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Copper Mines In Australia

Ever thought the place that the copper piping or wiring used in the home and appliances originates from? It's likely that, it had been extracted from one of Australia's large copper mines. Australia, after Chile, the United States of America and Indonesia, is definitely the fourth largest producer of copper in the Western world. Even if we have now a significant large distribution of copper mineralization, unfortunately we cannot obtain that many mines.

The greatest producers of copper in Australia could be the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia and also the Mount Isa mines in Queensland. The mining operations in Northparkes and Cadia-Ridgeway (Nsw), Golden Grove (Western Australia), Ernest Henry and Osborne (Queensland), and Mount Lyell (Tasmania) will also be of note for his or her copper ore production.

Olympic Dam This copper mine is situated an extensive 550 kilometres from Adelaide. That it was discovered in 1975 by Western Mining Corporation, but production did not begin until 1988. The mine currently belongs to BHP Billiton.

Mount Isa The series of mines in Mount Isa were discovered by miner John Campbell Miles in 1923. The copper ore was discovered in 1927. The company (Mount Isa Mines) was founded in 1924 and production began shortly afterwards in 1931. The mine is a significant part of the Xstrata mining company.

Northparkes Located 27 kilometres away from the town of Parkes, this copper mine was discovered in 1977. Production began in 1994, with all the open pit mining method. Currently, 80% of the mine is properties of Rio Tinto Group plus the other 20% by Sumitomo Group.

Cadia-Ridgeway This mine are available around 20 kilometres with the town of Orange and was initially opened in 1998. Through the 1990's, the complete area got its start plus its the second largest open cut mine in Australia. It's currently operated by Newcrest Mining, its keep are speculations that it'll close sometime during 2013.

Golden Grove Located 52 kilometres off the town of Yalgoo, this copper mine is operated by Minerals and Metals Group. They took over ownership in 2009 after previous owners, OZ Minerals, met financial hardships.

Ernest Henry Named following the father of Cloncurry and its particular founder, Ernest Henry, this mine is discovered in1866. It, however, did not begin commercial production until 1998.

Osborne Because mine is very isolated from your nearby towns, it is actually run as being a fly-in fly-out operation from Townsville. Production in this copper mining began in 1995, and has now been owned by Barrick Gold Corp since 2006.

Mount Lyell Located nearby to Queenstown, this mine was opened in 1896 and then reopened in 1995 by Copper Mines of Tasmania.

Although Australia has much less copper mines than other high-producing companies, the exact amount and quality of the metal that they mine in excess of makes up as it. Many of these mines are exposed to everyone, allowing tourists to evaluate the mining and production process.