People/prospector

Ken Shirley

Ken Shirley (1914–1992), prospector, from Australia. Linked to nickel, gold.

The lucky break

In September 1969 he saw nickel sulphide caps in banded iron formation and pegged 10800 acres at Mt Windarra for Poseidon.1,2

The downfall

The find set off a stock-market boom and bust in 1969-70. Poseidon was delisted in 1976.1,2

Legacy

He started prospecting at Coober Pedy and Tennant Creek and pegged the Jubilee mine in 1936.1,2

Story cards

Timeline

  1. September 1969 to February 1970Poseidon nickel share boom3
  2. 1969Windarra and Mount Keith nickel found4
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Where next

Events

Led toPoseidon nickel share boomHis Windarra find set off a stock-market boom and bust in 1969-70.1DiscoveredWindarra and Mount Keith nickel foundNickel caps in banded iron formation set off a stock-market boom and bust.1

Places

Worked hereCoober PedyKen Shirley started prospecting at Coober Pedy before pegging Mt Windarra in 1969.1

Sources

  1. Ken Shirley State Library of Western Australia
  2. Nickel (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  3. Three Australian Asset-price Bubbles (J. Simon, 2003 conference paper) Reserve Bank of Australia
  4. Nickel (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) 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)); South Africa: a crowd of people gathered outside The Goldfields offices in Johannesburg. 1896., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Falu gruva, Lundberg, Bengt A / Europeana (CC0 1.0).