COPPER AND COBALT

In the previous section on the Mines of Kuridala, the Hampden mines were described and a short trip was taken to the nearby amethyst field. On this page, we continue to travel southwards in order to visit the abandoned township of Selwyn and its copper mine, Mount Elliott, and further south again to the town and mine of Mount Cobalt. The route also takes us past another amethyst locality.

Selwyn lies 28.6km south from the sharp right hand bend in the road at Kuridala. The railway spur line from Malbon to Mount Elliott is followed closely for most of the way, and the Cloncurry River is crossed soon after passing the turnoff to Fancy Station.

A short distance past the Cloncurry River, the first flat-topped hills become evident. These consist of Mesozoic age sediments (about 100 million years old) lying on top of the much older Proterozoic rocks on which the road is built. This clearly shows that the Proterozoic terrain was flooded by the sea in the Mesozoic era and then covered by a sheet of sediment. The sea later retreated and weathering agents have since eroded nearly all the Mesozoic rocks leaving just a few remnants as isolated hills. Thus the country between the hills is probably only a few metres below the level of the old sea floor. This, together with the flat lying nature of the younger rocks, shows that there have been no major earth movements in this part of the country for at least 100 million years.

The township of Selwyn is far less obvious than that of Kuridala because there is not one building left standing there. However, a number of water tanks and plenty of other rubbish lying around the area mark its presence. Close to the left hand side of the road is a clump of trees and an old notice board with the word Selwyn just discernible on it. This marks the site of the post office, and behind it, down towards the creek, there is a small bottle dump and plenty of other odds and ends.

To reach the cemetery take a backward pointing turnoff to the left just before the post office site and proceed along it for 1.1 km. You should see a few headstones about 150 m at right angles to the track on the right hand side. There is no proper track to it. As with the Kuridala cemetery, the inscriptions on the stones make interesting reading and help to bring the life of the town more vividly to mind. Religious feeling must have been fairly strong in those days as there is a pronounced separation between two groups of graves - presumably Catholics and the rest.

A short distance from the post office along the main road, the old railway formation is crossed and a turnoff to the left will take you into the site of the Mount Elliott copper smelters and mine. The main surviving landmarks are the large slag dump and the handsome square brick stack; the shaft has fallen in and most of the plant was demolished, but most of the foundation work of the latter still remains on the low ground east of the slag dump.

Copper was found at Mount Elliott in 1899 and in 1907, the Mount Elliott Company was floated in London. Three years later, the railway reached the mine from Townsville, via Cloncurry, and the company smelted its first blister copper. In the following three years, shareholders received 100 percent return on their investments but by 1913, the rich secondary ore had been depleted and the mine nearly closed. It was saved only by the advent of World War 1 and the consequent sharp increase in the price of copper. All was well until 1918, when a number or natural and man-made disasters hit the mine, but the final blow came in 1919, when the copper price dropped following the end of the war, forcing Mount Elliott to close. Over the next nine years, the company, with an eye to the future, bought many promising mines in the district and tried to raise the capital to work them, but without success. The Mount Elliott Company eventually went into voluntary liquidation in 1953.

Back on the main road you soon pass a nondescript, but nevertheless interesting, spot about 3km south of Selwyn. Here you can stand on one of Australia's major divides which separates the streams flowing north into the Gulf of Carpentaria from those flowing south and into Lake Eyre. Rather fascinating!

Take the left hand branch 4.8km from Mount Elliott and keep a lookout for a minor right hand track another 7.8km further on. This leads to the Amethyst field in the prominent hills not far off the road. Amethyst can be found in large quantities here and its colour is fairly deep, but unfortunately much of it appears to be fractured and unsuitable for cutting. However there are several collecting sites here, and good quality stone may exist in some of them.

Further along the main road, Amoco's exploration camp is passed. Note your speedo reading here and take the gently branching track to the right, 1.9km past the camp. Keep to the left hand fork at 6.7km, and a further 1.14km will bring you opposite the Mount Cobalt tailings dump.

In my view, Mount Cobalt is one of the most fascinating localities in the whole Mount Isa - Cloncurry area, because there is so much old machinery still on the site. This allows the visitor to visualise the mine and treatment operation most vividly. The shaft winding drums are still in position at the top of the inclined haulage way, and in the nearby plant, the remains of a thickener; four Wilfley vibrating tables and two vanners can be found. Enormous cast iron gear wheels lie scattered about the site like meccano pieces. The plant was run by electricity generated from steam produced by the horizontal boiler near the tailings dump.

Cobalt was found here in 1919 and the concentrator commissioned in 1922. Operations were intermittent over the next few years because of a serious water supply problem. In fact, the seven years of mill operation, from 1923 to 1929, coincided exactly with a severe seven-year drought, which effectively killed the company. Only 1500 tons of ore were mined in that period and the fate of the mine was finally sealed when, in 1931, the main shaft caught fire and destroyed much of the underground and surface installations.

Some good specimens of the secondary mineral Erythrite can be found in the east wall of the main open cut. Erythrite is a soft bright pink.
It is an oxide of cobalt and arsenic, and formed in the upper levels of the mine by the oxidation of Cobaltite and cobalt arsenic sulphide, which was found at deeper levels.
Don't lick your fingers after collecting the erythrite!

Remnants of the Mount Cobalt township can be seen north and south of the mine area, especially on the opposite side of the road. This would have been a hot little spot at the best of times, but conditions must have been very trying indeed during the 1920s drought. Mining townships have certainly changed since then.

Roc Doc.

Early 1900's Photographs

Courtesy of Greg Humphrey and the Mount Isa Family History Society.

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