Charles Rasp, born Hieronymous Salvator Lopez von Pereira,Broken Hill Visitor Information Centre > About Broken Hill > Local Factbook > Charles Rasp
Accessed 22 May 2014. (7 October 1846 – 22 May 1907) is known as the first person to identify the economic potential of the ore deposits at

Broken Hill, New South Wales Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

, Australia. He was born at

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, where he was educated and he was trained in chemistry. He emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

to improve his health in 1869 and worked at a variety of jobs on rural stations, eventually ending up at the Mount Gipps Station managed by

George McCulloch George McCulloch (February 22, 1792 – April 6, 1861) was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. George McCulloch was born in Maysville, Kentucky. Upon the death of his ...

, where he was employed as a boundary rider (Coulls, 1976 and Camilleri, 2006).

Biography

Inspired by the silver rush to nearby Silverton, he began to prospect in the area of

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

. One day while mustering sheep in the Broken Hill paddock towards the end of September 1883, he was struck by the mineral appearance and formation of the 'Broken Hill'. He joined forces with local contractors David James and James Poole, and they took out a mining lease on part of Broken Hill and sank a small shaft. Though discouraged by early

assay An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine, mining, pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a ...

results, they persisted and soon after were joined by four others (all working on Mount Gipps) forming the Syndicate of Seven. George McCulloch and Charles Rasp pegged out further leases which took in the whole of Broken Hill, the original name of which was said to be Wilyu-Wilyu-yong (Curtis, 1908). They were prospecting for

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

, but early assay results found only low grade

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

ore and traces of silver (Curtis, 1908). It was not until late 1884 or early 1885 that rich quantities of silver were found and the

Broken Hill Proprietary Company BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

(BHP) was floated to mine the leases. Rasp received an allocation of shares and, within five years, he was rich (Coulls, 1976). Rasp moved to Adelaide, married and dabbled in mining interests until his death in 1907.

References

*Coulls
'Rasp, Charles (1846–1907)'
''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, 1976, p9. *Leonard Samuel Curtis, The History of Broken Hill, Its Rise and Progress, Frearson's Printing House, Adelaide, South Australia 1908. *Jenny Camilleri, In The Broken Hill Paddock, printed by Openbook Australia . {{DEFAULTSORT:Rasp, Charles 1846 births 1907 deaths German emigrants to Australia Scientists from Stuttgart Australian prospectors Burials at North Road Cemetery History of Broken Hill