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Mines/Australia

Wittenoom (Colonial Mine)

Wittenoom (Colonial Mine), Australia. Closed, underground, mining asbestos.

Why Wittenoom (Colonial Mine) is famous

Asbestos mining ran from 1933 to 1966. The townsite was phased down from 1978, official status was removed in December 2006, it was degazetted in June 2007 and listed a contaminated site in 2008. The state cites thousands of fatalities.1,2,3

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1930 to 1935Hawks Nest Tunnel silicosis disaster5
  2. 1966Asbestos mining at Wittenoom ends6
  3. Phase-down from 1978; degazetted June 2007Wittenoom removed from official maps7

Wittenoom (Colonial Mine) today

Mining in Australia

Where next

People

Investigated byDr Eric SaintA doctor predicted in 1948 that Wittenoom would produce the world's worst asbestosis toll.4

Mines

An example ofJeffrey Mine (Asbestos, Quebec)Wittenoom's asbestos ran 1933 to 1966. Quebec's Jeffrey Mine ran from 1881 to 2012.1

Events

HereWittenoom removed from official mapsThe townsite was phased down from 1978 because of the risk from airborne asbestos fibres.7HereAsbestos mining at Wittenoom endsMining ran from 1933 to 1966. At the 1962 peak asbestos ranked fourth in WA.6ExamplesHawks Nest Tunnel silicosis disasterTwo dust disasters: silicosis at Hawks Nest and asbestos at Wittenoom.5

Places

Located inWittenoomWittenoom (Colonial Mine) sits at Wittenoom.1

Sources

  1. Wittenoom brochure Government of Western Australia
  2. Wittenoom exhibition State Library of Western Australia
  3. Wikidata entity Q3569521
  4. Asbestos (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  5. Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster US National Park Service
  6. Mining and Energy Western Australia: Asbestos (exhibition page) State Library of Western Australia
  7. Information on the former town of Wittenoom (brochure PDF) Government 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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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0.