Burra (Australia)

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Burra
State : AustraliaAustralia Australia
State : Flag of South Australia.svg South Australia
Founded : 1845
Coordinates : 33 ° 40 ′  S , 138 ° 56 ′  E Coordinates: 33 ° 40 ′  S , 138 ° 56 ′  E
Area : 3.8  km²
Residents : 907 (2016)
Population density : 239 inhabitants per km²
Time zone : ACST (UTC + 9: 30)
Postal code : 5417
LGA : Regional Council of Goyder
Burra (South Australia)
Burra
Burra
Burra open pit mine

Burra is a city in the Australian state of South Australia . The place is about 150 km north of Adelaide on the Barrier Highway . Burra became famous for its copper mining and was one of the first mining centers in Australia .

history

In 1845 local shepherds discovered two copper deposits in the area of ​​what would later become the city. In order to obtain the rights to the deposits, the land had to be bought from the government for £ 20,000. Two parties made up of Adelaide businesspeople formed. The two parties bought the land and a lottery ticket decided who got which deposit. The association of capital owners known as "Nobs" received the lot for the Princess Royal deposit south of what would later become the city. However, this deposit contained little ore and mining was stopped again in 1951. The second party, the South Australian Mining Association (known as the "Snobs"), made up of Adelaide traders, won the lottery for the Monster Mine .

Miners in the Burra Burra Mine (before 1870)

Underground mining began in September 1845. One month later the mine was renamed Burra Burra Mine after a local river course. The handpicked ore was first transported by carts to Port Adelaide and from there shipped to Wales, where it was eventually melted into copper. In the following years the ore was transported to Kapunda , the next rail connection. Smelting works were built in Burra in 1849 in order to be able to produce copper metal on site. The high water table was a major problem and in the early 1850s powerful pumps were installed to keep the pits dry. Over the years, the gold rush in Victoria made things even more difficult, pulling many workers out of Burra.

In the early days of mining, Burra had more than 5,000 inhabitants at times. The different population groups (miners from Cornwall, Scotland, Wales and England) each had their own villages, which grew together to form Burra.

In 1867, the decision was made to mine the deposit in open-cast mining in order to be able to develop lower-grade copper ore. Many of the facilities on the deposit were dismantled, as were the smelters, to make room for the opencast mine. The ores were then smelted in Port Adelaide. Opencast mining began in 1870, but in 1875 underground mining was resumed on deeper levels. In 1877 mining had to be stopped due to the high cost of drainage and the low price of copper. Up to 1877 around 700,000 tons of ore were mined and 50,000 tons of copper were extracted from it.

In 1961, the South Australia government's Department for Mines began investigating the deposit, followed by Mines Exploration Ltd. and Samin Ltd. In 1971 open-pit mining was resumed. In 1978 Adelaide & Walleroo Fertilizers Ltd. bought the deposit and continued mining until 1981. In this second phase, two million tons of ore were mined and 40,000 tons of copper were produced. Phoenix Copper Ltd. is currently working in the vicinity of Burra . explored on copper and gold.

In 1930 the Mongolata gold field was discovered 15 km east of Burra . To date, this has produced more than 11,000 ounces of gold from around 7,500 tons of ore. Active mining licenses for the field are still held by small companies.

Today Burra lives mainly from tourism. The well-preserved buildings from the 19th century as well as the legacies of the mining industry including old mine buildings and museum are the attractions of the city.

geology

Copper ore with malachite and azurite from Burra

The ore bodies of Burra are located in the Neoproterozoic sediments of the so-called Adelaidean. The subunit containing the ore bodies was named after the Burra Group deposit . It is mainly quartzites and dolomites . The ore body itself is relatively small, but contains ore contents of up to 20% by weight copper due to supergene enrichment. The main ore minerals in this zone are malachite and azurite . The sulphidic mineralization below contains far lower copper contents.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics : Burra (L) ( English ) In: 2016 Census QuickStats . June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c Drexel, JF, 1982. Mining in South Australia - A Pictorial History. South Australia Department of Mines and Energy, ISBN 0-7243-6094-8
  3. ^ Drew, GJ, 2004. Goldfields of South Australia. Primary Industries and Resources South Australia, ISBN 0-7590-1355-1

Web links

Commons : Burra, South Australia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files