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The Zinc Corporation was formed in 1905 to treat zinc-rich ‘tailings’, the waste product of ore, purchased from other mines. In 1911, The Zinc Corporation acquired the South Blocks Co. and began underground mining at the southern end of the line of lode. The flotation mineral extraction process was pioneered at the site.
Ore was treated here before shipment as a concentrate to Port Pirie, on the South Australian coast, for smelting.
The Zinc Corporation acquired the leases of the Broken Hill South Blocks Company and further expanded the plant and operations. In the 1930s the Zinc Corporation began to build a new group of plant buildings as they shifted their operations to Freeman’s shaft and entered into a working agreement with New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited to run their operations jointly. The construction of the steel headframe over the Main Shaft commenced in 1936 as part of a major redevelopment of the Zinc Mine. Main Shaft had an ore hauling capacity of 0.9 million tonnes per year.
Adjacent to the shaft is a circular crushing house, concentration mill and offices. These were erected in 1939 and closed in 1988 when operations were transferred to the NBHC Mine by Pasminco.
Source: Visit Broken Hill (www.visitbrokenhill.com/Discover/Silver-Trail/89.-Zinc-Ov...), Perilya, & Research Gate.
Tags: ore mineral minerals mine mines mining miners underground underground mining shaft shafts process processing extract extraction flotation deposit lode resource resources produce production productive lead zinc silver distribute distribution construction constructing develop developing development rust rustic ruin ruins abandon abandonment abandoned aboriginal indigenous wilyakali european europeans people peoples culture cultural history historic heritage outback alma zinc corporation broken hill far west new south wales australia
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The Block 10 mine, one of the original BHP leases, was floated as the BHP Block 10 Co. Ltd in 1888. A concentration mill was erected at the mine in the 1890s to treat sulphide ore. Underground subsidence seriously affected the mill and, as a result, a new mill was erected on this hill in 1903, about 600 metres from the mine.
An aerial ropeway, the first at Broken Hill, was completed in 1904. This transported broken ore from the mine to a large storage bin above the mill. The mill cost £50 000 and could treat 3500 tons of ore per week.
The mine produced 2.5 million tons of ore and paid £1.5 million in dividends up to 1923 when it and the mill closed and were purchased by BHP. The mine was reworked by Broken Hill South Ltd between 1946 and 1960. Much of the mine site is now covered by overburden dumps from modern open-cut operations.
The concrete foundations on site are the remnants of the Block 10 concentration mill erected in 1903. The mill, designed by Captain John Warren and containing many of his inventions, was the first all electric mill in Broken Hill.
The aerial ropeway delivered broken ore from the mine to a storage bin above the mill. Broken ore was fed to crushing rolls and then passed to cylindrical trommels and hydraulic classifiers for sizing. Subsequent treatment consisted of wet concentration by jigs, Wilfley tables and vanners. These relied on specific gravity to separate the heavier lead and silver minerals from the zinc minerals. The resultant concentrate contained about two-thirds of the lead and one-half of the silver in the original ore, but very little zinc.
Flotation units were added to the mill in 1910 to produce a zinc concentrate from the tailings. Combined gravity-flotation concentration mills were standard at Broken Hill until after 1930 when the first all-flotation plants were installed.
Source: City Of Broken Hill.
Tags: ore mineral minerals mine mines mining miners underground underground mining shaft shafts deposit lode resource resources produce production productive lead zinc silver distribute distribution construction constructing develop developing development geology geoscience geologist minerology minerologist aboriginal indigenous wilyakali european europeans people peoples culture cultural history historic heritage outback broken hill far west new south wales australia
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