Rosebery is a town on the west coast of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. It is at the northern end of the

West Coast Range The West Coast Range is a mountain range located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The range lies to the west and north of the main parts of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. The range has had a significant nu ...

, in the shadow of

Mount Black Mount Black () is a prominent mountain of Antarctica, high, with a gentle snow-covered slope on its southwest side and a steep rock face on its northwest side, forming a part of the polar escarpment just west of Bennett Platform and the upper re ...

and adjacent to the Pieman River now

Lake Pieman Lake Pieman is a man-made reservoir created by the damming of the Pieman River The Pieman River is a major perennial river located in the west coast region of Tasmania, Australia. Course and features Formed by the confluence of the Mackint ...

. It lies on the

Murchison Highway The Murchison Highway is a highway located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The highway runs generally north–south, with Somerset, near Burnie, as its northern terminus and Zeehan as its southern terminus. The highway ...

, 25 kilometres north-east of

Zeehan Zeehan is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia south-west of Burnie. It is part of the West Coast Council, along with the seaport Strahan, and neighbouring mining towns of Dundas, Rosebery and Queenstown. History The greater ...

and is part of the Municipality of West Coast Council. At the , Rosebery had a population of 752. The population of Rosebery declined by 22% in the years between 1996-2001. Its newer western area on the shore of Lake Pieman is known as Primrose.

History

Like most of the other settlements on the west coast of Tasmania, Rosebery is a

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

town. In 1893, prospector Tom McDonald discovered gold in alluvial wash, along with boulders of zinc-lead sulphide in dense rainforest on the slopes of Mount Black. McDonald pegged several claims in the name of the Rosebery Prospecting Association (named after Lord Rosebery), which later became the Rosebery Gold Mining Company. The South Rosebery Mining Company was formed soon after to mine the southern continuation of the orebody. In 1896, the Rosebery Gold Mining Company was reconstructed as the Tasmanian Copper Company, and the South Rosebery Mining Company became the Primrose Mining Company. Rosebery Post Office opened on 1 November 1897. The main mineral found in the orebody was zinc, but due to the lack of a technique to successfully extract the zinc from the ore, little could be done to exploit the orebody. One company formed to experiment in the processing of zinc ores was the Tasmanian Metals Extraction Company (TME) who built a large plant next to the track to Williamsford, completed in 1912. The experiment was unsuccessful and the plant closed in 1914. The Rosebery mines passed into the hands of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway company in 1916, and the mines were eventually merged with the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia (EZ), who had discovered an effective method for the extraction of zinc. In 1926, construction of a processing mill at Rosebery began, and in 1931, an aerial ropeway to transport ore from the Hercules Mine near Williamsford was completed. Due to the Great Depression, the Rosebery Mill was not completed until 1936. The Rosebery Mine has operated continuously since then, with 75 year celebrations held during February, 2011. The mine is currently operated by

Minerals and Metals Group MMG Limited is a mid-tier global resources company that mines, explores and develops base metal projects around the world. MMG's largest shareholder is China Minmetals with 68%.zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

. Previous mine owners included

Pasminco Pasminco was an Australian mining company founded in 1988. It was placed in voluntary administration in September 2001 with its assets sold in stages until 2004 when the remaining assets were spun-off to Zinifex. History Pasminco was establish ...

and

Zinifex Zinifex was an Australian company that operated lead and zinc mines, refineries and a lead smelter. It was established in April 2004, when the assets of Pasminco were spun-off. In 2008 it merged with Oxiana to form OZ Minerals. History In ...

. Prior to the construction of the

in the 1960s, the town was connected with Burnie and North West Tasmania via the Emu Bay Railway.

Climate

Roseberry has a damp

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(''Cfb'') with mild moist summers and cool, very wet winters. Sunshine is low; The city only receives 16.5 clear days annually, and as much as 168.1 cloudy days per annum. February is the "driest" month and September is the wettest, as the westerly wind belt (i.e. roaring forties) prevails the region.

Notable residents

* Richard Flanagan - author, historian and film director

Gallery

File:Mine Buildings Rosebery Tasmania.JPG, File:Rosebery Station Melba Line.JPG, File:Rosebery Bridge Melba Line.JPG, File:Disused Bucketway Murchison Highway Rosebery.JPG, File:Rosebery Stitt Falls.ogv,

References

External links

Crib & Cradle - Stay in Authentic Miners Accommodation in the heart of Rosebery.Mineral Resources Tasmania - Zinifex Rosebery mine Minerals and Metals Group 'MMG Rosebery provides feedback on workforce testing' April 2010
*http://www.lead.org.au/ *http://www.lead.org.au/lg%20las%20mr.html
Toxic heavy metals in Tasmania
at SourceWatch {{authority control Localities of West Coast Council Towns in Tasmania Mining towns in Tasmania Articles containing video clips Pieman River Power Development