New Cornwall Mine (Cornwall Mine), Kadina, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
New Cornwall Mine (Cornwall Mine)	Mine
Kadina	Town
Yorke Peninsula	Peninsula
South Australia	State
Australia	Country

Located approximately 4 km to the East of the Wallaroo Mines, Kadina. The New Cornwall mine is noted for producing large atacamite crystals. Many specimens are now in museums around the world.

Copper was discovered here in 1861, and the New Cornwall Mineral Association was formed with a working capital of £50,000 to work the mine. In 1863 a Cornish beam engine was imported from Cornwall at a cost of £2,775 and was used to drain the mine below the 50 metre level. A smelter using a process patented by a Mr. R.V. Rodda was constructed at the mine in 1862 however due to a dispute with Mr. Rodda it ceased operation in 1863. It operated for a time in 1864 but it was shut down again shortly after. It is not known if the smelting process was entirely successful or not. In 1866, the mine employed about 100 men. but by the time the mine closed in 1870, the mine had produced an estimated 5000 tons of ore, but had expended over £113 000. Between 1864 - 1867, the mine produced copper to the value of £20,386. In 1884 the engine buildings and machinery were sold for to the Wallaroo Mining & Smelting Co. for £3,000. The engine was dismantled and re-erected at Elders Shaft, Wallaroo Mines, where it operated until the mines went into voluntary liquidation in 1923. The stone was later used to construct the new Roman Catholic Church in Kadina and can still be seen today. Small scale mining resumed above the water level in the 1930s but no significant production has been recorded. The mine has remained abandoned to the present day.

It should be noted that this is one of the very few mines in the district where malachite occurred in significant quantities. Brown, 1908, records that a beautiful specimen of grey ore(chalcocite) and green carbonate (malachite)was sent for public exhibition. Austin, 1862 mentions that "a large block of ore, said to weigh nearly 5 tons, was sent to the international exhibition of 1862"(held in London, England). The two accounts may be referring to one and the same specimen. The fate of the specimen(s) remain unknown. Austin also noted the lodes contained muriate of copper (atacamite) and pieces of native copper. It is likely that the large atacamite crystals were recovered sometime around this period of 1862 -1867 and probably from a single pocket or series of pockets. It is difficult to say how many specimens were recovered but many went to museums across the world. It was unfortunate that many of these specimens were wrongly labled as coming from the Burra copper Mine about 100 km away, but this is now known to be incorrect. See the Mineralogical Record article by Wendell Wilson "Atacamite from the New Cornwall mine, Kadina, South Australia" Vol.50, No.2 March - April 2019 for a complete history of the mine and atacamite specimens.

Some reasonable specimens of atacamite have been collected from the dumps over the years, some up to 10 mm in length, but typically 1-3 mm crystals often with malachite crystals were found. These make excellent micromounts. The New Cornwall matrix is fairly distinctive. The atacamite often occuring in vughs with clear quartz crystals, or in a soft yellow brown limonitic matrix or grey siltstone material. There are some specimens around labeled from the New Cornwall mine but are often in fact from the Mount Gunson copper mine, which can have a similar looking limonitic/goethite matrix.

During the 1970s & 1980s the owner of the mine operated a small scale piggery and was very amenable to collecting there. In the mid 1990's the property was sold and the new owner preceded to fill in the pits and shafts with mine dump material and replant native vegetation on the site, unfortunately destroying items of historical interest and any chance of exploring the underground workings. In 1998 the Assemblies of God Church purchased the property and adjoining land where they have established their church building. The land is private property and permission to visit the mine must be obtained from the church.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References