North Mount Lyell

North Mount Lyell (full name North Mount Lyell Copper Co.Ltd.) was the name of a mine, mining company, locality (sometimes as North Lyell) and former railway near Gormanston on the West Coast of Tasmania. It was absorbed into the workings of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company following the failure of the smelters at Crotty.

The stage of building the infrastructure of the mines, the smelters, and port at Kelly Basin was photographed by John Watt Beattie.

Founder

The company was founded by James Crotty, and was for a few years a fierce competitor with Mount Lyell. Geoffrey Blainey gives a description of the rivalry and final amalgamation in 'The Peaks of Lyell'. As Blainey points out, the North Mount Lyell workings eventually proved vital for the Mount Lyell Company.

Establishment

During Crotty's establishment of the company, and its operations the company had:-

• Mine - the North Mount Lyell mine on its lease adjacent and east of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company leases
• Shipping
• Port and railway terminus at Kelly Basin and Pillinger, Tasmania
• Smelter and town at Crotty, Tasmania at the eastern foot of Mount Jukes and just south of the King River, Tasmania
• Railway terminus and aerial ropeway at Linda, Tasmania
• North Mount Lyell Railway

The 1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster is also found in Blainey's work, but for decades later there were divergent and popular accounts from the official reports that followed.

The North Lyell locality (at which some of the workers killed in the disaster had addresses) was eventually overtaken by the Mount Lyell mine workings and ceased to exist. A rare photo of the locality is in Blaineys book.

References

• Whitham, Charles. Western Tasmania: A Land of Riches and Beauty.

See also

• Railways on the West Coast of Tasmania
• West Coast Tasmania Mines