THE MOUNT LYELL COPPER DISTRICT OF TASI^IANIA. 



By Chester G. Gilbert and Joseph E. Pogue, 



Of the Department of Geology, United States National Museum. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The present paper is based upon a study of a representative col- 

 lection of rocks and ores received in 1910 by the United States 

 National Museum from Robert Sticht, manager of the Mount Lyell 

 Mining & Railway Co. (Ltd.). The geologic and technical informa- 

 tion is derived largely from the writings of Gregory and of Sticht (see 

 Bibhography), which embrace the most authoritative expressions on 

 those subjects. ^Ir. Sticht has also generously assisted the under- 

 taking by supplying copies of his papers and communicating unpub- 

 Ushed data. 



LOCATION. 



The Mount Lyell mining district, comprising the Mount Lyell 

 IVIine, the North Mount Lyell Mine, the South Tharsis and Royal 

 Tharsis Mines, and other workings of less importance, occupies an 

 area of 9 square miles situated 18 miles inland from Macquarie Harbor 

 on the west coast of the island of Tasmania. The field is reached 

 over a railway 28 miles in length from Strahan, the harbor port, to 

 Queenstown, the mining center. The region is wild and inliospitable, 

 is covered with a dense undergrowth, and is scarcely penetrable 

 except along streams and where cleared by man or forest fire. The 

 colony is under British rule and lies off the southernmost point of 

 Austraha, from which it is separated by Bass wStrait, about 150 miles 

 in width. 



HISTORY. 



Discovered in 1642, but not settled until 1803, Tasmania attracted 

 no mining interest until the early sixties of the nineteenth century, 

 when gold was discovered in the western interior. In 1881 prospec- 

 tors came across gold-bearing alluvium near Mount Lyell, and in 1883 

 the ferruginous outcrop of the Mount LyeU ore body was encountered. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 45— No. 2005. 

 80459°— Proc.N.M.vol.45— 13 39 609 



