Mine sights in Pacific
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Bon Accord Complex
At the Bon Accord Complex, a Scottish mining enterprise found underground water instead of copper. Not to be deterred, the canny Scots sold the site to the town, and the property supplied Burra's water until 1966. The site is now an interpretive centre.
reviewed
-
Mitchell’s Gully Gold Mine
For a true taste of the region’s gold mining past, swing into Mitchell’s Gully Gold Mine, 22km south of Westport, where you'll meet a pioneer's descendents and explore the family mine. There are interesting tales, relics, tunnels and railtracks, plus a giant waterwheel and the odd trap-door spider.
reviewed
-
B
Delprat's Mine
There's an excellent underground tour at Delprat's Mine where you don miners gear and descend 130m in a cage for a two-hour tour of stopes and working equipment. Delprat's is signposted across the railway tracks.
reviewed
-
C
Umoona Opal Mine & Museum
The Umoona Opal Mine & Museum is a large complex right in the centre of town, with informative tours of the mine and displays of Aboriginal mythology and traditions, as well as exhibitions on the early mining days.
reviewed
-
D
Super Pit Lookout
The view from the Super Pit Lookout, just off the Goldfields Hwy in Boulder, is staggering, with building-sized trucks zigzagging up and down the huge hole and looking like kids’ toys. Good info is given in the on-site signs.
reviewed
-
Cantilevers
The first shipment of 2000 tonnes of phosphate left Nauru in 1907. By 1908 vast industrial architecture began to be installed. Between the world wars, the first of two huge cantilevers was built on the coast, enabling phosphate to be loaded onto ships more efficiently. After WWII demand for phosphate rose and by the 1960s a second cantilever was in operation.
reviewed
-
Panguna
High in the centre of the island, the dormant mine of Panguna (still off-limits at the time of writing) is one of the world's largest artificial holes. Bougainville Copper Limited was the operator of the open-cut mine. Copper was discovered at Panguna in 1964. There are talks of reopening that mine once the situation in Bougainville is fully stabilised. Stay tuned.
reviewed
-
Battery Hill Mining Centre
Experience life in Tennant Creek's 1930s gold rush at this mining centre 1.5km east of town. There are underground mine tours and audio tours of the 10-head battery. In addition there is a superb Minerals Museum and you can try your hand at gold panning. The admission price gives access to all of the above, or you can choose to visit the Minerals and Social History Museums only (adult/family $5/10), or just go panning ($5 per person).
While you're here, ask for the key ($20 refundable deposit) to the old Telegraph Station, which is just off the highway about 12km north of town. This is one of only four of the original 11 stations remaining in the Territory. Just north of…
reviewed
-
Tom Price Mine
An ugly scar to some, an awe-inspiring testament to the industrial revolution to others, there's no doubting the sheer impact of Tom Price. This is what it looks like when you find a mountain of iron, cut it up into small lumps and ship it away.
The first mine to be established in the Hamersley Ranges, Tom Price is still the largest and most significant in the region. Producing more than a quarter of Hamersley iron's annual output of 76.5 million tonnes of ore, the mine is named for the American engineer whose enthusiasm first led to the development of the massive Pilbara deposits. Tours leave daily during the peak months between April and October and are arranged for…
reviewed
-
Ok Tedi Mine
The open-cut Ok Tedi mine has been yielding gold and copper from Mt Fubilan, just beyond Tabubil, since 1984. For a time it was the largest gold mine outside South Africa, and if you can persuade Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) to let you visit (having done the mandatory two-hour safety course), the immense size of the operation won't fail to impress.
The logistics are extraordinary: to get the ore to ships off the PNG coast, a copper/gold slurry is sent 140km through a pipeline to Kiunga, where it's loaded on to barges for the 800km trip down the Fly River.
The mine has not been without controversy. In 1984 a tailings dam collapsed allowing 80,000 tons of pollution per day…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
E
Goldmine Experience
Walk through a mine tunnel, watch a stamper battery crush rock, learn about the history of the Cornish miners and try your hand at panning for gold ($2 extra).
reviewed