Party like it’s 1890: Historic Gold Prices Hit | Australian Markets

I’m on the Diggers & Dealers convention this week, one of the most important occasions on the mining calendar.

Major mining companies, investment banks, and repair contractors all come collectively from across the globe to swamp this little city for 3 days yearly.

Getting a ticket is difficult.

But this time of 12 months, you’ve acquired a higher probability of stumbling over a piece of gold than discovering a mattress to sleep on!

This is the guts of Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields.

And like any good geologist, I did my ‘tour of duty’ right here.

This golden heartland of Australia is a ceremony of passage for Aussie geologists and the various Kiwis and Brits who begin their mining careers.

And it’s great to be back and reminisce.

Plus, uncover that not a lot has modified since I used to be right here final!

Gold, Gold, Gold.

I’m solely a couple of hours from stepping off the aircraft, so there’s not a lot goss to share from the occasion but.

But if you happen to’ve ever travelled to the WA goldfields, you’ll know this place is swimming in gold historical past.

The valuable metallic was first found right here in 1893. However, in contrast to different distinguished gold discovery websites within the nineteenth century, the Eastern goldfields have continued to ship to the current day.

The 1893 discovery kicked off a traditional gold rush, unearthing Kalgoorlie’s well-known ‘golden mile,’ as soon as thought-about the richest sq. mile of gold-bearing earth.

Now, that’s been swallowed up by only one giant mine:

The Kalgoorlie Super Pit, Australia’s largest open-cut gold mine. It’s about 600 meters deep, 3.5 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres vast.

Mined for over a century, the waste rock stands proudly over the city like a mammoth man-made mountain vary! Towering over the largely flat, featureless panorama.

And many main gold companies have put their identify to this Super Pit, together with North American giants Barrick Gold and Newmont.

But it now sits firmly in Australian palms, wholly owned and operated by Australia’s largest gold miner, Northern Star [ASX: NST].

From the most important to the deepest: Another well-known legacy within the Goldfields

Many mining careers started within the WA Goldfields.

None more well-known than former US President Herbert Hoover.

Dubbed America’s Depression-era President, Hoover took the poisoned chalice simply six months earlier than the Wall Street Crash in 1929.

But many years previous to his rise to the highest in American politics, Hoover was kicking rocks throughout the WA Goldfields as a mining engineer.

He developed the Sons of Gwalia Mine in Leonora, about 4 hours north of Kalgoorlie.

And simply like the Super Pit, this web site stays in operation more than a century later, having reached an unbelievable 1,600m depth!

Australia’s deepest underground mine is now owned by Genesis Minerals [ASX: GMD].

And a jiffy’ stroll from the place I’m staying sits Kalgoorlie’s Palace Hotel.

This was as soon as a common stopover for Hoover, largely because of his liking of the native barmaid.

Alas, this native Kal lady by no means fairly climbed to the ranks of America’s First Lady!

But a mirror gifted by Hoover, in addition to the unique poem he wrote to his Kalgoorlie Sweetheart, nonetheless sits proudly within the lobby of the Hotel:

That’s simply a transient style of the historical past of the city. But with gold sitting close to file highs, the Diggers & Dealers occasion is buzzing this 12 months.

So, time to get back to it, and uncover some of the mining and exploration goss!

Stay tuned.

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