The Great Cobar mine

Sorry for the new thread but thought it could be interesting to keep as a reference.

Great to be reminded of Karios and Federation and just how good those intercepts are Tangs and Bellcurve.

I am also really interested in what might be lurking at Great Cobar.

I have found some info but it the mine operated at a time when mining technology was not as advanced as today. I believe some on this board have much greater knowledge and would be interested on their take on the subject.

Sorry for the cut and pastes but these are interesting extracts on The Great Cobar mine that might save you reading it all.

Source https://www.resourcesandenergy.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/109192/cobars-mining-history.pdf

“There are three important mining belts in the Cobar area, the 'Cobar belt', 'Canbelego belt' and 'Girilambone belt'. The area's current two major mines, Elura and CSA , are both within the Cobar belt. The Cobar belt, passing through Cobar town area, is the most important of the three major belts. It is believed to contain the largest Phanerozoic concentration of base metals in New South Wales, and one of the largest in Australia.”

“The operations at Great Cobar reached a very impressive peak. For a time Great Cobar was one of the main industrial undertakings in the State, and the largest copper mining venture in Australia.”

“The 1880s were relative boom years at Cobar, which ranked as the Colony's richest and most promising metalliferous field prior to the discovery of Broken Hill. The emphasis remained on copper, but interest also grew in the gold content of the Cobar lodes. The considerable gold content of Cobar copper was known, and in 1882 coarse specimen gold was encountered at Great Cobar.”

“In 1898 the Great Cobar Syndicate began precious metals extraction at its Lithgow refinery, with a large yield of gold and silver. The quantities of these metals previously disposed of within Cobar copper is unestimated”

“Rock creep and partial collapse also began to affect the central and southern sections of the workings, perhaps as early as 1911, and by 1913 had extended down as far as No. 9 Level.”

“The slump in copper prices following World War 1 caused great stress for all the mines and first led to curtailment of operations at the Great Cobar Ltd mines. The Great Cobar mine closed on cessation of War Office contracts in March 1919.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-18/cobar-mining-underground-for-water-the-new-gold/11796716

“Once Australia'sbiggest copper mine, it closed 100 years ago. Water has since seeped into andfilled its old workings, like an underground dam.”

From what I have alsoread (sorry can’t remember the references) the Great Cobar mine was very shallow and only went down to 450m. The lowest point of the Peak Mine is almost 2 km deep. Mining at the time was hampered by timber stoping, timber availability, water ingress.

From comment at the AGM Ibelieve the decline to gain access to The Great Cobar mine was about half completed (29 Nov 2019).

I have also heard thatthe old timers said there was more resource left in Great Cobar than was evertaken out. If it is a typical Cobar deposit it could go down multiples of the previously mined depth and remember this was at one time the largest copper mine in Australia! Sorry no reference but drilling planned will confirm oneway or the other. I think I might have even read similar comment on this board.

These will be exciting results to wait for.

Nice for Aurelia to havea few irons in the fire!!
Happy New Year to all holders!