Misplaced Pages

#662337

136-486: Bowen Consolidated Colliery is a heritage-listed former mine at Station Street and Second Avenue, Scottville , Whitsunday Region , Queensland , Australia. It was established in 1919. It is also known as No. 1 Underground Mine and Bowen Consolidated Coal Company Colliery. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 December 2009. The Bowen Consolidated Colliery (established in 1919)

272-487: A cyanide treatment plant and assay office . On Sunday 10 August 1884, the new Charters Towers District Hospital opened. During 1888–89, the Charters Towers Stock Exchange and Royal Arcade were constructed at the northern end of Gill Street for local businessman and civic leader Alexander Malcolm. By 1917, gold mining became uneconomical. During World War I, labour was hard to find, and as

408-745: A daily news service that originates and aggregates content from and relevant to the Charters Towers community, which is delivered through a Facebook page and free daily newsletter. Because it has a lower than national proportion of households with reliable internet access, the Charters Towers E-Village installed a free public wireless internet service in the main street of the town, in conjunction with local businesses. Since its inception in 2011, it has grown to receive about 1,500 visits each day. The E-village derives its income from related web services, with any profits being returned to

544-440: A depth of 109 metres (358 ft). They were secured with a masonry collar and mounted with heavy headframe timbers set on the surface. A dam extending 53 metres (174 ft) was constructed for the mine water supply. A gantry and a permanent staging for landing skips were completed. By the end of 1921 a boiler, steam winch and saw bench with steam engine, buildings and explosives magazine were constructed. The rail line connecting

680-439: A few kilometres away) were "thriving centres of population". Through the 1930s and 1940s the mine continued to be productive and by 1943 the entire output from the mine was being supplied to the railways. In 1946 two additional Babcock & Wilcox boilers were installed with a shed erected over them. The 1947 Bowen Harbour Board Annual Report noted that an "electric generating set" was installed during that year; this may have been

816-419: A height of about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in), with corrugated iron cladding above this. Three corrugated iron, sliding doors, the largest in the centre, provide access through the front of the shed. There is a large square window opening above the central door and windows to the left of it, shaded by a flat metal hood. A series of steel-framed windows along the sides are each divided into 12 panels. Adjacent to

952-636: A hopper and a shaking screen or trommel which frees the desired minerals from the waste gravel. The minerals are then concentrated using sluices or jigs. Large drills are used to sink shafts, excavate stopes, and obtain samples for analysis. Trams are used to transport miners, minerals and waste. Lifts carry miners into and out of mines, and move rock and ore out, and machinery in and out, of underground mines. Huge trucks, shovels and cranes are employed in surface mining to move large quantities of overburden and ore. Processing plants use large crushers, mills, reactors, roasters and other equipment to consolidate

1088-436: A location where people can connect with the Charters Towers community. The E-Village is the creation of local resident, Bryan West, following his frustration at not being able to find a suitable date for a kindergarten working bee. It includes a community calendar, member pages for all Charters Towers organisations, a database of services available within and to the community, classifieds, daily weather, and an online shop. It has

1224-438: A long dry season from April to October, with cooler nights and lower humidity. The average annual rainfall is 649.9 millimetres (25.59 in), primarily concentrated in the austral summer. Extreme temperatures in Charters Towers have ranged from 44.9 °C (112.8 °F) on 6 January 1994 to 1.1 °C (34.0 °F) on 5 July 1899. Record temperatures were combined from the old Post Office weather station (1893-1992) and

1360-883: A mass of actual rock. Both types of ore deposit, placer or lode, are mined by both surface and underground methods. Some mining, including much of the rare earth elements and uranium mining , is done by less-common methods, such as in-situ leaching : this technique involves digging neither at the surface nor underground. The extraction of target minerals by this technique requires that they be soluble, e.g., potash , potassium chloride , sodium chloride , sodium sulfate , which dissolve in water. Some minerals, such as copper minerals and uranium oxide , require acid or carbonate solutions to dissolve. Explosives in Mining Explosives have been used in surface mining and sub-surface mining to blast out rock and ore intended for processing. The most common explosive used in mining

1496-426: A mining operation. Once the analysis determines a given ore body is worth recovering, development begins to create access to the ore body. The mine buildings and processing plants are built, and any necessary equipment is obtained. The operation of the mine to recover the ore begins and continues as long as the company operating the mine finds it economical to do so. Once all the ore that the mine can produce profitably

SECTION 10

#1732772529663

1632-540: A mining publication in Canada) was first published in August 1872, just eight months after the discovery of gold. Such was its strength in those gold-mining days of the late 1880s that The Northern Miner installed a then-revolutionary linotype slug-casting machine before Brisbane's The Courier Mail . It was the only newspaper (of five published during the boom gold years) that survives today. In 2000, The Northern Miner

1768-503: A more sustainable future, the demand for metals is set to skyrocket. Between 2022 and 2050, an estimated 7 billion metric tons of metals will need to be extracted. Steel will account for the largest portion of this total at 5 billion tons, followed by aluminum at 950 million tons, copper at 650 million tons, graphite at 170 million tons, nickel at 100 million tons, and other metals. Notably, the energy expenditure required to extract these metals will soon surpass that of coal mining, highlighting

1904-763: A negative environmental impact, both during the mining activity and after the mine has closed. Hence, most of the world's nations have passed regulations to decrease the impact; however, the outsized role of mining in generating business for often rural, remote or economically depressed communities means that governments often fail to fully enforce such regulations. Work safety has long been a concern as well, and where enforced, modern practices have significantly improved safety in mines. Unregulated, poorly regulated or illegal mining , especially in developing economies , frequently contributes to local human rights violations and environmental conflicts . Mining can also perpetuate political instability through resource conflicts . Since

2040-435: A steel railing. The remains of the lift structure are extant within the headframe. It has the appearance of an open, narrow timber-framed tower rising to the third tier of the headframe at the top of which is a timber platform surrounded by a steel railing. On at least three levels, small timber platforms with steel railings project from the side. All platforms are connected by timber ladders with an additional ladder connecting

2176-408: A strong inducement to extract these metals or to lease the deposits and collect royalties from mine operators. English, German , and Dutch capital combined to finance extraction and refining . Hundreds of German technicians and skilled workers were brought over; in 1642 a colony of 4,000 foreigners was mining and smelting copper at Keswick in the northwestern mountains. Use of water power in

2312-406: A timber landing covered by a corrugated iron skillion roof. A single timber door opens to the interior from the landing. The elevation consists of a front verandah that has been enclosed with sheeting. Two windows to the left of the entrance are aluminium-framed sliding windows; on the right, there are eight sets of louvres. The window hoods consist of flat metal sheeting. The south-western elevation

2448-651: Is ammonium nitrate . Between 1870 and 1920, in Queensland Australia, an increase in mining accidents lead to more safety measures surrounding the use of explosives for mining. In the United States of America, between 1990 and 1999, about 22.3 billion kilograms of explosives were used in mining quarrying and other industries; Moreover " coal mining used 66.4%, nonmetal mining and quarrying 13.5%, metal mining 10.4%, construction 7.1%, and all other users 2.6%". Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM)

2584-811: Is a blanket term for a type of subsistence mining involving a miner who may or may not be officially employed by a mining company but works independently, mining minerals using their own resources, usually by hand. While there is no completely coherent definition for ASM, artisanal mining generally includes miners who are not officially employed by a mining company and use their own resources to mine. As such, they are part of an informal economy . ASM also includes, in small-scale mining, enterprises or individuals that employ workers for mining, but who generally still use similar manually-intensive methods as artisanal miners (such as working with hand tools). In addition, ASM can be characterized as distinct from large-scale mining (LSM) by less efficient extraction of pure minerals from

2720-722: Is a former underground mine at Scottville near Collinsville in North Queensland . The No. 1 Underground Mine at the Bowen Consolidated Colliery continued production until the end of 1962 by which time it had been superseded by the nearby fully mechanised No. 2 Underground Mine. The colliery is one of the earliest and most intact former coal mines in the Bowen Basin . The Bowen Basin covers an area about 600 kilometres (370 mi) long and 250 kilometres (160 mi) wide extending from Collinsville in

2856-423: Is a single, similar window on the western side. There is no ceiling in this part of the structure. The rest of the fan house adjoins the western side of the gable-roofed building. This is a flat-roofed structure made of red and brown bricks. A single door opens into a small porch that projects from the front. A short brick tower about 3 metres (9.8 ft) high and 3 metres (9.8 ft) on each side projects from

SECTION 20

#1732772529663

2992-402: Is clad with corrugated iron except for sections at the front and rear that are clad with flat sheeting. There are sets of louvres towards the front of the elevation and a timber- framed sash window at about the midpoint. Two sets of louvres at the very front are covered with sheeting. A section towards the rear of the elevation is recessed by about 4 metres (13 ft); a timber-framed sash window

3128-410: Is concentrated into veins, and was Australia's richest major field with an average grade of 34 grams per tonne. The grade was almost double that of Victorian mines and almost 75% higher than the grades of Western Australian ( Kalgoorlie ) gold fields of that time. In 1935, Clermont-Charters Towers was an important line for public telephone communications. During World War II , Charters Towers

3264-476: Is done by removing surface vegetation, dirt, and bedrock to reach buried ore deposits. Techniques of surface mining include: open-pit mining , which is the recovery of materials from an open pit in the ground; quarrying , identical to open-pit mining except that it refers to sand, stone and clay; strip mining , which consists of stripping surface layers off to reveal ore underneath; and mountaintop removal , commonly associated with coal mining, which involves taking

3400-451: Is located at the midpoint of this section. The workshop and stores area is located approximately 25 metres (82 ft) east of the headframe, between the headframe and the mine office. To the east of this area is a corrugated iron shed about 32 metres (105 ft) long and 25 metres (82 ft) wide with a steel frame and trusses , a concrete floor, and a high gabled roof. The side elevations consist of rendered brick or concrete walls to

3536-613: Is mining upward, creating a sloping underground room, long wall mining , which is grinding a long ore surface underground, and room and pillar mining, which is removing ore from rooms while leaving pillars in place to support the roof of the room. Room and pillar mining often leads to retreat mining , in which supporting pillars are removed as miners retreat, allowing the room to cave in, thereby loosening more ore. Additional sub-surface mining methods include hard rock mining , bore hole mining, drift and fill mining, long hole slope mining, sub level caving, and block caving . Heavy machinery

3672-484: Is much more common, and produces, for example, 85% of minerals (excluding petroleum and natural gas) in the United States, including 98% of metallic ores. Targets are divided into two general categories of materials: placer deposits , consisting of valuable minerals contained within river gravels, beach sands, and other unconsolidated materials ; and lode deposits , where valuable minerals are found in veins, in layers, or in mineral grains generally distributed throughout

3808-413: Is not of immediate interest to the miner. The total movement of ore and waste constitutes the mining process. Often more waste than ore is mined during the life of a mine, depending on the nature and location of the ore body. Waste removal and placement is a major cost to the mining operator, so a detailed characterization of the waste material forms an essential part of the geological exploration program for

3944-584: Is recovered, reclamation can begin, to make the land used by the mine suitable for future use. Technical and economic challenges notwithstanding, successful mine development must also address human factors. Working conditions are paramount to success, especially with regard to exposures to dusts, radiation, noise, explosives hazards, and vibration, as well as illumination standards. Mining today increasingly must address environmental and community impacts, including psychological and sociological dimensions. Thus, mining educator Frank T. M. White (1909–1971), broadened

4080-402: Is situated approximately 125 metres (410 ft) east of the headframe. It is a single storey timber house, about 16 metres (52 ft) square in plan, raised on short stumps with a hipped roof clad in corrugated iron sheeting. The space between the stumps is in-filled with timber battens. The main entrance is via the north-western elevation. A stair, running parallel to the elevation, rises to

4216-656: Is the largest producer of diamonds in Africa, with an estimated 12 million carats in 2019. Other types of mining reserves in Africa include cobalt , bauxite , iron ore , coal, and copper . Gold and coal mining started in Australia and New Zealand in the 19th century. Nickel has become important in the economy of New Caledonia . In Fiji , in 1934, the Emperor Gold Mining Company Ltd. established operations at Vatukoula , followed in 1935 by

Bowen Consolidated Colliery - Misplaced Pages Continue

4352-399: Is the partially collapsed gantry. This is an open sided timber structure with a timber deck on top and some extra decking at mid height. The structure contains the remains of a weighbridge and associated weighbridge office. It also contains the remains of at least one coal chute. A Ruston Hornsby Grantham England two-cylinder steam winding engine is situated immediately adjacent to the west of

4488-423: Is to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the financial viability, the technical and financial risks, and the robustness of the project. This is when the mining company makes the decision whether to develop the mine or to walk away from the project. This includes mine planning to evaluate the economically recoverable portion of the deposit, the metallurgy and ore recoverability, marketability and payability of

4624-419: Is used in mining to explore and develop sites, to remove and stockpile overburden, to break and remove rocks of various hardness and toughness, to process the ore, and to carry out reclamation projects after the mine is closed. Bulldozers, drills, explosives and trucks are all necessary for excavating the land. In the case of placer mining , unconsolidated gravel, or alluvium , is fed into machinery consisting of

4760-922: Is well known as a boarding school town, with families from western Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and the Torres Strait Islands sending their children to school in the district, over the larger cities in the area such as Townsville and Cairns . The Alliance of Charters Towers State Schools (ACTSS) represents the five State schools in the area that are funded by the Queensland Government – Charters Towers Central State School (opened in 1875), Millchester State School (opened in 1874), Richmond Hill State School (opened in 1895), Charters Towers School of Distance Education (opened in 1987) and Charters Towers State High School. A number of other state schools within

4896-887: The Charters Towers Excelsior Library in Charters Towers at 130 Gill Street. The Charters Towers branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association meets at the Jane Black Memorial Hall at 80 Mossman Street. Jane Black of Pajingo Station was a pioneer of the Charters Towers branch but also one of the founders of the Country Women's Association in Queensland as a whole. The hall was officially opened on Thursday 22 July 1954. The Northern Miner newspaper (not to be confused with The Northern Miner ,

5032-521: The Greek author Diodorus Siculus , who mentions fire-setting as one method used to break down the hard rock holding the gold . One of the complexes is shown in one of the earliest known mining maps. The miners crushed the ore and ground it to a fine powder before washing the powder for the gold dust known as the dry and wet attachment processes. Mining in Europe has a very long history. Examples include

5168-517: The argentiferous galena in the mines of Cartagena ( Cartago Nova ), Linares ( Castulo ), Plasenzuela and Azuaga , among many others. Spain was one of the most important mining regions, but all regions of the Roman Empire were exploited. In Great Britain the natives had mined minerals for millennia , but after the Roman conquest , the scale of the operations increased dramatically, as

5304-836: The greenstone of the Langdale axe industry based in the English Lake District . The oldest-known mine on archaeological record is the Ngwenya Mine in Eswatini (Swaziland) , which radiocarbon dating shows to be about 43,000 years old. At this site Paleolithic humans mined hematite to make the red pigment ochre . Mines of a similar age in Hungary are believed to be sites where Neanderthals may have mined flint for weapons and tools. Ancient Egyptians mined malachite at Maadi . At first, Egyptians used

5440-675: The 1890s. At the time, the main coal producing area was the West Moreton coalfields. Some coal was also produced at the Burrum coalfields and on the Darling Downs . These mines supplied mostly thermal (steaming) coal to a domestic market; the Railway Department was a major customer. The success of mines depended on whether the coal was suitable for firing boilers and on their proximity to a railway line. Most early mines in

5576-702: The 1920s anywhere in Queensland". Bowen Consolidated Colliery is located on the edge of the township of Scottville, approximately 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) south-west of Collinsville, and 75 kilometres (47 mi) south-west of Bowen. The large, former colliery covers an area of approximately 5 hectares (12 acres). The major structures include the headframe and gantry, Number One shaft winding house, boiler house, Number Two shaft fan house, powerhouse, bathhouse, mine office, workshop, Garrick Shaft Fan House, sawmill, detonator magazine, lamp shed , water tanks, and single men's quarters. Remains of railway and tramline formations still remain. The remains of other structures include

Bowen Consolidated Colliery - Misplaced Pages Continue

5712-459: The 20th century, profitable mining operations have commenced once again. In the 2021 census , the town of Charters Towers had a population of 8,040 people. The urban area of the town of Charters Towers includes its suburbs: Charters Towers City (the centre of the city); Richmond Hill , Toll , and Columbia to the north, Queenton to the east, Grand Secret and Alabama Hill to the west, and Towers Hill , Mosman Park , and Millchester to

5848-509: The 21st century begins, a globalized mining industry of large multinational corporations has arisen. Peak minerals and environmental impacts have also become a concern. Different elements, particularly rare-earth minerals , have begun to increase in demand as a result of new technologies. In 2023, 8.5 billion metric tons of coal were extracted from the Earth's crust. However, as the global economy transitions away from fossil fuels and toward

5984-514: The 760th Chemical Depot Company (Aviation). The depot contained bombs filled with mustard agent, cyanogen chloride and other toxic chemicals. In addition to maintaining the depot, the 760th cooperated with the Australian Chemical Warfare Research Unit to conduct research on bomb design and delivery techniques. Late in 1944, the depot and its contents were moved to Oro Bay, New Guinea. In the 2016 census ,

6120-680: The 7th century to the 14th century. Gold was often traded to Mediterranean economies that demanded gold and could supply salt , even though much of Africa was abundant with salt due to the mines and resources in the Sahara desert . The trading of gold for salt was mostly used to promote trade between the different economies. Since the Great Trek in the 19th century, after, gold and diamond mining in Southern Africa has had major political and economic impacts. The Democratic Republic of Congo

6256-826: The American A-frame construction in the interwar period. Only two other examples of this type of headframe are known to exist. These are at the Vulcan tin mine in the Mareeba mining district and the Dobbyn copper mine in the Mount Isa mining district. Both are three tier headframes; the headframe at the Bowen Consolidated Mine has four tiers. By 1926, when production in the tunnels of the Garrick seam

6392-700: The Australian Securities Exchange in 1993. After 89 years, the goldfields were reopened, and gold was produced again from the Warrior Mine 4 km (2.5 mi) southeast of the town in November 2006 by Citigold Corporation Limited. Gold is mined from two deposits, which are accessed by sloping tunnels. The extracted gold ore is trucked about 10 km (6.2 mi) south-west of the city for processing into gold Doré bars . Citigold has announced plans to open three mines directly under

6528-677: The Bowen Basin struggled to remain commercially viable. Intensive exploration of the Bowen Basin coalfield began only after the crisis in the base metals industry due to falling prices from 1907. Tests on the Bowen River Coal Company's lease in 1912 and 1913 sparked a rush to the field. Five syndicates had registered 17 leases straddling the Bowen outcrops by the end of 1915. However, the election of Queensland's first stable Labor government led in August 1915 to Cabinet refusing

6664-525: The Charters Towers community. Charters Towers is served by two local commercial radio stations, 4GC and West FM (originally branded as Hot FM ), both owned by Resonate Broadcasting . Both stations rely heavily on networked programming but 4GC, broadcasting on 828 AM, produces a local breakfast program between 6am and 9am each weekday and provides local news bulletins and weather updates. Along with 3GG in Warragul, Victoria , Resonate Broadcasting bought

6800-428: The Charters Towers stations from Macquarie Media Group in 2008, with the three stations becoming the company's first investments. The Bull FM88 is the only country music radio station in Charters Towers playing an extensive mix from the 1980s to today. It is a low-powered open narrowcast (LPON) service broadcasting on 88.0 FM, which began in 2018. It is owned and operated by Margflow Media. In 2021, Charters Towers

6936-675: The French crown to operate mines in 1733, becoming "the first practical miner on Lake Superior"; seven years later, mining was halted by an outbreak between Sioux and Chippewa tribes. Mining in the United States became widespread in the 19th century, and the United States Congress passed the General Mining Act of 1872 to encourage mining of federal lands. As with the California Gold Rush in

SECTION 50

#1732772529663

7072-643: The Loloma Gold Mines, N.L., and then by Fiji Mines Development Ltd. (aka Dolphin Mines Ltd.). These developments ushered in a “mining boom”, with gold production rising more than a hundred-fold, from 931.4 oz in 1934 to 107,788.5 oz in 1939, an order of magnitude then comparable to the combined output of New Zealand and Australia's eastern states. During prehistoric times, early Americans mined large amounts of copper along Lake Superior 's Keweenaw Peninsula and in nearby Isle Royale ; metallic copper

7208-531: The Mount Isa Mine copper smelters. In 1930, a steam winch with coupled cylinders was in process of being installed underground for main and tail haulage. Two Babcock and Wilcox boilers and a new chimney of 24.7 metres (81 ft) in height with a diameter of 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) were also erected in that year. At this time both Scottville and Collinsville (servicing the State Coal Mine

7344-481: The Romans needed Britannia 's resources, especially gold , silver , tin , and lead . Roman techniques were not limited to surface mining. They followed the ore veins underground once opencast mining was no longer feasible. At Dolaucothi they stoped out the veins and drove adits through bare rock to drain the stopes. The same adits were also used to ventilate the workings, especially important when fire-setting

7480-598: The Spanish to pulverize ore after being mined. This device was powered by animals and used the same principles used for grain threshing . Much of the knowledge of medieval mining techniques comes from books such as Biringuccio 's De la pirotechnia and probably most importantly from Georg Agricola 's De re metallica (1556). These books detail many different mining methods used in German and Saxon mines. A prime issue in medieval mines, which Agricola explains in detail,

7616-613: The State for non-payment of rent, and the surviving syndicates had amalgamated to form the Bowen Consolidated Coal Mining Company. When the shares in the Company were released onto the market they failed to attract as much interest as had been anticipated, likely due to the rail link being some years away. So the Company only committed to a drilling programme at the time of the share release. However, by

7752-756: The Umm el-Sawwan site; gypsum was used to make funerary items for private tombs. Other minerals mined in Egypt from the Old Kingdom (2649-2134 BC) until the Roman Period (30 BC-AD 395) including granite , sandstone , limestone , basalt , travertine , gneiss , galena , and amethyst . Mining in Egypt occurred in the earliest dynasties. The gold mines of Nubia were among the largest and most extensive of any in Ancient Egypt. These mines are described by

7888-404: The arched brick openings of the furnaces. Immediately to the north and south of the boilers are low brick structures, approximately 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in height. These comprise the remains of a coal bin , (north) and the condensers and brick flue associated with the boilers (south). The Number Two shaft and fan house are situated approximately 50 metres (160 ft) south-west of

8024-624: The beginning of civilization, people have used stone , clay and, later, metals found close to the Earth's surface. These were used to make early tools and weapons; for example, high quality flint found in northern France , southern England and Poland was used to create flint tools . Flint mines have been found in chalk areas where seams of the stone were followed underground by shafts and galleries. The mines at Grimes Graves and Krzemionki are especially famous, and like most other flint mines, are Neolithic in origin (c. 4000–3000 BC). Other hard rocks mined or collected for axes included

8160-407: The biggest draglines in the world. This revolutionised mining techniques in Queensland; small scale underground mines were largely superseded and the nature of coal mining in Queensland was completely transformed. By 1980 MIM's subsidiary, Collinsville Coal Company had absorbed Bowen Consolidated Coal Mines Ltd. Part of the disused complex was fenced off by the 1980s. The former colliery is probably

8296-528: The bright green malachite stones for ornamentations and pottery . Later, between 2613 and 2494 BC, large building projects required expeditions abroad to the area of Wadi Maghareh in order to secure minerals and other resources not available in Egypt itself. Quarries for turquoise and copper were also found at Wadi Hammamat , Tura , Aswan and various other Nubian sites on the Sinai Peninsula and at Timna . Quarries for gypsum were found at

SECTION 60

#1732772529663

8432-415: The centre of the floor in the shower area; there are no cubicles. Two lengths of square section steel channelling are suspended from the roof about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) above the floor. The foundations of the first bathhouse, consisting of a concrete surface, are located approximately 18 metres (59 ft) north-west of the extant bathhouse. A small corrugated iron bathhouse is situated adjacent to

8568-638: The city and nearby vicinity, which mostly commenced during the mining boom years, have also existed. These included Queenton State School (1890–1933), Mt. Leyshon State School (1890 – circa 1940), King's Gully State School (1911–1932), the Broughton State School (1905–?), Macrossan State School (1884–19??), Rishton State School (1884–1891), Liontown State School (1905 – circa  1921), Black Jack State School (1887–1948), Pumping Station State School (1898–1936), and Sellheim State School (1889–1939). The Charters Towers Regional Council operates

8704-536: The city to extract gold at a rate of 250,000 ounces per year. Charters Towers has four secondary schools: Columba Catholic College (opened in 1998); Blackheath and Thornburgh College (opened in 1919); All Souls St Gabriels School (opened in 1920); and Charters Towers State High School (opened in 1912). The nearest university is the James Cook University , in Townsville. Charters Towers

8840-568: The cross-cuts and equipping it with a double-inlet sirocco-type fan. Screens were installed on the loading gantry and the Cornish boilers supplied steam to the whole mine. An office building and bath-house were erected and by 1925 the main tunnel in the Garrick seam was 480 metres (1,570 ft) long and under 60 metres (200 ft) of cover. Coal output was 120 long tons (120 t) per day. The steel headframe, 24 metres (79 ft) in height and with twin pulleys 3 metres (9.8 ft) in diameter,

8976-403: The current Airport weather station (1992-2024). The town was founded in the 1870s when gold was discovered by chance at Towers Hill on Christmas Eve 1871 by 12-year-old Aboriginal boy, Jupiter Mosman . Jupiter was with a small group of prospectors including Hugh Mosman , James Fraser, and George Clarke . Their horses bolted after a flash of lightning. While he was searching, Jupiter found both

9112-417: The cutter-head is progressively launched further into the coal seam. High wall mining can produce thousands of tons of coal in contour-strip operations with narrow benches, previously mined areas, trench mine applications and steep-dip seams. Sub-surface mining consists of digging tunnels or shafts into the earth to reach buried ore deposits. Ore, for processing, and waste rock, for disposal, are brought to

9248-580: The end of 1919 John McNaughton was appointed manager and work began in earnest. A site for the mine was chosen and two parallel tunnels driven into the Garrick Seam. This activity generated cash which enabled a shaft to be sunk into the Bowen Seam in 1920. In 1921, two vertical shafts were commenced, a winding shaft 4.3 by 1.8 metres (14.1 by 5.9 ft) to a depth of 11 metres (36 ft) and an upcast shaft 3.7 by 2.1 metres (12.1 by 6.9 ft) to

9384-412: The end of 1925 despite the fact that the population was approaching 300. The nearby town of Collinsville at this time had a population of around 800 and comprised a school, shops, police station, hotel, picture theatre, dance hall, bowling green and the early construction of a hospital. In 1927 Bowen Consolidated Colliery employed 54 men and had seven horses working with the underground teams. By this time

9520-485: The extant power house. By 1956 Bowen Consolidated Coal Mines Ltd was a subsidiary of Mount Isa Mines Ltd (MIM). Plans were made to sink a new shaft at the mine in order to meet expansion demands. Aerial photography was to be used to accurately map the area. Profit for the mine rose from £ 26,490 in 1955 to £ 103,667 in 1956. In 1962, Bowen Consolidated Coal Mines made a new entry into the Bowen seam which would be known as Bowen Consolidated Coal No. 2 Mine. Production in

9656-698: The focus to the “total environment of mining”, including reference to community development around mining, and how mining is portrayed to an urban society, which depends on the industry, although seemingly unaware of this dependency. He stated, “[I]n the past, mining engineers have not been called upon to study the psychological, sociological and personal problems of their own industry – aspects that nowadays are assuming tremendous importance. The mining engineer must rapidly expand his knowledge and his influence into these newer fields.” Mining techniques can be divided into two common excavation types: surface mining and sub-surface (underground) mining . Today, surface mining

9792-487: The form of water mills was extensive. The water mills were employed in crushing ore, raising ore from shafts, and ventilating galleries by powering giant bellows . Black powder was first used in mining in Selmecbánya , Kingdom of Hungary (now Banská Štiavnica , Slovakia) in 1627. Black powder allowed blasting of rock and earth to loosen and reveal ore veins. Blasting was much faster than fire-setting and allowed

9928-547: The fully mechanised No. 2 mine commenced in September of that year (Bowen Independent 1962). The No. 1 Underground Mine at Bowen Consolidated Colliery continued production until late 1962. By this time, commercial exploitation of coking coal in the Bowen Basin for the export market was commencing on a massive scale to supply the booming Japanese steel industry. International consortiums and mining companies introduced open cut mining methods using huge mining plant including some of

10064-400: The growing importance of sustainable metal extraction practices. The process of mining from discovery of an ore body through extraction of minerals and finally to returning the land to its natural state consists of several distinct steps. The first is discovery of the ore body, which is carried out through prospecting or exploration to find and then define the extent, location and value of

10200-421: The headframe. It is mounted on a concrete slab and has two exposed gear wheels and two cable drums with steel cable extant on the larger drum. This is located approximately 12 metres (39 ft) south-west of the headframe. The building is about 8 by 11 metres (26 by 36 ft) in plan. It is a high-set, timber-framed structure with corrugated iron walls and a corrugated iron gabled roof. A curved ridge vent runs

10336-409: The headframe. The fan house, immediately south of the remains of the shaft, is a multi-compartment structure. The eastern part of the structure is constructed of concrete blocks and has a gable roof with a timber frame and corrugated iron cladding. One end is open and the other has a large square opening. Two windows along the eastern side have timber frames and are covered with corrugated iron. There

10472-549: The horses and a nugget of gold in a creek at the base of Towers Hill. Charters originated from the Gold Commissioner, WSEM Charters. Ten major gold reefs were eventually mined. Such were the boom years, between 1872 and 1899, that Charters Towers hosted its own stock exchange . The Great Northern Railway between Charters Towers and the coastal port of Townsville was completed in December 1882. During this period,

10608-547: The largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Players ranging from regional and the country to play. Numbers in recent years have reached just shy of 200 teams. The event is of massive benefit for the town, bringing in business for the entire region, especially the town's pubs and clubs. While the higher grades take it very seriously with awards and prizes given, the lower grades take to a more social view. Games involving drinking penalties and costume wearing are all part of

10744-482: The length of the roof. The walls extend to the ground, enclosing the under floor area. There are openings where some sheets of iron are missing from the walls. The entrance to the building is via the north-east elevation facing the headframe. A timber stair running along the side of the building leads to a landing and the door opening. To the right of the door is a large opening through which can be seen two large cable drums with extant steel cable. The plant located within

10880-535: The metals due to the difficulties of transporting them, but the copper was eventually traded throughout the continent along major river routes. In the early colonial history of the Americas, "native gold and silver was quickly expropriated and sent back to Spain in fleets of gold- and silver-laden galleons", the gold and silver originating mostly from mines in Central and South America. Turquoise dated at 700 AD

11016-768: The mid-19th century, mining for minerals and precious metals, along with ranching , became a driving factor in the U.S. Westward Expansion to the Pacific coast. With the exploration of the West, mining camps sprang up and "expressed a distinctive spirit, an enduring legacy to the new nation"; Gold Rushers would experience the same problems as the Land Rushers of the transient West that preceded them. Aided by railroads, many people traveled West for work opportunities in mining. Western cities such as Denver and Sacramento originated as mining towns. When new areas were explored, it

11152-497: The mid-sixteenth century. On the continent, mineral deposits belonged to the crown, and this regalian right was stoutly maintained. But in England, royal mining rights were restricted to gold and silver (of which England had virtually no deposits) by a judicial decision of 1568 and a law in 1688. England had iron , zinc , copper , lead , and tin ores. Landlords who owned the base metals and coal under their estates then had

11288-448: The middle of the south-eastern elevation. Entrance is gained via a double timber door opening in the middle of the northern elevation. The interior has a concrete floor, white rendered walls and no ceiling. It contains a large common changing room and common shower area. The entrance opens into the changing area. This area has a row of timber pegs along each wall at a height of about 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in). An open drain runs along

11424-432: The minehead, where the water was stored in large reservoirs and tanks. When a full tank was opened, the flood of water sluiced away the overburden to expose the bedrock underneath and any gold-bearing veins. The rock was then worked by fire-setting to heat the rock, which would be quenched with a stream of water. The resulting thermal shock cracked the rock, enabling it to be removed by further streams of water from

11560-592: The mineral-rich material and extract the desired compounds and metals from the ore. Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region , Queensland , Australia. It is 136 km (85 mi) by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway . During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under the city were developed. After becoming uneconomical in

11696-419: The mines drove deeper, ventilation and water problems arose. This production decline was similar across Australian gold mines, with rising costs and a fixed gold price eroding profitability. The town entered a long period of relative stagnation and little further development has occurred since. The Charters Towers gold field produced over 200 tonnes (6.6 million troy ounces ) of gold from 1871 to 1917. The gold

11832-405: The mining industry, the beef industry, and education, specifically boarding schools catering for remote rural families. More gold has been estimated to exist underground than the total removed in the gold rush . Hundreds of separate mining leases covering an area of 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) were consolidated by James Lynch in the 1970s and 1980s and the company Citigold listed on

11968-431: The mining of previously impenetrable metals and ores. In 1762, one of the world's first mining academies was established in the same town there. The widespread adoption of agricultural innovations such as the iron plowshare , as well as the growing use of metal as a building material, was also a driving force in the tremendous growth of the iron industry during this period. Inventions like the arrastra were often used by

12104-410: The most intact of its era and type in Queensland. It is one of only two relatively intact former mines known to be extant from the first phase of coalmining in the Bowen Basin. The other is the former Dawson Valley Colliery . The Bowen colliery is recognised in the industry for its historical importance and by an industry expert, Professor Ray Whitmore , as containing "the finest relics of coal mining in

12240-411: The name was changed to Scottville after objections from the postal department. Scottville grew at a slower pace than Collinsville because the mine which supported it was smaller and lacked government funding. Most of the dwellings were constructed from galvanised iron with the manager's house being the only substantial structure for many years. Only 17 miners' homestead perpetual leases had been taken up by

12376-430: The north of the boiler house. The lamp shed is located about 5 metres (16 ft) east of the bathhouse. It is a small, timber-framed building, about 6 metres (20 ft) square in plan, with a gabled roof. The walls are clad with ripple iron sheeting and the roof and gables are clad with corrugated iron sheeting. There are timber-framed window openings and a single timber door. The mine manager's residence and office

12512-560: The north to south of Moura in Central Queensland . It contains about 70% of Queensland's coal. These are deposits of the Permian age and are the most important commercial deposits in the State, producing almost 100% of the State's coking coal and 60% of its thermal coal. In 2006-7, the State's top ten collieries for production were located in the Bowen Basin. Commercial exploitation of Bowen Basin coal began at Blair Athol in

12648-405: The ore body. This leads to a mathematical resource estimation to estimate the size and grade of the deposit. This estimation is used to conduct a pre-feasibility study to determine the theoretical economics of the ore deposit. This identifies, early on, whether further investment in estimation and engineering studies is warranted and identifies key risks and areas for further work. The next step

12784-462: The ore concentrates, engineering concerns, milling and infrastructure costs, finance and equity requirements, and an analysis of the proposed mine from the initial excavation all the way through to reclamation. The proportion of a deposit that is economically recoverable is dependent on the enrichment factor of the ore in the area. To gain access to the mineral deposit within an area it is often necessary to mine through or remove waste material which

12920-442: The ore, lower wages, decreased occupational safety, benefits, and health standards for miners, and a lack of environmental protection measures. Artisanal miners often undertake the activity of mining seasonally. For example, crops are planted in the rainy season , and mining is pursued in the dry season . However, they also frequently travel to mining areas and work year-round. There are four broad types of ASM: Surface mining

13056-570: The overhead tanks. The Roman miners used similar methods to work cassiterite deposits in Cornwall and lead ore in the Pennines . Sluicing methods were developed by the Romans in Spain in 25 AD to exploit large alluvial gold deposits, the largest site being at Las Medulas , where seven long aqueducts tapped local rivers and sluiced the deposits. The Romans also exploited the silver present in

13192-537: The population was 27,500, making Charters Towers Queensland's largest city outside of Brisbane . The city was also affectionately known as "The World", as anything one might desire reportedly could be had in the Towers, leaving no reason to travel elsewhere. The Borough of Charters Towers was proclaimed on 21 June 1877 under the Municipal Institutions Act 1864 with John McDonald being elected

13328-443: The private applications and reserving the 6.4 square kilometre area involved for State operations. Competition for leases subsided into a long wait for railway construction to be completed. Construction of the 789 kilometres (490 mi) of railway took five years and the delay had exhausted most of the speculators long before the line opened in 1922. At the same time, by the end of 1919, a further nineteen leases had been forfeited to

13464-430: The profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired materials, and final reclamation or restoration of the land after the mine is closed. Mining materials are often obtained from ore bodies, lodes , veins , seams , reefs , or placer deposits . The exploitation of these deposits for raw materials is dependent on investment, labor, energy, refining, and transportation cost. Mining operations can create

13600-431: The remaining part of a coal seam previously exploited by other surface-mining techniques has too much overburden to be removed but can still be profitably exploited from the side of the artificial cliff made by previous mining. A typical cycle alternates sumping, which undercuts the seam, and shearing, which raises and lowers the cutter-head boom to cut the entire height of the coal seam. As the coal recovery cycle continues,

13736-415: The roof close to the gable-roofed section. The power house is located approximately 10 metres (33 ft) to the west of the boilers. The tall core of the timber-framed, gabled building with corrugated iron walls and roofing is about 22 metres (72 ft) long and 9 metres (30 ft) wide. Two skillion-roofed sections are attached to part of its northern and southern elevations. A steel flue projects from

13872-446: The roof in the middle of the structure. Two courses of projecting bricks surround the tower a short distance from the top. The sawmill is situated approximately 95 metres (312 ft) south-south-east of the headframe. It is an open timber-framed structure with a corrugated iron roof. Evidence of a tramline running from the sawmill directly towards the headframe is still visible. A small section of tramline and tram trolley remains inside

14008-526: The roof. The plant inside the power house includes two British Thompson Houston Rugby generators, and three Bellis and Morcom diesel engines. The extant bathhouse is located approximately 90 metres (300 ft) to the south of the headframe. It is a lowset, rendered cavity brick structure with a corrugated iron gabled roof and small, high level, rectangular windows. It consists of two wings, one about 27 metres (89 ft) long running north- east to south-west and another extending about 11 metres (36 ft) from

14144-605: The sawmill. Railway siding formation still exists although the tracks have been removed. The siding runs in a generally east–west direction across the site, both under and adjacent to the gantry. The remains of a separate network of tramlines through the site also remain although the track, itself, has been removed. The tramline remains connect the Number One shaft under the headframe with the workshops and stores site, boiler house, and sawmill. Mining Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of

14280-446: The shafts could no longer be pumped dry with the available technology. Although an increased use of banknotes , credit and copper coins during this period did decrease the value of, and dependence on, precious metals , gold and silver still remained vital to the story of medieval mining. Due to differences in the social structure of society, the increasing extraction of mineral deposits spread from central Europe to England in

14416-567: The silver mines of Laurium , which helped support the Greek city state of Athens . Although they had over 20,000 slaves working them, their technology was essentially identical to their Bronze Age predecessors. At other mines, such as on the island of Thassos , marble was quarried by the Parians after they arrived in the 7th century BC. The marble was shipped away and was later found by archaeologists to have been used in buildings including

14552-413: The site, sitting on foundations about 15 metres (49 ft) square in plan. The legs each comprise steel tubing formed from four, quarter cylinder sections rivetted together. The legs are connected with four levels of horizontal steel I-beams with diagonal cross bracing of rods at each level. The assembly of bracing and cross members is rivetted together. A timber platform at the top level is surrounded by

14688-482: The south. Charters Towers township is only mildly elevated at 290 metres or 950 feet above sea-level, but this has a noticeable effect, with lower humidity and wider temperature variations compared to nearby Townsville. Charters Towers obtains its water supply from the nearby Burdekin River . Charters Towers experiences a tropical semi-arid climate ( Koppen : BSh), with a short wet season from November to March and

14824-474: The surface through the tunnels and shafts. Sub-surface mining can be classified by the type of access shafts used, and the extraction method or the technique used to reach the mineral deposit. Drift mining uses horizontal access tunnels, slope mining uses diagonally sloping access shafts, and shaft mining uses vertical access shafts. Mining in hard and soft rock formations requires different techniques. Other methods include shrinkage stope mining , which

14960-473: The terminus of the Government line to Bowen Consolidated was completed on 3 March 1923 and covered a distance of 4 miles 10 chains (6.6 km) and included 75 chains (5,000 ft; 1,500 m) of siding. The debt for the project was £ 31551/11/1. Coal output for the year to 31 May 1923 was 4,136 long tons (4,202 t) and a market had been located for all. By the time the railway connection

15096-602: The tomb of Amphipolis. Philip II of Macedon , the father of Alexander the Great , captured the gold mines of Mount Pangeo in 357 BC to fund his military campaigns. He also captured gold mines in Thrace for minting coinage, eventually producing 26 tons per year. However, it was the Romans who developed large-scale mining methods, especially the use of large volumes of water brought to the minehead by numerous aqueducts . The water

15232-448: The top of a mountain off to reach ore deposits at depth. Most placer deposits, because they are shallowly buried, are mined by surface methods. Finally, landfill mining involves sites where landfills are excavated and processed. Landfill mining has been thought of as a long-term solution to methane emissions and local pollution. High wall mining, which evolved from auger mining, is another form of surface mining. In high wall mining,

15368-402: The top of the lift structure with the top of the headframe itself. At the lowest tier, and contained within the legs of the headframe, a structure with a corrugated iron gabled roof is located on the timber platform. This structure has open sides except for a small section of wall enclosed with corrugated iron. Extending to the north from the side of the headframe at the level of the first tier

15504-628: The top slats. Many examples of such devices have been found in old Roman mines and some examples are now preserved in the British Museum and the National Museum of Wales . Mining as an industry underwent dramatic changes in medieval Europe . The mining industry in the early Middle Ages was mainly focused on the extraction of copper and iron . Other precious metals were also used, mainly for gilding or coinage. Initially, many metals were obtained through open-pit mining , and ore

15640-409: The tops of the enclosures. They are held in place at intervals along the structure by steel girders that run up the sides and across the top. Large square, steel-framed openings at one end of the enclosure expose the ends of the sets of water tubes that run the length of the interior of the structure. A set of tubes is missing from the larger set of boilers, leaving a cavity. Underneath these openings are

15776-407: The town of Charters Towers had a population of 8,120 people. In the 2021 census , the town of Charters Towers had a population of 8,040 people. Charters Towers has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Some of Charters Towers's heritage is spread across the town: According to the 2016 census , 8,120 people were residing in Charters Towers. Charters Towers is a regional centre for

15912-453: The town's first mayor. The local government area would later be known as Town of Charters Towers and City of Charters Towers , before being absorbed into the Charters Towers Region . Charters Towers Post Office opened on 17 May 1872. A 20 head of stamps mill began ore-crushing operations on 16 July 1872. The Venus Battery continued to be used by small mine in the region until 1971. The unique site remains intact today, together with

16048-401: The underground section of the mine had electric lighting as did all surface buildings and a new Ingersoll Rand Compressor, to work the dip pump and the jack hammer machines, had been purchased to replace the old second-hand one. A battery of new Babcock and Wilcox boilers was installed at Bowen Consolidated Colliery in 1929. The coal was railed to Bowen and after 1930 turned into coke for use in

16184-443: The west of the workshop are the remains of a number of structures including blacksmith's shop, carpenter's shop, points shed, brattice shed, store, a timber rack and an iron rack. The fan house is located approximately 115 metres (377 ft) south of the headframe. It is a partly demolished brick structure with a flat concrete roof. A brick tower, about 3 metres (9.8 ft) square and about 3 metres (9.8 ft) high, projects from

16320-514: The winding house includes a two-cylinder steam winding engine (Walkers Limited No. 847 1903). Six boilers are extant at the site of the former boiler house approximately 28 metres (92 ft) west of the headframe. These consist of two sets of Babcock and Wilcox water tube boilers and chain grate stokers (a set of two and a set of four). Each set comprises a rectangular enclosure made of refractory bricks standing between 3 and 4 metres (9.8 and 13.1 ft) high. Riveted, steel steam drums are seated on

16456-422: The workshop and stores site, Number Two shaft winding engine, lime store, cement shed, ramps, early bathhouse and fitting shop. Part of the site is surrounded by a recent wire security fence including the headframe, Number One winding house, boiler house and power house. Much of the site is overgrown with grasses, trees and other vegetation. The tapered steel-framed, four-legged headframe is the tallest structure on

16592-469: The world's gold, followed by the establishment of large mines such as the Mount Morgan Mine , which ran for nearly a hundred years, Broken Hill ore deposit (one of the largest zinc-lead ore deposits), and the iron ore mines at Iron Knob . After declines in production, another boom in mining occurred in the 1960s. In the early 21st century, Australia remains a major world mineral producer. As

16728-474: The world, which was increasingly demanding copper for electrical and household goods. Canada's mining industry grew more slowly than did the United States due to limitations in transportation, capital, and U.S. competition; Ontario was the major producer of the early 20th century with nickel, copper, and gold. Meanwhile, Australia experienced the Australian gold rushes and by the 1850s was producing 40% of

16864-627: Was confirmed to have been selected as the location for the ninth season of Australian Survivor , a Survivor: Blood vs Water series scheduled to air on Network 10 in 2022. The Charters Towers Goldfield Ashes has been an amateur cricket carnival conducted over the Australia Day long weekend in January since 1948 by the Charters Towers Cricket Association Incorporated (CTCA), and it is now

17000-513: Was finished in 1923, 26 miners and a similar number of surface men were at work at the Bowen Consolidated Coal Mine and output was averaging 35 long tons (36 t) of coal per day. Twin tramways were laid down the tunnels and serviced by a stationary steam hauling engine, a compressed air water pump was installed at the foot of the tunnel and the ventilation was improved by sinking a vertical shaft to an extension of one of

17136-535: Was halted by a fault, a ventilation shaft had been completed to the Bowen seam, and a brace had been constructed and connected to the loading gantry ready for switching to the better coal. Bowen Consolidated Coal Mines Limited developed its own township 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from Collinsville and the State Colliery and named it Scotsdale as a tribute to two of the directors of the old Bowen Coal and Coke Company Limited, Adam Hall Scott and John Dinsdale, but

17272-605: Was linked for the first time to the North Queensland Newspaper Company and therefore News Limited's electronic layout system and website. The Evening Telegraph was a daily newspaper published between 1901 and 1921. Sumpton's Gold Rush Gazette is a local newspaper which has been printed weekly since April 2021. The publication's founder, Daniel Sumpton, has been referred to as "The man who brought Print Journalism back to Charters Towers." The Charters Towers E-Village launched in 2011 and provides

17408-628: Was mined in pre-Columbian America; in the Cerillos Mining District in New Mexico , an estimate of "about 15,000 tons of rock had been removed from Mt. Chalchihuitl using stone tools before 1700." In 1727 Louis Denys (Denis) (1675–1741), sieur de La Ronde – brother of Simon-Pierre Denys de Bonaventure and the son-in-law of René Chartier – took command of Fort La Pointe at Chequamegon Bay ; where natives informed him of an island of copper. La Ronde obtained permission from

17544-576: Was primarily extracted from shallow depths, rather than through deep mine shafts. Around the 14th century , the growing use of weapons , armour , stirrups , and horseshoes greatly increased the demand for iron. Medieval knights , for example, were often laden with up to 100 pounds (45 kg) of plate or chain link armour in addition to swords , lances and other weapons. The overwhelming dependency on iron for military purposes spurred iron production and extraction processes. The silver crisis of 1465 occurred when all mines had reached depths at which

17680-466: Was purchased second-hand in Charters Towers as was the horizontal twin-cylinder winding engine built by Walkers Limited of Maryborough . The headframe and winding engine were installed on site in c.  1925 . Extant examples of this type of headframe are now uncommon. This type of headframe, where the weight is evenly balanced on all four legs is an old pattern that was superseded by

17816-406: Was still present near the surface in colonial times. Indigenous peoples used Lake Superior copper from at least 5,000 years ago; copper tools, arrowheads, and other artifacts that were part of an extensive native trade-network have been discovered. In addition, obsidian , flint , and other minerals were mined, worked, and traded. Early French explorers who encountered the sites made no use of

17952-605: Was the location of RAAF No.9 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 29 August 1944. Usually consisting of four tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000 ($ 1,800,000). Beginning in June 1943, Charters Towers was also the location for a major USAAF chemical bomb depot operated by

18088-411: Was the removal of water from mining shafts. As miners dug deeper to access new veins, flooding became a very real obstacle. The mining industry became dramatically more efficient and prosperous with the invention of mechanically- and animal-driven pumps. Iron metallurgy in Africa dates back over four thousand years. Gold became an important commodity for Africa during the trans-Saharan gold trade from

18224-403: Was used for a variety of purposes, including removing overburden and rock debris, called hydraulic mining , as well as washing comminuted , or crushed, ores and driving simple machinery. The Romans used hydraulic mining methods on a large scale to prospect for the veins of ore, especially using a now-obsolete form of mining known as hushing . They built numerous aqueducts to supply water to

18360-465: Was used. At other parts of the site, they penetrated the water table and dewatered the mines using several kinds of machines, especially reverse overshot water-wheels . These were used extensively in the copper mines at Rio Tinto in Spain, where one sequence comprised 16 such wheels arranged in pairs, and lifting water about 24 metres (79 ft). They were worked as treadmills with miners standing on

18496-539: Was usually the gold ( placer and then lode ) and then silver that were taken into possession and extracted first. Other metals would often wait for railroads or canals, as coarse gold dust and nuggets do not require smelting and are easy to identify and transport. In the early 20th century, the gold and silver rush to the western United States also stimulated mining for coal as well as base metals such as copper, lead, and iron. Areas in modern Montana, Utah, Arizona, and later Alaska became predominant suppliers of copper to

#662337