North Mount Lyell was the name of a mine, mining company, locality (sometimes as North Lyell) and former railway north of Gormanston on the southern slopes of Mount Lyell in the

West Coast Range The West Coast Range is a mountain range located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The range lies to the west and north of the main parts of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. The range has had a significant numb ...

on the West Coast of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, and on to the ridge between Mount Lyell and Mount Owen.

North Mount Lyell Copper Company

The company was short-lived, however the mine, orebody and workings lasted long after the company was absorbed into the workings of the

Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company was a Tasmanian mining company formed on 29 March 1893, most commonly referred to as ''Mount Lyell''. Mount Lyell was the dominant copper mining company of the West Coast from 1893 to 1994, and was based in ...

following the failure of the smelters at Crotty. The stages of building the infrastructure of the mines, the smelters, and port at

Kelly Basin Kelly Basin is a bay on the south eastern side of Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania. It was named after James Kelly an early explorer of the Tasmanian coastline. It was the location of the terminus of the North Mount Lyell Rai ...

were photographed by John Watt Beattie.

Founder

The company was founded by James Crotty, and was for a few years a fierce competitor with Mount Lyell.

Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Norman Blainey (born 11 March 1930) is an Australian historian, academic, best selling author and commentator. He is noted for having written authoritative texts on the economic and social history of Australia, including '' The Tyranny ...

gives a description of the rivalry and final amalgamation in ''

The Peaks of Lyell ''The Peaks of Lyell'' is a book by Geoffrey Blainey, based on his University of Melbourne MA thesis originally published in 1954. It contains the history of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company, and through association, Queenstown, Tasma ...

''. As Blainey points out, the North Mount Lyell workings eventually proved vital for the Mount Lyell Company.

Establishments

During Crotty's establishment of the company and its operations the company had: * The North Mount Lyell mine on its lease adjacent and east of the

leases * Shipping * Port and railway terminus at

and

Pillinger, Tasmania Pillinger is an abandoned port and townsite in Kelly Basin, on the south eastern side of Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania. It was constructed for James Crotty's North Mount Lyell mining company to ship ore from the North Moun ...

* Smelter and town at

Crotty, Tasmania Crotty is a former gazetted townsite that was located in Western Tasmania, Australia. The township was located on the eastern lower slopes of Mount Jukes, below the West Coast Range, and on the southern bank of the King River. The locality ha ...

at the eastern foot of Mount Jukes and just south of the

King River, Tasmania The King River is a major perennial river in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the Eldon and South Eldon rivers, the King River rises near Eldon Range on the slopes of the West C ...

* Railway terminus at

Linda, Tasmania Linda is the site of an old ghost town in the Linda Valley in the West Coast Range of Tasmania, Australia. It has also been known as ''Linda Valley''. North Mount Lyell There had been a location or community high on the ridge between Mount Owe ...

* Aerial ropeway between North Lyell mine and Linda *

North Mount Lyell Railway The North Mount Lyell Railway was built to operate between the North Mount Lyell mine in West Coast Tasmania and Pillinger in the Kelly Basin of Macquarie Harbour. History At the start of the Twentieth century it was constructed to take o ...

1912 disaster

The

1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster The North Mount Lyell disaster (also known as the Mount Lyell disaster and North Mount Lyell fire) refers to a fire that broke out on 12 October 1912 at the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company operations on the West Coast of Tasmania, killing ...

is also found in Blainey's work, but for decades later there were divergent and popular accounts from the official reports that followed.

Locality

The North Lyell locality (at which some of the workers killed in the disaster had addresses) was eventually overtaken by the Mount Lyell mine workings. A rare photo of the locality is in Blainey's book.

20th century output

The development of the Mount Lyell mine depended upon the resources of the North Lyell orebody and workings well into the late twentieth century. – although not very precise, the news report refers to the North Lyell operation still in working mode, but reduced capacity