these deposits being found in the 1960’s.
Main routes are shown alongside existing tracks.
Topography compiled from data supplied by the Surveyor General with additions by H W B Talbot, Field Geologist. It is to be noted: The areas embraced by the 4-mile series of Geological maps are identical with those of the corresponding numbers of the 300 Chain Series of the Department of Lands and Surveys.
