The Queenstown area of western Tasmania has a long history of mining, with the Mt Lyell Mining and Railway Company operating continuously for over 100 years from 1893 until closure in December 1994. The Queenstown area is famous for its barren tree-less landscape, with the lush rainforest being killed by a combination of bushfires, timber harvesting, and the fumes from the pyritic smelting process used to refine the copper ore.
Copper Mines of Tasmania Pty Ltd (CMT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gold Mines of Australia Limited, signed an agreement with the State in June 1994 to take over the Mt Lyell leases on cessation of operations by the Mt Lyell company. CMT commenced a resource drilling program prior to mine closure and purchased the Mt Lyell company assets on closure.
Preparatory work commenced from the beginning of 1995 with underground development and the construction of a small interim tailings dam. Refurbishment of the ore handling system and concentrator commenced after approval by the GMA board of a full feasibility study in June 1995. Production mining of the Prince Lyell ore body by sub-level caving commenced in November 1995 and the mine was officially re-opened on 15 December 1995. A total of $55 million was committed to the refurbishment.
Following financial difficulties, the mine was sold to the Indian company Sterlite Industries in early 1999.
Mine production in 2007/2008 totalled 2.56 million tonnes of ore from which 28 260 tonnes of copper, 16 000 ounces of gold and 135 300 ounces of silver in concentrates were produced.
Ore resources at March 2008 were estimated at 22.020 million tonnes at 1.00% Cu cut-off grade.
Employment is currently about 288 people.
