Events/Price shock · 1969
Poseidon nickel share boom
Price shock, September 1969 to February 1970, Australia.
What happened
Poseidon shares were about 0.80 dollars in early September 1969. After drilling at Windarra, they closed at a peak of 278 dollars on 13 February 1970. The RBA paper calls it an asset-price bubble. Mining shares fell through 1970 and 1971, and Poseidon delisted in 1976.1,2
Why it matters
The RBA paper says the 1974 Senate Select Committee report documented abuses during the boom and recommended changes to the regulation of financial markets.1,2
Story cards
Around the same time
- WMC discovers nickel at Kambalda
WMC drilling found the first large nickel deposit under gossans sampled in 1954.3
- Kambalda West townsite established
A second townsite was set up 4 km west of the original.3
- Poseidon nickel share boom
The RBA paper says the 1974 Senate Select Committee report documented abuses during the boom and recommended changes to the regulation of financial markets.1,2
- Windarra and Mount Keith nickel found
Where next
Sources
- Three Australian Asset-price Bubbles (J. Simon, 2003 conference paper) Reserve Bank of Australia
- Laverton (item Q1002750), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
- Mining and Energy Western Australia: Nickel State Library of Western Australia
- Nickel (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
- Ken Shirley State Library of Western Australia
From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.
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Pictures: Escondida Mine, Chile, NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).