Browse Entities

Western Mining Corporation Limited (1933 - 2005)

From
1933
Western Australia
To
2005
Website
http://www.wmc.com.au

Summary

The company was formed in 1933 by W.S. Robertson to explore, develop and manage gold mines in Western Australia.

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Details

The company was formed in 1933 to explore and develop gold mines in Australia on behalf of a London syndicate. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the group had six productive operations, including Gold Mines of Kalgoorlie Ltd, Triton Gold Mines NL and Central Norseman Gold Corporation. After the war, control of the company moved to Australia and the company diversified into other mineral production.
During the 1960s, operations expanded to include nickel mining, smelting, refining, marketing and exploration, gold mining and exploration, investment, aluminium, base metals exploration, and talc, uranium, oil and natural gas exploration.
In 1966, nickel was discovered in Kambalda, Western Australia. The Kwinana nickel refinery began operating in 1970 and the Kalgoorlie nickel smelter in 1972. Activities were consolidated when the company took over the Windarra nickel project and Great Boulder Mines Ltd the same year.
The company was incorporated in Victoria in 1970 as Westminer Investments Pty Ltd. It changed its name to Western Mining Corporation Holdings Ltd in 1979 and to WMC Limited in 1995.
In 1974, the company acquired an interest in Hill 50 Gold Mines Ltd and, in 1975, discovered a large copper and uranium deposit at Olympic Dam, at Roxby Downs in South Australia. In 1980, the company took over BH South Ltd, which owned Queensland Phosphate Ltd, which held extensive phosphate reserves in north-western Queensland. In the 1980s, major gold deposits were discovered south of Kambalda and near Agnew. Gold Mines of Kalgoorlie was sold in 1987 to enable the company to obtain complete control of Hill 50 Gold Mine. In 1988, the company acquired four operating gold mines in the United States and made discoveries in Brazil.
While the company had been involved in oil and gas exploration since the 1970s, production did not begin at the Eromanga Basin, Queensland until 1986. Production began in the Airlie field, offshore WA in 1987 and at Saladin in 1989.
In 1988, the dormant Leinster nickel mine was acquired, re-opened and expanded. By 1991, it was producing more than 54,000 tonnes per annum.
In 1992, the company began to define a major copper discovery near Cloncurry, Queensland and began preparations to develop the oxidised portion of the Nifty copper deposit near Marble Bar, WA.
In late 1993, a joint venture with Normandy Poseidon Ltd and BHP Minerals was awarded a feasibility study contract by the WA government on a proposed gas pipeline from the Carnarvon Basin to the WA goldfields.
The company is a present the third largest nickel producer in the world and has over 70 subsidiary companies through out the world.

Timeline

  - 1893 Broken Hill South Silver Mining Company Limited
       1893 - 1918 Broken Hill South Silver Mining Company No Liability
             1918 - 1973 Broken Hill South Limited
                   1973 - 1983 B.H. South Limited
                         1933 - 2005 Western Mining Corporation Limited

Founded by

Archival resources

University of Melbourne Archives

Published resources

Books

  • Lindsay Clark, G., Built on gold: recollections of Western Mining, Hill of Content, Melbourne, Victoria, 1983, 258 pp. Details
  • Reid, Don, They searched: asocial history of exploration within Western Mining Corporation. Part 1 Sawdust and Ice, the first twenty years, Western Mining Corporation, Belmont, Western Australia, 1981, 48 pp. Details
  • Reid, Don, They searched: asocial history of exploration within Western Mining Corporation. Part 2 The years of growth, WMC Resources Ltd, Adelaide, 1998. Details
  • Summons, Martin, Mandarins & Mavericks: Remembering Western Mining 1933-2005, Hardie Grant Books (Australia), Melbourne, Victoria, 2018, 396 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Boyce, Gordon, 'The Western Mining Corporation--Hanna/Homestake Joint Venture: Game Theory and Inter-organizational Cooperation', Australian Economic History Review, vol. 37, no. 3, 1997, pp. 202-221. Details
  • Tsokhas, Kosmas, '"A Touch of Midas": The Rise of Western Mining Corporation, 1945-1975', Australian Economic History Review, vol. 24, no. 2, 1984, pp. 132-149. Details

Bruce A. Smith

Created: 1 December 1999, Last modified: 30 July 2018