ROMANCE OF COBAR COPPER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 178, 23 April 1919, Page 10

ROMANCE OF COBAR COPPER

WELL-KNOWN AUSTRALIAN MINES CLOSED

STORY OF THEIR DISCOVERY

The closing down of the copper mines of Cobar is n tragedy in the history of production in Australia, states tlio Sydney "Sunday Times." It is aH tho more deplorable in that Iho closing is nijt due to the -working out of the locfes in the properties of the company, but to the depreciated value of the product. Here history has • repealed itself calamitously for ono of the great industries of the State. In 18S9 operations nt the mine had to be suspended "owing to tbo excessive cost of transport and the extremely low price of copper." At that time the company had an agreement with the French Society of Metals under which the whole output of the mine was to be taken at JGGO per ton on the ship at Sydney. ' . The <rrea.t copper field was (he accidental discovery of three well-sinkers, Campbell, Hartmann, and Gibb, who, before the big flood of 1870, had taken contracts to sink a number of wells and dams. ■ , The pastoralist community of the West was at this timo in dire distress, for there had been a succession of dry seasons, 'and stock had perished in great num'liers. In passing, it may bo mentioned that when" the W nf iRTfI came there was some rnin. The Darling overflowed, and the waters spread over 50 miles of country. The party-gold miners from the Bendigo district of Victoria—had put down a few wells; but with the over-abundance of water their occupation was gone. ■ They had seen what induced them to think'there was gold in the country, and, being gold men, they looked for gold— which they knew. They made their hoadonarters at the Priory Stationabandoned on account of Hie drought— tnlcinc the place from-tho Krmro faivily, who'had moved south with their stock. A Rich Rook Hole. As the Victorians did not know the lay of the country in the Bourke district, they engaged two ' aboriginals, Prank and Boney. to guide them. Boney was the pilot, and he took them by boat from Bourke to Louth, down the Darling bv way of Wittagoona. to Cobar. Their first camp was at a natural rock holo on top of tho rise, almost oh the spot where the smelting office of the Great Cobar Company stands to-day. Tins lock hole was a natural cavity about Bft. x sft. x sft., and the formation was kaolin, with streaks of blue and green carbonates showing, on the-eastern wall, like rivers on a map—to use the precise words oF Mr. H. J. Cornish. The Bendigo men did not know what thev had found. Copper was a stranger to them. But they had no doubt they had values in something, and took samples down the river. They met the Krnges again, and Mr=. Kruge, who had worked in the mines of Cornwall, nssur ed them they had located a valuable copper deposit. The prospectors returned immediately to Bourke, and 6howed the specimens -to Mr. Joseph Becker, a local merchant. He was impressed, and, with Mr. Bradley (Cobb and Co.), Mr. Russell Barton, aud "Gimdabooka Smith, took up forty acres of the outcrop and formed the first Cobar Copper Co. - The survey was effected by Mr. Evans, then Government Surveyor, the first survey pegs being placed by Mr. Cornish, who. to loeate the outlandish spot in which the copper had been found had to take observations from the stars. No work was done on the mine .for some tune after the survey. Then'it was decided to send a load of the ore to South Australia, and -three tons were sent by bill-, lock drav to Louth, thence by boat to Adelaide. • The result of the treatment of. the sample, was satisfactory, and copper miners from South' Australia were brought over to wovk the •mine. The first manager' was John Varcoe, and he was succeeded by Captain Lean (Moonta). who brought, with him six more experienced cornier men. The First Shaft. The first shaft of the Great Cobar was sunk immediately east ami north of the rock hole iii which the prospectors had found their samples, and good copper was taken down all the way from the surface as tho sinking proceeded. The transport difficulty was a'serious one. At that time the field was 035 miles from Sydney, by way of Bourke, and tho distance is now 101 miles by way of Nyniran. Water was scarce and travelling a hardship, and, hams could not go to the field nith supplies, nor leave it with the product of the mine, except when all things were favonrabb. But the Great Cobar had proved itself a mine, and was work-lid to profit. In 1871, the Occidental was taken up For copper by Cornish and party, 100 ft. of sinking and 50ft. of cross-cutting wore done, and-the show was abandoned, and left idle for years. Bu.a crushing of the ore, sent to Balarat for trcutment, showed gold values of loz. per ton— which, undex- the conditions, would not pay. The "next mine started was called tho C.S.A. for the reason that the principals in its opening were a Corhishinan, a Scbt, and an Australian. After they had made their strike, they had not the money to pay the 10s. per acre required to -protect their lease, and 'the necessary sum was advanced them by Mr. Nancarr'ow, of Maitland. Several mines were opened and worked for good values in the course of the next few years. With the introductioli of smelting it was possible to treat ore of smaller value in copper, and profits' increased. How much more the proprietors might have made had they known tlio gold values in the copper sent away can" only be guessed at. Mr. Russell Barton stated that tho gold content of the copper sent' out in the early days of tic mine ran from -soz. to 3oz. to ,the ton. Aji assay from "bores in a number of ingots of copper lhade in 1881 showed: Gold. 2oz. 12dwta. 4-grs.; silver, loz. Sdwt.; and copper, 92.05 per cent. But it was not till the middie of 1804 hat the attention of buyers was drawn to tho other values, in recoverable quantities, and an added payment of .£7 per ton over the quotations for Chile bars was made. Concentration secured still letter copper values, and in' 1898 the gold and silver content of the copper from Groat Cobar enhanced tho value by .£2O per ton. In 1016, when tho London price per standard ton of copper was .1:110, the Cobar district produced .£155.210 worth of copper, out of a total production for the State of worth, against J!822,527 worth, output by the great copper mines of South Australia.