History/Events
Mining history events
Rushes, disasters, discoveries, strikes, nationalisations and price shocks, from the Bronze Age to this year.
1500 to 1799
- Mercury mining begins at HuancavelicaDiscovery · Peru
- Mercury amalgamation adopted for Potosi silverInvention · Bolivia
1800s
- Mines and Collieries Act 1842Law or policy · United Kingdom
- California gold rushRush · United States
- James Marshall finds gold at Sutter's sawmillDiscovery · United States
- Bathurst and Ophir gold rushRush · Australia
- Victorian gold rushRush · Australia
- Eureka StockadeStrike or conflict · Australia
- Bessemer announces his steelmaking processInvention · United Kingdom
- Pikes Peak (Colorado) gold rushRush · United States
- Fraser River gold rushRush · Canada
- Welcome Nugget found at BallaratRecord · Australia
- Comstock Lode strikesDiscovery · United States
- Otago gold rushRush · New Zealand
- Welcome Stranger nugget foundRecord · Australia
- Kimberley diamond rushRush · South Africa
- General Mining Law of 1872Law or policy · United States
- Holtermann reef gold specimen unearthedRecord · Australia
- Alluvial gold found at Pilgrim's RestDiscovery · South Africa
- Rio Tinto Company registered in LondonCompany founded · Spain
- Black Hills gold rushRush · United States
- Schieffelin finds silver at TombstoneRush · United States
- Leadville silver boomRush · United States
- Mount Morgan gold mining beginsDiscovery · Australia
- Charles Rasp finds the Broken Hill orebodyDiscovery · Australia
- Copper-bearing rock found during Canadian Pacific Railway works at SudburyDiscovery · Canada
- Barberton gold rushRush · South Africa
- Broken Hill Proprietary Company formedCompany founded · Australia
- Gold found in the Kimberley (Halls Creek)Discovery · Australia
- Hall and Heroult invent electrolytic aluminium smeltingInvention · United States
- Gold found on the WitwatersrandDiscovery · South Africa
- Witwatersrand gold rushRush · South Africa
- Cyanide process for gold developed in ScotlandInvention · United Kingdom
- Bulli Colliery explosionDisaster · Australia
- Tin mining starts at GreenbushesDiscovery · Australia
- De Beers Consolidated Mines foundedCompany founded · South Africa
- Hamilton Colliery roof fall at GlebeDisaster · Australia
- Cripple Creek gold rushRush · United States
- LKAB foundedCompany founded · Sweden
- Bayley and Ford find gold at CoolgardieDiscovery · Australia
- Hannan finds gold at KalgoorlieRush · Australia
- South Broken Hill silver mine airblastDisaster · Australia
- Gold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) CreekDiscovery · Canada
- Ashanti Goldfields listed and Obuasi openedCompany founded · Ghana
- Klondike gold rushRush · Canada
- Nome gold rushRush · United States
- Dudley Colliery explosionDisaster · Australia
1900s
- Balmain Colliery shaft bucket accidentDisaster · Australia
- Greta Colliery fireDisaster · Australia
- Broken Hill South Mine rock fallDisaster · Australia
- Mount Kembla coal mine explosionDisaster · Australia
- Broken Hill Central Mine falls of earthDisaster · Australia
- Cobalt silver rushRush · Canada
- Goldfields Water Supply Scheme opensInvention · Australia
- Cullinan diamond foundRecord · South Africa
- Stanford Merthyr fire and explosionsDisaster · Australia
- Courrieres coal mine disasterDisaster · France
- Union Miniere du Haut Katanga createdCompany founded · DR Congo
- Peak year for US coal mining deathsRecord · United States
- Darr mine explosionDisaster · United States
- Monongah mine explosionDisaster · United States
- Santa Maria School massacre, IquiqueStrike or conflict · Chile
- Cherry mine fireDisaster · United States
- Coal Mines Act 1911Law or policy · United Kingdom
- Haber-Bosch process comes onlineInvention · Germany
- Senghenydd colliery disasterDisaster · United Kingdom
- Stag Canon No. 2 mine explosionDisaster · United States
- Ludlow MassacreStrike or conflict · United States
- Kimberley Big Hole stops workClosure · South Africa
- Anglo American foundedCompany founded · South Africa
- Granite Mountain shaft fire at ButteDisaster · United States
- Mineral Leasing ActLaw or policy · United States
- Battle of Blair MountainStrike or conflict · United States
- Bayan Obo iron deposit foundDiscovery · China
- Hawks Nest Tunnel silicosis disasterDisaster · United States
- Gold Reserve Act signedLaw or policy · United States
- Gresford colliery explosionDisaster · United Kingdom
- Construction of Norilsk combine beginsCompany founded · Russia
- Commonwealth bans iron ore exportsLaw or policy · Australia
- Benxihu colliery explosionDisaster · China
- Congo uranium ore bought for the Manhattan ProjectLaw or policy · DR Congo
- Bretton Woods conferenceLaw or policy · United States
- African mine workers' strike on the WitwatersrandStrike or conflict · South Africa
- Materials ActLaw or policy · United States
- Centralia No. 5 mine explosionDisaster · United States
- Orient No. 2 mine explosionDisaster · United States
- Lang Hancock spots iron ore in the Hamersley RangeDiscovery · Australia
- Bolivia nationalises the tin minesNationalisation · Bolivia
- Mir kimberlite pipe found in YakutiaDiscovery · Russia
- Bois du Cazier fire at MarcinelleDisaster · Belgium
- Iron ore export embargo liftedLaw or policy · Australia
- Coalbrook colliery collapseDisaster · South Africa
- London Gold Pool formedLaw or policy · United Kingdom
- Lithium brine production begins at Clayton ValleyInvention · United States
- Nickel sulphides found at KambaldaDiscovery · Australia
- Asbestos mining at Wittenoom endsClosure · Australia
- Aberfan disasterDisaster · United Kingdom
- Union Miniere nationalised as GecaminesNationalisation · DR Congo
- De Beers finds the Orapa kimberliteDiscovery · Botswana
- Consol No. 9 mine explosion at FarmingtonDisaster · United States
- Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969Law or policy · United Kingdom
- Poseidon nickel share boomPrice shock · Australia
- Windarra and Mount Keith nickel foundDiscovery · Australia
- Zambia takes 51 percent of the copper minesNationalisation · Zambia
- De Beers Botswana Mining Company formedCompany founded · Botswana
- Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act signedLaw or policy · United States
- Mining and Minerals Policy ActLaw or policy · United States
- Kimberlite pipes found at JwanengDiscovery · Botswana
- Orapa mine officially openedCompany founded · Botswana
- Chile nationalises large copper miningNationalisation · Chile
- Nixon ends dollar convertibility into goldLaw or policy · United States
- Sunshine silver mine fireDisaster · United States
- Marc Rich + Co AG establishedCompany founded · Switzerland
- Olympic Dam drill hole RD1Discovery · Australia
- Scotia mine explosionsDisaster · United States
- Shaba invasions trigger a cobalt market panicPrice shock · DR Congo
- Argyle diamond pipe AK1 foundDiscovery · Australia
- Silver price collapse after the Hunt silver squeezePrice shock · United States
- Escondida porphyry copper foundDiscovery · Chile
- Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines formedMerger · Zambia
- Greenbushes lithium production beginsCompany founded · Australia
- Wilberg mine fireDisaster · United States
- International Tin Council collapsePrice shock · United Kingdom
- Panguna mine haltedClosure · Papua New Guinea
- South Bulli Colliery gas outburstDisaster · Australia
- Diamonds found at Lac de GrasDiscovery · Canada
- Giant Mine strike explosionStrike or conflict · Canada
- Summitville mine environmental crisisEnvironment · United States
- Westray mine explosionDisaster · Canada
- RTZ and CRA form a dual listed groupMerger · United Kingdom
- Gretley Colliery inrushDisaster · Australia
- Giant Mine passes to the federal governmentClosure · Canada
- Northparkes block cave air blastDisaster · Australia
Since 2000
- DRC cobalt boomRush · DR Congo
- Baia Mare cyanide spillEnvironment · Romania
- Sullivan mine closesClosure · Canada
- Mountain Pass mining stopsClosure · United States
- BHP leaves Ok Tedi after river damage claimsEnvironment · Papua New Guinea
- Berkeley Pit cleanup settlementEnvironment · United States
- Kimberley Process Certification Scheme comes into forceLaw or policy · Switzerland
- Kiruna relocation announcedEnvironment · Sweden
- Sago mine explosionDisaster · United States
- Wittenoom removed from official mapsClosure · Australia
- Upper Big Branch mine explosionDisaster · United States
- China cuts rare earth export quotaLaw or policy · China
- Copiapo San Jose mine collapse and rescueDisaster · Chile
- Pike River coal mine explosionDisaster · New Zealand
- Lynas starts Mount Weld concentrate productionCompany founded · Australia
- Glencore lists in LondonCompany founded · United Kingdom
- Molycorp commissions new Mountain Pass operationsCompany founded · United States
- WTO dispute over China's rare earth export restrictionsLaw or policy · China
- Marikana killingsStrike or conflict · South Africa
- Manefay landslides at Bingham CanyonDisaster · United States
- Glencore completes merger with XstrataMerger · Switzerland
- Soma coal mine disasterDisaster · Turkey
- Mount Polley tailings dam breachDisaster · Canada
- Fundao tailings dam collapse at MarianaDisaster · Brazil
- 2016 to 2023 lithium boomRush · Australia
- Brumadinho dam collapseDisaster · Brazil
- Indonesia bans nickel ore exportsLaw or policy · Indonesia
- Juukan Gorge rock shelters destroyedEnvironment · Australia
- Hpakant jade mine landslideDisaster · Myanmar
- Argyle diamond mine ends miningClosure · Australia
- Lithium prices peakPrice shock · Australia
- Wodgina lithium mine restartsCompany founded · Australia
- Leo Lithium lists on the ASXCompany founded · Australia
- China begins export controls on gallium and germaniumLaw or policy · China