Description

Tasmania Gold Mining & Quartz Crushing Company

The Tasmania Gold Mining & Quartz Crushing Company mine at Beaconsfield, then the most important gold mine in Tasmania, was taken over in 1903 by the London-based Tasmania Gold Mining Company Ltd, managed by John Taylor and Sons.

Geologist and former tin-miner Nick Langsford has written a thoroughly-researched, highly readable, and well-illustrated account of the financing, construction and development of the mining operation, which employed the latest steam technology. This included three huge Hathorn, Davey pumping engines and a magnificent Fraser-Chalmers highspeed steam winder.

In spite of the advanced technology the mine was not a financial success and closed in 1914, the result of declining ore grades, poor gold recoveries and high mining costs.