Chillagoe Smelters

The Chillagoe smelters is a heritage-listed refinery at Chillagoe-Mungana Caves National Park, Mareeba Mining District, Chillagoe, Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. It operated in the early 1900s. It is also known as Chillagoe State Smelters. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

In its heyday the Chillagoe Smelters were the centre of a thriving mining industry that brought wealth and development to the Chillagoe area. By June 1901, when the railway was completed, Chillagoe was a flourishing town. The railway enabled equipment for the large, innovative Chillagoe Smelters to become operative by September 1901.[2] The Chillagoe Railway & Mining Company equipped its work sites with the most up-to-date machinery and the surrounding mines at Mungana, Zillmanton and Redcap worked on a large scale. At times, the mines, railway and smelter provided employment for up to 1,000 workers.

Chillagoe Smelter operated until 1943 and in its 40 odd year lifetime treated 1,250,000 long tons (1,270,000 t) of ore, yielded 60,000 long tons (61,000 t) of copper, 50,000 long tons (51,000 t) of lead, 181 long tons (184 t) of silver and 5 long tons (5.1 t) of gold. By 1943, other smelters were built closer to the then major ore producing areas such as Mount Isa. Easy access to these areas outweighed the economic usefulness of the state run Chillagoe Smelter. In 1950, the buildings and equipment were auctioned.Read more