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| Silver Peak Mine Yerranderie |
The Colon Peak Mine·
Main shaft 460ft
long, 15,000ft of levels. ·
Suction gas
plant, five boilers and a concentrating mill. ·
Approx 45 men
were employed. The Colon Peak Mine was practically the first to start production of
payable ore. From 1898-1923 it produced £600,000
worth of bullion
(1925 standard). No capitalisation
was ever needed through its entire operation.
The lode was the most favourable on the field; 220 tons of ore yielded
11,328 oz of silver, 25 ozs of gold and 12 tons of lead.
Operations restarted in 1969, new plant installed but shut down before
any ore was extracted due to the collapse of the market price.
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Bartlett’s
Shaft No 6
Main shaft 700ft long, 11,000ft of levels. Although adjoined to above mine it had separate surface plant,
consisting of a small boiler, winding engine, rock breaker and a 50hp gas
engine, as well as a high-speed compressor, which supplied air to the Colon
Peak’s Mine for pumps and rock drills. These
mines covered an area of 235 acres. Boys were paid 10 shillings a day to chip off hard scale in
the boilers during holidays.
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The
Silver Peak or Bore Block Mine
Main shaft vertical for 564ft thence at 30 degrees for 560ft, 9.000
ft of levels. Three boilers, Robey winding machine, milling plant.
60-70 men employed, opened in 1904.
It covered an area of 260 acres and the largest body of ore was
discovered at this mine. In some parts the reef had the extraordinary thickness (Yerranderie
standard) of 13ft, containing valuable high-grade ores eg a length of 135ft
yielded 20 tons of silver, 1.700 tons of lead and 562ozs of gold.
Prior to 1914 a concentration plant was erected to secure the recovery of
the silver, lead and gold. A safety
cage allows visitors to peer into the shaft. Note extensive environmental damage caused 80 years ago is still a
visible scar on the landscape.
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The
Wollondilly, formerly Starlight/Yerranderie Mine
Main shaft 448ft slope 30 degrees, total length of levels 20,000ft.
Connection made to Burragorang Mine.
Concentrating plant, mills and boilers.
This successful mine opened around 1898 and consistently gave good
dividends, at the same time being the best developed mine.
Locally known as Hilders Claim the value of ore produced paid upwards of
£20,000 per acre. It covered 117
acres. Pure (native) silver was
found in the upper of 24 levels. A
vast dump of second grade crushed silver ore can be found here.
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The
Wonga, formerly Tonalli Mine
Main shaft 850ft long, slope 18 degrees. Opened in 1911 it had its own winding gear, boiler and air
compressor and was worked together with the Burragorang Mine.
The lode on Wonga was unpromising, although some ore assayed as highly as
1.500ozs of silver per ton and 60% lead. Quartz
containing iron pyrites (fool’s gold), silver and lead can still be found
around the entrance to the mineshaft.
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The
Burragorang Mine
Main shaft 1175ft long, slope 28 degrees, 1,800 ft of levels.
On the same lode as Wollondilly it yielded £100,000 worth of bullion
with some very rich ore, 200ozs of silver per ton, 40% lead and some gold,
stopped operating in 1922.
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Piece
of Pork Mine
Situated on the right hand bank of the Tonalli River only medium grade ore was picked over this 10 acre site.
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