IRON KNOB, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

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An iconic iron ore mining town in the heart of a semi-desert area, which today struggles not to become a ghost town.
Location: 68 km west of Port Augusta, 52 km northwest of Whyalla. 152 m above sea level
Origin of name: recalls the iron ore deposits of the nearby mountain, the mining of which brought the town into existence. Although it is now 150 m lower than it was in 1880 when mining commenced, still looms over the township.
Brief history: by 1854 pastoralists were established in the area and Cooroona Hill (now Corunna) Station had been established. Iron Knob is widely recognised as the first commercial iron ore mine in Australia. It was first exploited by Mount Minden Mining in 1880. BHP took over the lease in 1896 and started mining in 1899 when their smelters at Port Pirie required ironstone as a flux to smelt the silver-lead ores from Broken Hill. At the time, and really until the discovery of the huge iron reserves in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, the Iron Knob deposit was the largest in Australia. Until the 1960s all of BHP's major steelmaking operations - at Newcastle, Port Kembla, Port Pirie and Whyalla - were supplied with iron ore from the Iron Knob area. After nearly 100 years, mining at Iron Knob ended in June, 1998, when the last ore was taken from the Iron Monarch open cut pit. Some sifting of mine tailings continues.

Natural features: Middleback Ranges - Iron Princess, Iron Monarch and Iron Knob are all one of the same in the sense that they are all connected to the town of Iron Knob but Iron Monarch is nothing more than a mine (without a community) and Iron Princess is a small mine located between Iron Knob and Corunna Station.
Built features: Iron Knob iron ore mine; Iron Knob tourist centre and Mining Museum; Corunna Station.