We are the largest miner of Mookaite in Australia
Mooka Springs is now part of the Kennedy Ranges National Park .
Tom Kapitany and Johan Pas were very fortunate to be the last miners to obtain a mining license in the area situated on Mooka Station which is now controlled by the Dept of Conservation and Environment . The area can be accessed by crossing the Gascoyne River (which can be quite a challenge ) with four or 6 wheel drive vehicles only.
Two existing mining licenses exist in the area as well.
These two leases are confined to the river bed where the Mookaite is exposed and easily mined. The last twenty years of mining have depleted the reserves of high quality, multicolored Mookaite. though brightly colored mookaite can be seen strewn throughout the river bed from these mining activities .
The name Mooka is said to be an aboriginal word meaning “ running waters”, discussions with Maureen Dodd, who is the matriarch of the Gnulli Gnulli peoples whom are the traditional owners of the area, said she was not aware of the origin of the name. The area is surrounded by a number of sacred sites and water holes, with Mookaite being used as an important stone for the manufacture of stone tool implements .
Bags of Mookaite ready for transport 
Crossing the Gascoyne River. 
Kevin Laurie phoning home to Hong Kong 
Thomas Kapitany 
Mookaite is made up of billions of fossilized silicate skeletons of marine organisms called Radiolarians , They are found as zooplankton throughout the ocean, and their skeletal remains cover large portions of the ocean bottom as radiolarian ooze This ooze has been heated (metamorphosed )over the millenia of time and the porcelanized mud formed the Mookaite . The colors were added by the manganese and iron minerals weathering from the Kennedy Ranges into Mooka Spring and staining the mookaite .Geologically Mookaite is described as an opaline to chalcedonic mineral.
The geological unit is called the Windalia Radiolarite which is Cretaceous (Albian) It contains the fossilized remains of the benthic foraminiferal Aaptotoichus pitmani Zones and the dinoflagellate M. tetracantha and Diconodinium davidii Zones.
In these zones we also find Belemnites Neohibilites sp. and poorly preserved ammonite casts (undescribed).
Fragmentary Ichthyosaur and coprolite specimens , mainly vertebrae , Araucaria wood (Peanut wood ) and fragmentary vegetative material is found the overlying sediment silicate calcrete .
Unusual Oncolite and stromatolitic appearance like structures are also found in the area .