Gordon's Mine and Mill is a heritage-listed

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

Iron Range The Iron Range is collectively or individually a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by the Giants ...

Shire of Cook The Shire of Cook (The Shire) is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia. The Shire covers most of the eastern and central parts of Cape York Peninsula, the most northerly section of the Australian mainland. It covers an area ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It was built from to 1950s. It is also known as Iron Range Mine and Mill. It was added to the

Queensland Heritage Register The Queensland Heritage Register is a heritage register, a statutory list of places in Queensland, Australia that are protected by Queensland legislation, the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. It is maintained by the Queensland Heritage Council. As ...

on 13 December 2002.

History

In early 1934, Jack Gordon prospected the Iron Range locality from the Packers Creek field near Portland Roads. In June 1934, he followed a gold trail up a tributary of Gordon Creek, a branch of the Claudie River, and discovered what was later called the Iron Range Reef. Within two years, the region was a hive of activity with 45 men working along an strip. Although the original ore was shipped and railed to the Venus battery at

Charters Towers Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed as the rich gold deposits und ...

for treatment, the Iron Range mill was in full operation by November 1936 after a Huntington mill was erected by Jack Gordon at the mine following great difficulties in transportation. This was soon followed by crushing machines on the Golden Gate and Scarlet Pimpernel leases. In 1938, the Iron Range mill operated for most of the year; a cyanide plant was installed and 29 men were employed. Gordon's Reef outcrops on top of a steep ridge and the main tunnel was driven to cut the ore body approximately below the ridge. Up to 1939, development work consisted of numerous tunnels and drives, which officially yielded of gold from of ore. Between 1938 and 1956, the Mines Department annual reports indicate that a total of of ore was crushed from the Iron Range and yielded of bullion gold and of fine gold. Although the vast majority was derived from Gordon's mine, some of the returns may relate to the surrounding leases.

Description

The place is located in an area of dense regrowth rainforest on a hillslope descending to a tributary of Gordon Creek. Access tracks intersect the site on two levels. There are three mine adits on the upper level. The middle adit, or main tunnel, has caved at its entrance. An air receiver is located at the entrance to the main tunnel. The mill with most of the surviving plant is located either side of the lower access track. Components include, a building site benched into the hillside which contains several surviving bush timber

shed A shed is typically a simple, single-storey (though some sheds may have two or more stories and or a loft) roofed structure, often used for storage, for hobby, hobbies, or as a workshop, and typically serving as outbuilding, such as in a bac ...

uprights and the body of a Roots blower. The lower track passes through the middle of the mill site which contains a partly intact and badly corroded Huntington mill on a concrete base, and a suction gas producer with associated concrete engine mounts. A series of large corrugated iron cyaniding tanks are located along the creek bank below the mill. Remains of at least five cyanide tanks are evident together with a small concrete structure which appears to be a retort flue. Surviving plant includes: * Huntington mill - Manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox Ltd. Regent Park N.S.W. * Gas producer - no brand (No. 8890) * Roots blower (not in situ) - No 1 Roots Blower Alldays & Ions Ltd Birmingham England. * Air receiver - no brand.

Heritage listing

Gordon's Mine and Mill was listed on the

on 13 December 2002 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. Gordon's mine and mill is significant for demonstrating the material evidence of a successful 1930's mineral exploration and development project that resulted in the support of gold mining operations over a period of twenty years in difficult rainforest terrain on northern Cape York Peninsula. The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage. The milling plant remaining on site is now very rare in North Queensland: the Huntington mill is one of only two recorded in North Queensland, while the Roots blower is the only one recorded in association with a North Queensland mining place. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. The surviving plant and archaeology of the site demonstrate quartz mining and milling processes in a tropical rainforest, and rainforest regrowth.

References

Attribution

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Gordon's Mine and Mill Queensland Heritage Register Iron Range, Queensland Gold mines in Queensland Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register Buildings and structures in Far North Queensland