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Iron Blow was the site of the earliest major mining venture at Mount Lyell on the west coast of
The first shot on the site was in January 1884 - and most local prospectors were camped in the
Self Acting Haulage of Mount Lyell 2ft Tramway in Tasmania.jpg, Foot of the Haulage line in early 1890s
Mount Lyell Mine - Foot of the haulage line (1895) (27698485815).jpg, Foot of the Haulage line in the 1895
Haulage Line by 1900 with loss of vegetation.jpg, Foot of the Haulage line by 1900 with denuded landscape showing
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
, Australia in 1883.
Original form
Geoffrey Blainey describes the appearance prior to its being mined:They (Those mentioned above) examined the strange formation. It jutted twenty or thirty feet above the surface and was split by deep cracks and crevices as if a great explosion had fractured the rock and flung slabs far down the hill...(they)... had seen no similar outcrop in their brief mining experience. What lay beneath the ironstone crust?
Mining
The first shot on the site was in January 1884 - and most local prospectors were camped in the Linda Valley
Linda Valley is a valley in the West Coast Range (Tasmania), West Coast Range of Tasmania. It was earlier known as the Vale of Chamouni. It is located between Mount Owen, Tasmania, Mount Owen and Mount Lyell, Tasmania, Mount Lyell.
Human settle ...
to the east of the Mount Owen - Mount Lyell ridge - also known as Philosophers Ridge
The townsite of Penghana, the present site of Queenstown - to the west was still thick rainforest.
Following the establishment of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company in 1893, the Iron Blow orebody was mined until 1929.
Haulage
The transport of ore from the Iron Blow down to the operations area of the mine linking to the railway, was by the commonly known ''Haulage'', although more technical terms included ''Self Acting Haulage''.End of the era
The cessation of the Iron Blow mining was also linked in with the demise of the Mount Lyell pyritic smelting - the cessation of Robert Carl Sticht's smelters and methods.Geoffrey Blainey, The Peaks of Lyell, Third edition, Chapter 25 'The End of an Era',p.260 The development of the West Lyell Open cut, and the later development of the Prince Lyell ore bodies removed all vestiges of the original workings.See also
* Copper extraction techniques *West Coast Tasmania Mines
The mines of the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast of Tasmania have a rich historical heritage as well as an important mineralogy, mineralogical value in containing or having had found, specimens of rare and unusual minerals. Also, the various m ...
References
Further reading
*External links
* {{Western Tasmania Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company West Coast Range 1883 establishments in Australia