Maps
"In November of 1952, I was flying down south with my wife Hope, and we left a bit later than usual and by the time we got over the Hamersley Ranges, the clouds had formed and the ceiling got lower and lower. I got into the Turner River, knowing full well if I followed it through, I would come out into the Ashburton. On going through a gorge in the Turner River, I noticed that the walls looked to me to be solid iron and was particularly alerted by the rusty looking colour of it, it showed to me to be oxidised iron." — Australian mining pioneer Lang Hancock speaking on the discovery of the largest iron ore deposit in history
While most prospectors at the time could only have imagined what the sight must have been like for Lang Hancock flying over that gorge in 1952, fast forward half a century and the view is available to anyone with an internet connection. The exact location of his discovery is hard to pinpoint, but jump on the Google Maps website with the right co-ordinates and you can get pretty close.
To get an overview of mining activity in Australia the best way to start is by downloading the Google Earth program and then plugging in the following two data files courtesy of the Australian Mines Atlas (once you've downloaded and installed the Google Earth application the two following files will open automatically in it):
If you'd like even more detail on specific mine sites or are searching for geological survey data the following links may be of assistance.
Links to Australian Mining Maps
- First port of call for anyone looking for Australian mining maps is the Australian Mines Atlas - it's a government-run site and the title is pretty much self-explanatory.