Showing 395 items
matching quartz mines
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Bendigo Historical Society Inc.
Tool - MERCURY BUCKET
Cast iron mercury bucket, used to hold mercury, potentially in the process of recovering minute pieces of gold mixed in soil and sediments. See research page for description of one process of using mercury to extract gold.gold mines, mining equipment, mercury bucket, miners used mercury in a number of ways to amalgamate gold, with each mill or battery operator having their preferred method depending on the nature of the ore. by the late 1850s the most common way of crushing goldbearing quartz ores or consolidated alluvial cements was in a stamp battery. the battery featured heavy iron stamp heads held in a frame, with each head often weighing up to 500 pounds (226 kg) or more (see msv 1880, page 45) (birrell 2005). stamp heads were lifted and dropped by a rotating overhead cam shaft driven by a steam engine or water wheel. ore was fed into a large cast-iron battery box, mixed with a steady stream of water, and pulverised by the stamp heads. in some batteries, mercury was placed in the base of the boxes to amalgamate with freed gold. the violent agitation of the mercury in the mortar box, however, could cause the mercury to break into myriad tiny globules that were carried away by the water with the tailings, thus losing a certain amount of gold in the process (thompson 1867; ritchie & hooker 1997). the water and sand slurry was splashed by the falling stamps from the box through fine mesh screens and onto inclined wooden tables below the mortar box (figure 2). the tables were covered with copper sheets or plates coated with mercury, which caught and amalgamated with a portion of the gold. the grey putty-like amalgam was periodically scraped off the sheets and retorted in a furnace to collect the gold and recover the mercury for reuse. mercury was inevitably lost from the plates, while poor maintenance resulted in further losses of gold and mercury in the tailings. mercury use and loss from gold mining in 19th century victoria. peter davies1, susan lawrence, and jodi turnbull, department of archaeology and history, la trobe university. -
Stawell Historical Society Inc
Photograph, Scotchmans United Quartz Mining Company Scene c1890's. Same as 2640
Scotchmans United Quartz Mining Company Shaft was 1,018 feet deep.Stawell Mining Scene from Big Hill. Close up view of the winding engine shed Poppet Head and Building Scotchman's United Mine. Rear poppet head Crown Cross. Upper Main Street visible left Back of Photo. Stawell 176 Miles from Melbournemining, panorama -
Stawell Historical Society Inc
Photograph, Pleasant Creek Cross Reef Quartz Mine Stawell. Holterman Photograph 1874
... Pleasant Creek Cross Reef Quartz Mine Stawell. Holterman...On left is Pleasant Creek Cross Reef Mine No1 Shaft, (1300 ...On left is Pleasant Creek Cross Reef Mine No1 Shaft, (1300 feet deep) and on right is No2 Shaft (1200 feet deep)Holtermann Black and White photographs of Stawell. April 1874. Poppet Head and winding house of Mine with town in background. Workers can be seen in centre of photo and standing on poppet head and handling ore trolleys on tramway.mining -
Bendigo Historical Society Inc.
Photograph - Norman Penrose collection: Views of Bendigo No.7
BHS CollectionBlack and white photograph. Views of Bendigo No.7, Excavation of Quartz reef, near Ironbark Hill. The photo shows a large mullock heap in the foreground and four mines: Mr. Lansell No. 180 claim, Victoria and New Chum Company, the North Old Chum claim, Old Chum claim. Photo by N.J. Caire photo Sandhurst.J.W. Forbes, agent. Welch, typoviews of bendigo, n.j. caire, ironbark hill, sandhurst -
Clunes Museum
Photograph, EXTENT OF MINE WORKINGS AT CLUNES, 1987
... MINE WORKINGS IN CLUNES PORT PHILLIP MINE AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH ...MINE WORKINGS IN CLUNESAERIAL PHOTOGRAPH CLUNES GOLD WORKINGS MAP SUPERIMPOSED. MOUNTED ON CARDBOARD WITH DETAILS OF MINE LOCATION. TYPED DESCRIPTION PASTED BELOW.port phillip mine, aerial photograph, quartz mining