Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 25 - A-AUS.pdf/856

800 {|
 * State.
 * Weight.
 * Oz.
 * Value of Gold.
 * New South Wales||496,196||£1,751,815
 * Victoria||854,500||3,418,000
 * Queensland||946,894||2,838,119
 * South Australia||23,123||79,041
 * West Australia.||1,643,877||6,246,733
 * }
 * Queensland||946,894||2,838,119
 * South Australia||23,123||79,041
 * West Australia.||1,643,877||6,246,733
 * }
 * West Australia.||1,643,877||6,246,733
 * }

The following shows the number of miners at work :—

The greatest development of quartz reefing is found in Victoria, some of the mines being a great depth. There are seven mines in the Bendigo district over 3000 feet deep, and fourteen over 2500 feet deep. In Lansell’s 180 Mine a depth of 3352 feet has been reached, and in Lazarus Mine 3424 feet. In the Ballarat district a depth of 2520 feet has been reached in the South Star Mine.

Silver has been discovered in all the states, either alone or in the form of sulphides, antimonial and arsenical ores, chloride, bromide, iodide, and chloro-bromide of silver, and argentiferous lead ores, the largest deposits of the metal being found in the last-mentioned form. The leading silver mines are in New South Wales, the returns from the other states being comparatively insignificant. The fields of New South Wales have proved to be of immense value, the yield of silver during 1899 being £2,070,400, and the total output to the end of the year named £28,000,000’. The Broken Hill field, which was discovered in 1883, extends over 2500 square miles of country, and has developed into one of the principal mining centres of the world. It is situated beyond the river Darling, and close to the boundary between New South Wales and South Australia. The lodes occur in Silurian metamorphic micaceous schists, intruded by granite, porphyry, and diorite, and traversed by numerous quartz reefs, some of which are gold-bearing. The Broken Hill lode is the largest yet discovered It varies in width from 10_ feet to 200 feet, and may be traced for several miles. Although indications of silver abound in all the other states, no fields of great importance have yet been discovered. Up to the end of 1899 Australia has produced silver to the value of £29,559,000, of which nearly £28,000,000 was obtained from the fields of New South Wales.

Copper is known to exist in all the states, and has been mined extensively in South Australia, and on a much smaller scale in New South Wales and Queensland. The low quotations which have ruled for a number of years have had a depressing effect upon the industry, and many mines once profitably worked have now been closed. The discovery of copper had a marked effect on the fortunes of South Australia at a time when the young colony was surrounded by difficulties. The first important mine, the Kapunda was opened up in 1842. It is estimated that at one time 2000 tons were produced annually, but the mine was closed in 1879. 1845 the celebrated Burra Burra Mine was discovered. This mine proved to be very rich, and paid £800,000 in dividends to the original owners. For a number of years, however, the mine has been suffered to remain untouched, as the deposits originally worked were found to be depleted. For many years the average output was from 10,000 to 13,000 tons of ore, yielding from 22 to 23 per cent, of copper. For the period of thirty years during which the mine as worked the production of ore amounted to 234,648 tons, equal to 51,622 tons of copper, valued at £4,749,924. The Wallaroo and Moonta mines, discovered in 1860 and 1861 proved to be even more valuable than the Burra Burra, Moonta mines employing upwards of 1600 hands. The dividends paid by these mines amounted to about £1,750,000 sterling. The satisfactory price obtained during recent years has enabled renewed attention to be paid to copper mining in South Australia, and the production of the metal in 1899 was valued at £406,000. The copper mining industry in New South Wales reached Rs highest point in 1883, when the production was valued at £472,982. The principal deposits of copper are found in the central part of the state between the Macquarie, Darling, and Bogan rivers. Deposits have also been found in the New England and Southern districts, as well as at Broken Hill showing that the mineral is widely distributed throughout the state The more important mines are those of Cobar, where the Great Cobar Mine produced, in 1899, 3794 tons of refined copper, valued at £265,580. In Northern Queensland copper is found throughout the Cloncurry district, in the upper basin of the Star river and the Herberton district. The returns from the copper fields in the state are at present small, owing to the lack of suitable fuel for smelting purposes, which renders the economic treatment of the ore difficult; the development of the mines is also greatly retarded by the want of easy and cheaper communication with the coast. In West Australia copper deposits have been worked for some years. Very rich lodes of the metal have been found in the Northampton, Murchison, and Champion Bay districts, and also in the country to the south of these districts on the Irwin river. As in the other copper-producing states, there has been a revival of the industry in West Australia, the production in 1899 being valued at £36,000. The total value of copper produced in Australia up to the end of 1899 was £29,402,000 sterling, £21,936,000 having been obtained in South Australia, £5,019,000 in New South Wales, and over £2,032,000 in Queensland.

Tin was known to exist in Australia from the first years of colonization. The wealth of Queensland and the Northern Territory of South Australia in this mineral, according to the reports of Dr Jack, late Government geologist of the former state, and the late Key. J. E. Tenison-Woods, appears to be very great. The most important tin mines in Queensland are in the Herberton district, south-west of Cairns; at Cooktown, on the Annan and Bloomfield rivers; and at Stanthorpe, on the border of New South Wales. Herberton and Stanthorpe have produced more than three-fourths of the total production of the state. During the past few years the production has greatly decreased in consequence of the low price of the metal, but in 1899 a stimulus was given to the industry, and the production was valued at £77,000. In New South Wales lode tin occurs principally in the granite and stream tin under the basaltic country in the extreme north of the state, at Tenterfield, Emmaville, Tingha, and in other districts of New England. The metal has also been discovered in the Barrier Ranges, and many other places. The value of the output in 1899 was set down at £90,000. The yield of tin in Victoria is very small, and until lately no fields of importance have been discovered; but towards the latter end of 1890 extensive deposits were reported to exist in the Gippsland district—at Omeo and Tarwin. In South Australia tin mining is unimportant. In West Australia the production from the tin fields at Greenbushes was valued in 1899 at £25,000. The value of tin produced in Austialia is about £100,000 per annum, and the total production to the end of 1899 was valued at £11,743,000, of which £6,383,000 was obtained in New South Wales and £4,526,000 in Queensland.

Iron is distributed throughout Australia, but for want of capital for developing the fields this industry has not progressed. In New South Wales there are, together with coal and limestone m unlimited supply, important deposits of rich iron ores suitable for smelting purposes; and for the manufacture of steel of certain descriptions abundance of manganese, chrome, and tungsten ores are available. The most extensive fields are in the Mittagoim Wallerawang, and Rylstone districts, which are roughly estimated to contain in the aggregate 12,944,000 tons of ore, containing 5,853,000 tons of metallic iron. Magnetite, or magnetic iron, the richest of all iron ores, is found in abundance near Wallerawang in New South Wales. The proximity of coal-beds now being worked should accelerate the development of the iron deposits, which, on an average, contain 41 per cent, of metal. Magnetite occurs in great abundance in West Australia, together with haematite, which would be of enormous value if cheap labour were available. Goethite, limonite, and haematite are found in New South Wales, at the junction of the Hawkesbury sandstone formation and the Wianamatta shale, near Nattai, and are enhanced in their value proximity to coal-beds. Near Lithgow extensive deposits of limonite, or clay-band ore, are interbedded with coal. Some samples of ore, coal, and limestone, obtained in the Mittagong district, with pig-iron and castings manufactured therefrom, were exhibited at the Mining Exhibition in London and obtained a first award.

Antimony is widely diffused throughout Australia, and is sometimes found associated with gold. In New South Wales the principal centre of this industry is Hillgrove, near Armidale where the Eleanora Mine, one of the richest in the state, is situated. The ore is also worked for gold. In Victoria the production of antimony gave employment in 1890 to 238 miners, but, owing to the low price of the metal, production has almost ceased. In Queensland the fields were all showing development in 1891, when the output exhibited a very large increase compared with that of former years ; but, as in the case of Victoria, the production of the metal seems to have ceased. Good lodes of stibnite (sulphide of antimony) have been found near Roebourne, m West Australia, but no attempt has yet been made to work them.

Bismuth is known, to exist in all the Australian states, but up to the present time it has been mined for only in three states, viz., New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia. It is usually found in association with tin and other minerals. The Pnncipal mine in New South Wales is situated at Kings°ate, in the New England district, where the mineral is generally associated with molybdenum and gold.

Manganese probably exists in all the states, deposits having