Kalgoorlie as the Global Centre for Gold Metallurgical Innovation 1902-1907

Faced with the problem of how to process valuable refractory sulphide ore in the early 1900s, Kalgoorlie mining engineers and metallurgist, and their consultants, borrowed ideas from a variety of international sources to develop new equipment and new procedures. This paper examines the sources of these innovations and how they spread with remarkable speed through the medium of the tight-knit group of international metallurgical consultants. The inter-relationship between international technological transfer and increased local inventiveness, stimulated by the rapid changes in technology, and the opportunities and limitations experienced by Australian metallurgical inventers in the 1900s are also examined.

Keywords:

• Cyanide Process
• Gold Metallurgy
• Gold Mining
• Metallurgical Patenting
• Kalgoorlie
• Western Australia