In the winter of 1893, Irish prospectors Paddy Hannan, Thomas Flanagan, and Daniel Shea were traversing near the present site of the historic Mt Charlotte gold mine in Western Australia when they noticed some flickering in the area.
Several days later on 17 June, Hannan filed a reward claim for the gold found, leading to hundreds of people to swarm the area in search of the precious metal and Hannan’s Find – later renamed Kalgoorlie – was born. A few weeks after Hannan’s Find was pegged, South Australian prospectors Will Brookman and Sam Pearce peg the Ivanhoe and Great Boulder leases.
In those early gold rush days, the price of the yellow metal was US$19 an ounce. Fast-forward 131 years and gold is reaching record levels, yesterday (31 July 2024) at US$2,423 ($3,731).
Fortuitous timing as next week’s Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum is being held in the gold mining capital of Australia where miners of the precious metal are touted to once again steal the show. Last year, lithium and battery metals miners were the show stealers.
Forum Chairman Jim Walker tells Mining.com.au more than 2,600 delegates are on 5-7 August poised to descend on Kalgoorlie in Western Australia for mining’s biggest talkfest.
“It is the best opportunity that the mining and investment community get to share ideas, promote achievements and network,” Walker tells this news service, which will be in attendance this year.
“Holding the event in Kalgoorlie also allows mining and exploration companies to promote with site visits, which is an incredibly important part of the investment cycle that no other conference in Australia can offer.”
Mining services firms will feature heavily with a large contingent of exhibitors. Diggers has always catered for the entire mining sector and due to the “must-attend” status of the event and delegates represent all sections of the mining and investment lifecycle, Walker says.
“It is the best networking opportunity available to the industry every year ensuring everyone is represented,” he adds.
“After a number of strong years in the junior exploration space, the lithium and nickel markets have forced a slowdown in spending.
“With the strong gold price and global interest in more niche, rare earth commodities I am hopeful that the junior exploration sector will remain strong albeit in different commodities to more recent times.”
Some gold companies to attend Diggers this year include Ausgold (ASX:AUC), Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL), Hamelin Gold (ASXLHMG), Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS), and Westgold (ASX:WGX). See the full list here.
Former deputy prime minister Kim Beazley is the keynote speaker for the 2024 Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum. He was chosen given his passion for the Australian mining sector along with the “world-leading training and education that the sector is so proud of”.
Throughout his political and post-political career, Beazley has been involved in the development of government policies in relation to defence and international relations.
“He is eminently qualified to discuss how the Australian mining sector positions itself as the responsible supplier of choice for the critical minerals used in the global defence sector,” Walker tells Mining.com.au.
“He also knows intimately the contribution of the mining sector to Australia’s GDP and the role it plays in the prosperity of our nation.”
A decade after Hannan’s Find was pegged in 1903 the Kalgoorlie School of Mines (now the Western Australian School of Mines) opened in Kalgoorlie. The school is relocated from Coolgardie where it was originally opened in 1901.
In 1929, a copper statue of Paddy Hannan is unveiled at the corner of Hannan and Wilson streets. The original statue is now housed in the Kalgoorlie Town Hall.
Today, 35,000 people call Kalgoorlie home with the town considered the biggest and most prosperous gold mining city in the country and continues to play an integral role in the wealth and economy of Australia.
The town is also home to the Super Pit – one of Australia’s largest open pit gold mines. The operation is a world-class asset located adjacent to Kalgoorlie-Boulder some 600km east of Perth.
The Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) was originally formed to manage the KCGM operations, which include the Fimiston Open Pit (Super Pit), Mt Charlotte Underground Mine, and the Fimiston and Gidji Processing Plants.
The Golden Mile is one of the richest gold deposits in the world, producing more than 60 million ounces of gold.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Eastern Goldfields Historical Society, Superpit.com.au & Diggers & Dealers
