As stated, the ownership of these mines is strictly British, and at present the refining and marketing is now British instead of German. Two refineries, both recently enlarged and improved, now have a capacity of over 60,000 tons a year, which is well in excess of the present output of the country. Towards the end of 1917, the Copper Producers’ Association Proprietary, Ltd., was formed in Australia for the purpose of selling and shipping copper on a co-operative basis. All copper producers were invited to join. Wallaroo & Moonta, Mount Morgan, Mount Lyell and the Cloncurry mines are members of this association, as is the Electrolytic Refining & Smelting Co., which treats the ores of these mines. The company markets its products in England and Australia. Its chief brands are E. S. A. (electrolytic) and E. S.A.F.R. (fire refined). These brands are also sold by Elder Smith & Co., Ltd., of London and Australia, which has had a financial interest in the Wallaroo & Moonta Co. since the early days, and has financed and marketed the copper production of this company since 1915.
Metals Products, Ltd., has recently been formed, with works at Port Kembla producing copper wire, brass goods, etc. Importation of copper and brass products into Australia should entirely disappear if the plans of the Australian government and copper producers do not miscarry.
The oldest mine and one of the two leading mines in Australasia is the Wallaroo & Moonta, in South Australia. This deposit occurs in a pre-Cambrian complex, intersected by pegmatitic dikes. Ore reserves are believed to be ample: say five years’ supply of developed ore. In recent years, production has been very steady at about 7,000 tons per year of refined copper. This is the only important copper deposit of pre-Cambrian age in Australia.
The other leading mine in Australia is Mount Morgan, in Queensland, which until 1910 was one of the largest gold mines in the world. The gold was in the oxidized top of a large low-grade copper deposit, which is now being mined from open cuts. Primary chalcocite, chalcopyrite and pyrite with quartz constitutes the ore deposit. The ore runs 2¹⁄₂ per cent. copper and is concentrated up to 7 per cent. The reserves exceed 4,000,000 tons of 2¹⁄₂ per cent. copper, or 10 years’ supply.
The Cloncurry district is a large area, 200 by 40 miles in extent, containing several copper deposits, which occur in schist and are mainly small bonanzas. The future of this district seems very promising. The chief mines are Hampden Cloncurry, Mount Elliott, Mount Cuthbert; and the developed ore reserves insure five years’ production. The Hampden Cloncurry mine has 300,000 tons of 7 per cent. ore in reserve, a smelter producing blister copper, and railroad connections. The district is hampered by bad climate, etc., and especially by labor conditions. Recent government rulings (1918), as to very short hours of labor and higher wages, are reducing outputs. The Mount Elliott mine, which has a 300,000-ton deposit of 10 per cent. ore, is now (1919) idle because of labor conditions. The Mount Cuthbert mine, which completed a new smelter in 1917, has reserves of 150,000 tons of 6¹⁄₂ per cent. copper, and railroad connections.
The Mount Lyell mine, in Tasmania, is an old and steady producer. One class of ore runs 0.5 per cent. of copper and 1.25 ounces silver; the other contains 6 per cent. copper ore, with the same amount of silver. This is a disseminated deposit in schist, near a conglomerate contact. No igneous rocks are known in the vicinity. The reserves are 2,000,000 tons of low-grade ore and 1,000,000 tons of high grade; insuring the present output for 15 years. Considerable of the ore is mined open cut, and this is one of the lowest grade profitable mines in the world. Ores are smelted direct after being mixed, so that the product going to the furnace runs 2¹⁄₂ per cent. copper.
The Great Cobar mine, in New South Wales, works cupriferous pyrite carrying 2 to 2¹⁄₂ per cent. copper. Cobar used to produce 4,000 to 5,000 tons of copper a year. After erecting a 1,200-ton smelter in 1912, the company was placed in the hands of a receiver, April, 1914. The reserves are believed to be large. The other chief mines in New South Wales (the C. S. A., Mount Hope, Nymagee, etc.) produce together about as much as Great Cobar. These mines have smelters, and for the most part were formerly of much greater importance than they are today. Several have no railway connections, and this is an important handicap to New South Wales mines, which once produced twice the present output.
In West Australia, there have been developed recently a number of promising deposits of pyritic copper ores. There are no important producers, there being no railways.
The present conditions in Australia, in which labor conditions are most important, and the absence of new railroad construction, have seriously affected the development of the copper industry, but the future seems promising. Several important deposits have proved large and the ore bodies persistent. Much of the country has not been explored and many good showings could be worked and some probably developed into profitable mines if conditions were favorable to new ventures. Just the reverse is the case, however. The Mount Lyell company has been exploring northern Tasmania, and recently found in the mine of the Tasmania Copper Co. about 1,000,000 tons of ore carrying copper, zinc, gold and silver and worth $20 to $30 per ton, gross.
It is believed that Australia will continue to be an important copper producer; probably its importance will increase. Weighted reserves, in terms of ore supply to maintain present output, insure copper production continuing undiminished for 7.2 years. These reserves are well distributed among the various producers.