History and Heritage: The torch we hold (1954)
The following is an edited excerpt from a Presidential Address delivered in 1954 at the University of Sydney.
Last year our Institute celebrated its Diamond Jubilee, coincident with the holding of the Fifth Empire Mining and Metallurgical Congress in Australia and New Zealand. We can be proud of our growth over the 61 years since the inaugural meeting in Adelaide in April 1893, which followed suggestions from a provisional committee formed in 1892 in Broken Hill.
We can also be proud of our technical achievements in the fields of economic geology, mining and metallurgy. Should we be content with the growth of our mining and metallurgical industries over these years? My answer is in the negative. The discovery of new mineral deposits is essential for the continuance and development of the industries we represent.
Let me review the background and trends of our industry in an attempt to emphasise the changing factors influencing the search for minerals and their exploitation.
Australia was blessed with the discovery of coal in New South Wales in 1796; copper in South Australia at Kapunda, Burra, Wallaroo and Moonta in the 1840s; gold in Victoria and Eastern Australia in the 1850s; tin at Mount Bischoff, Tasmania, and gold at Charters Towers, Queensland, in the 1870s; lead-silver at Broken Hill, New South Wales; gold and copper at Mount Morgan, Queensland, and copper at Mount Lyell, Tasmania, in the 1880s; and gold at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, and zinc-lead at Rosebery, Tasmania, in the1890s.
As well, the iron ore deposits of the Middleback Ranges, South Australia, and Yampi Sound, Western Australia, were known before the beginning of this century. Truly a remarkable succession of world-famous mineral deposits that established the Australian mining industry on a firm basis of world importance.
All of us pay tribute to the prospectors who traversed the continent and adjoining islands urged on by their initiative and their faith that fortune lay ahead. Observing closely the surf ace features of the earth, they sought the alluvial concentrations of gold and tin, the coloured resistant gossans of base metal lodes, and the quartz outcrops often indicative of gold. In these isolated areas there was no quick retreat to guaranteed employment as is available today and with characteristic courage they pursued their precarious livelihood. It is a tribute to their initiative, skill and patience that very few outcropping lodes have been discovered this century. Many of us who have been fortunate in travelling about our country examining the mineral prospects and the work of our exploration parties frequently find adjacent to them the remnants of the camps and diggings of these hardy adventurers. We cannot fail to admire and pay tribute to 'The Unknown Prospector'.
Despite the isolation of most of the mining fields, the governments of the day gave every encouragement in providing transport, water supplies, and the necessary utilities for the service of the industry. A glance at the map of Australia of, say 1900, shows that the internal development of the lines of transport and communication were largely initiated by the mining industry. These same lines became the feeders to succeeding agricultural or pastoral developments in the districts where climate and rainfall were favourable.
All of these mines operating prior to World War I resulted from original prospectors' discoveries of the lode outcrops – deep leads excepted. Little capital was required to establish production and the growth of operations was achieved by appropriations from profits; hence seldom was there a call for new capital. Their growth was also greatly helped by the successful technical achievements in mining and metallurgical practices. The Australian technical contributions including the economic treatment of the sulphotellurides of Western Australia, the pyritic copper ores of Mount Lyell and Mount Morgan, and the selective flotation of minerals at Broken Hill, made possible the continuance of profitable operations and were acknowledged by the mining world.
With the outbreak of World War I, Australian mines were exporting concentrates or metallic products to foreign smelters; and Australia and the British Empire were deficient in the metals necessary for the war effort. Metallurgical industries were established and consolidated for the security of Australia and the Empire. The Broken Hill Proprietary· Company Ltd commenced steel production at Newcastle, New South Wales, March, 1915. Metal fabrication commenced at several centres and this great, strategic contribution was only possible through the collective action of the metal companies.
The 20 years period between the two world wars saw the gradual consolidation of these industries, despite the period of low prices and sustained depression, but little was done to search for, or to initiate, new mining enterprises. The development of the Mount Isa field during ·this period, so ably recorded by my predecessor Mr Julius Kruttschnitt in his Presidential Address in 1952, stands as a monumental example of confidence and faith in the mineral wealth of that district. Persistent endeavour resulted in well-deserved, although long delayed, reward.
World War II created accelerating demands for minerals and metals. Rare minerals, to name a few, beryl, tantalite, monazite and rutile, and the uncommon metals such as manganese, chromium, tungsten and molybdenum, were frantically sought. Deposits of non-metallics including quartz crystals, mica and refractories, were developed and our government called for increasing tonnages of the basic metals – iron and steel, special ferro alloys, copper, lead, zinc and tin. Practically all minerals became strategic and critical materials. Our mining· and metallurgical companies responded in full to the Government's call for coal, minerals and metals to the limit of their resources. The lack of trained labourers and the disruption of transport services created problems, but output from the mines and smelters was generally well maintained.
The search for those minerals in which we were deficient was also successful, inasmuch as Mount Isa Mines Ltd. were successful in developing their fine dolomitic copper orebody; the King Island scheelite deposit was proved to be of world importance and the bauxite deposits of Australia were assessed.
The call for munitions, armaments and war materials was answered by a quickly expanded production, in which members of our Institute played an important part.
The successful fission of uranium in Alamorgordo, New Mexico, USA, in July 1945, initiated an urgent search for uranium ores – a search which gained momentum in the post-war years and which is currently the most important in the world today.
Government obligations, agencies, and instrumentalities, particularly in the United States, had dominated the industry throughout the war period. Government-financed operations, guaranteed prices, controls, and purchase agreements were all necessary for the war effort ; but provided many problems with the sudden cessation of demand at the close of hostilities. Metal and concentrate stockpiles in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in other countries, helped the war effort considerably; but with the cessation of the war and the availability of materials from within and from international sources, their realisation resulted in disorganisation of the metal markets of the world.
The geographical locations of many of the wartime theatres of operations provided surprises – it was truly a global war. Countries practically unknown before the war assumed new strategic importance.
The United ·States, by far the world's largest consumer of minerals and metals, had, over the war period, changed from a nation sufficient in most metals to an importing nation. Metal prices by the peak year of 1951 were several times greater than in 1939. The technology of metals and minerals had made tremendous advances during the war and in the post-war years. Who would have believed that aluminium· would become available at the same price as lead or zinc, as it was in that year?
Contrary to expectation, the great aluminium plants of USA and Canada were unable to satisfy the post-war demand for this metal, the world's output of which, since 1900, has doubled every seven years. This insatiable demand for metals is directly the result of the growing industrialisation of the world. Increasing population and higher standards of living will call for even greater amounts of metals, mineral fuels, and non-metallics per capita of population.