Wherever you go, relics from the golden days of Broken Hill as a premier mining town can be found everywhere. These are some of the most interesting.

Federation Way

BHP Chimney - 1885 (off the road)

Standing as a sign of the humble beginnings of our town and the foundation of hard work on which it was built, this stone chimney holds special significance. It marks the site of the hut built by the Broken Hill Mining Company (soon to become BHP) in May 1885 to house its first manager, William Jamieson. It was later used as the office and as such the site marks the origin of the Big Australian which has helped shape Australia's mining and industrial legacy.

BHP Slag Heap - 1886

This black slag heap is the waste product of the BHP smelters which were established here in 1886. This smelter produced lead bullion from carbonate ore using limestone and ironstone as flux in water-jacketed blast furnaces. BHP erected a second smelter to the south in 1888 and established smelting and a silver-lead refinery at Port Pirie in 1891. BHP ceased smelting at Broken Hill in 1898.

BHP Mill Foundations - 1897

Looking like a remnants of an ancient fortress, the stone foundations are the remains of BHP's concentration mills erected in 1894-1897. BHP's first concentration mill was erected on the east side of the lode in 1889, but it was closed due to subsidence. A gravity mill with a capacity of 10,000 tons of ore per week was erected here in 1897 to produce a high-grade lead product while millions of tons of zinc-rich tailings were dumped. In 1904, the flotation process was added to the plant. It operated until 1927 and was demolished in 1940.

Delprat Shaft - 1900

This shaft was sunk in 1900 and was named after BHP general manager, G D Delprat. In 1952, the original wooden headframe was replaced by the present steel structure and an electric winder replaced a steam engine. The shaft was closed to mining by the time MMM ceased underground operations in 1976. It was used as a tourist mine from 1977 until its closure in 2007 due to nearby remnant mining operations by CBH Resources.

Bonanza Street

South Mine Headframes 1919/1932

The larger and rivetted steel headframe over No. 7 Shaft was completed in 1932 using surplus steel from the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was the first steel headframe in Broken Hill. No. 7 Shaft has six compartments including two with cages and two with skips. Haulage was made by two double drum electric winders but one winder was removed after 1972. To the north of the shaft is a concrete crushing station. The smaller oregon headframe was erected in 1919 over No. 4 Shaft and the original small electric winding engine survives in a timber and iron building adjacent to the shaft. Silver City Road.

Holten Drive

Thompson Shaft - 1910

This site was part of the British Mine and was the main producing area after 1910. The British BHP Co. Ltd, established in London in 1887 to work Blocks 15 and 16, sunk seven shafts (including Thompson Shaft) along the line of lode. An 825 metre aerial tramway was erected in 1906 to convey ore from Marsh and Thompson shafts to the concentration mill to the southwest. The mine was sold to North Broken Hill Lid in 1923 and reworked from Thompson Shaft until 1958. The headframe was erected in 1910 and the adjacent crushing plant and ore bin were erected about 1936. This headframe is the subject of many local artists' paintings.

MMM Dumps

The waste dumps are from the mining of low grade remnant ore from the open cut operations of Minerals, Mining and Metallurgy Ltd (MMM) which took over the leases of Broken Hill South Ltd in 1972. The Kintore pit extended across Blocks 9, 10 and 11, the Blackwood pit was on the old British Mine and there was a smaller pit in Block 14.

Menindee Road

Junction Mine

Junction Mine was one of the earliest leases, pegged out in 1884. Junction Mine was worked until 1972. It is now open to visitors who are interested to see how a mining site worked. Browne's Shaft, the concentration mill and other structures are features on the site. Visit the site in the late afternoon for some amazing photos. The Junction Mine in Broken Hill was first leased and pegged in 1884 and the associated Broken Hill Junction Silver Mining Co. was formed in 1886. The 1890's wooden headframe is erected over Browne Shaft (named after Sylvester Browne, a director of the mine) and is the oldest that remains on the massive silver, lead and zinc mineral deposit of Broken Hill known as "The Line of Lode". Two other shafts, King and MacIntyre, were also sunk at that time.



In 1901 the mine was forced to close due to low lead prices and problems with the treatment process. It reopened though in 1906 with Browne Shaft being used as the main shaft for mining. The company still struggled but continued to operate until 1923 before selling it to the Sulphide Corporation. They still managed to pull out some £1.2 million of ore between 1886 and 1923 (in today's money that would equate to around 50 times that amount). By 1929 the mine had been sold again, this time to North Broken Hill Ltd. and they continued to mine the site until 1962 when it was sold again to Broken Hill South Ltd. Mining ceased in 1972 and today it remains as a free tourist attraction.

Argent Street

North Mine

The North Mine originated with Block 17, which was located at the northern end of the original seven Line of Lode leases. The lease was pegged out in December 1883 as the Cosmopolitan Mine and two shafts were sunk on the lease. The mine was sold to a Melbourne syndicate for £15,000 and renamed as the Broken Hill North Silver Mining Company (North Mine). In 1888, rich carbonate ore was located at the 200ft level. The ore was smelted at Dry Creek in South Australia and at the concentrating mill at the Junction Mine by the Barrier Ranges Concentrating Company.

At the start of the 1930s, the North Mine was geographically dispersed along the Line of Lode. Only two areas were worked; these being the British Section (focused on the old British BHP mine) and the North Section. No. 2 Shaft was commenced in 1928 (near the original Victoria Cross Shaft) and substantially complete by 1934. In 1962 the British Section (including the Junction Mines and lock 14) were closed and sold to South Broken Hill Limited. Mining at North Broken Hill remained focused on developing the lodes to the north. In 1981, it was thought that the ore reserves at the North Mine were running out. At No. 1 Mill, most of the buildings and facilities closed in 1975 were to be demolished in 1979 as the area was to be part of an open cut mine developed in late 1980's. The Fitzpatrick area, located further to the north, was a newly discovered ore body which kept the mine operating until the mid 1990s.

Kintore Shaft, Kintore Reserve

Kintore Reserve in Blende Street contains a series of pieces that point to the history, art and culture of Broken Hill along with the greenery that makes it so welcoming from first glance. Almost directly in the centre of town, the reserve is dominated by a retired wooden head frame, originally put to work in the 1800s. This headframe was originally located at the Kintore Shaft, the principal shaft of the Central Mine, and prior to that at the No. 5 shaft at the South Mine.

It was moved to this site in 1984 to allow open-cut mining of the original site. It is constructed of oregon, supported on concrete footings, and cross-braced with steel rods. Kintore Shaft was typical of eary shafts used at Broken Hill. The shaft had two levels of access. Early shafts such as Kintore eventually proved inadequate to handle the massive Broken Hill orebody. The shaft was named after the Earl of Kintore, the first chairman of the Central Mine.