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Mount Ridley, near Craigieburn in Victoria, is home to one of the most puzzling gold discoveries in Australian history—the Fontainbleu deposit. Situated alongside the volcanic vent of Mount Ridley, this deposit is listed as a modern alluvial placer, which implies water transported and deposited gold here within the past 12,000 years. But this classification raises more questions than answers. The area is predominantly covered in basalt from the Newer Volcanics Province, with only tiny outcrops of Silurian-age sedimentary rocks nearby. How did the gold get here, and where did it come from?

Some speculate that Mount Ridley’s last eruption occurred within the past 1 million years, meaning the gold would have been deposited after this event. However, the deposit is located on an elevated slope near the volcanic vent—an unusual location for a water-driven placer deposit. Could this gold have come from an ancient river system, such as a predecessor of Deep Creek, that existed before the lava flows covered the region? Or could it have been eroded from the volcano itself, carried by Mount Ridley’s rare nephelinite magma?

Nephelinite, a silica-poor volcanic rock, is rarely associated with gold. However, a 2003 study documented gold blebs in nephelinite glass from early Kilauea eruptions in Hawaii. In this case, the gold was carried in the magma and precipitated during cooling near the vent, driven by high concentrations of sulfur, chlorine, and other volatiles. Could a similar process explain the Fontainbleu deposit?

Alternatively, the most plausible explanation is that an ancient river once flowed through this area, depositing gold long before Mount Ridley’s eruption. If the prospector who found Fontainbleu dug deep enough, they might have intercepted this buried waterway.

With no records of how much gold was extracted or how deep the prospectors dug, Fontainbleu remains a geological enigma. Could this be a rare volcanic gold deposit, or just another buried lead hidden beneath Victoria's lava fields? Further investigation, including crushing and testing Mount Ridley’s volcanic rocks, might offer a definitive answer.

Let me know your thoughts—could this discovery have volcanic origins, or is it another case of Victoria’s gold-rich rivers being buried by lava? Either way, Fontainbleu’s story is a fascinating glimpse into the mysteries of gold in the basalt fields of Craigieburn.

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