Iron Blow

{{Short description|Mine in Tasmania, Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2015}} [[Image:Iron-blow-pan1.jpg|thumb|300px|Iron Blow in 2009]] '''Iron Blow''' was the site of the earliest major mining venture at [[Mount Lyell (Tasmania)|Mount Lyell]] on the [[West Coast, Tasmania|west coast]] of [[Tasmania]], Australia in 1883.

==Original form== Geoffrey Blainey describes the appearance prior to its being mined:<ref>[[Geoffrey Blainey]], [[The Peaks of Lyell]] p. 26 of Third edition 1967</ref>

<blockquote> They (Those mentioned above) examined the strange formation. It jutted twenty or thirty feet above the surface and was split by deep cracks and crevices as if a great explosion had fractured the rock and flung slabs far down the hill...(they)... had seen no similar outcrop in their brief mining experience. What lay beneath the ironstone crust?</blockquote>

== Mining==

[[File:Mount Lyell Iron Blow location with earliest photo.jpg|thumb|right|early stages of working the Iron Blow in 1884]] The first shot on the site was in January 1884 - and most local prospectors were camped in the [[Linda Valley]] to the east of the [[Mount Owen (Tasmania)|Mount Owen]] - Mount Lyell ridge - also known as [[Philosophers Ridge]]

The townsite of Penghana, the present site of Queenstown - to the west was still thick rainforest.

Following the establishment of the [[Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company]] in 1893, the Iron Blow orebody was mined until 1929.<ref>The Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Limited (1994) ''A Century of Copper'' Queenstown, Tasmania page 6,</ref>

== Haulage == The transport of ore from the Iron Blow down to the operations area of the mine linking to the railway, was by the commonly known ''Haulage'', although more technical terms included ''Self Acting Haulage''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article80230401 |title=THE HAULAGE. |newspaper=[[Zeehan and Dundas Herald]] |volume=XVI |issue=243 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=27 July 1905 |accessdate=19 September 2021 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Self Acting Haulage of Mount Lyell 2ft Tramway in Tasmania.jpg|Foot of the Haulage line in early 1890s Mount Lyell Mine - Foot of the haulage line (1895) (27698485815).jpg|Foot of the Haulage line in the 1895

Haulage Line by 1900 with loss of vegetation.jpg|Foot of the Haulage line by 1900 with denuded landscape showing </gallery>

==End of the era== The cessation of the Iron Blow mining was also linked in with the demise of the Mount Lyell pyritic smelting - the cessation of [[Robert Carl Sticht]]'s smelters and methods.<ref>Geoffrey Blainey, The Peaks of Lyell, Third edition, Chapter 25 'The End of an Era', p. 260</ref>

The development of the West Lyell Open cut, and the later development of the Prince Lyell ore bodies removed all vestiges of the original workings.

==See also== * [[Copper extraction techniques]] * [[West Coast Tasmania Mines]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book| author-link = Charles Whitham|last=Whitham|first= Charles| title=Western Tasmania - A land of riches and beauty| edition=Reprint 2003| publisher=Municipality of Queenstown| location=Queenstown| year =2003}}

== External links == * {{Cite web|url=http://www.queenstowntasmania.com/The_Iron_Blow_Page.php|title=The Old Iron Blow Mine|access-date=23 January 2010|archive-date=10 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091110093650/http://www.queenstowntasmania.com/The_Iron_Blow_Page.php|url-status=dead}}

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[[Category:Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company]] [[Category:West Coast Range]] [[Category:1883 establishments in Australia]]