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July 11, 2004
Between 1896 and 1923 over 3 million tonnes of timber were cut down to feed the smelters of the Mt Lyell Copper mine near Queenstown. At its peak, the furnaces were consuming 2000 tonnes of wood per week.
Wolfgang Sievers, Mt Lyell Copper Mine, Western Tasmania, 1959
By 1900 the combination of Sulphur fumes and heavy rainfall had changed the area into this barren moonscape.
Since the smelters closed in 1969 there has been some regrowth on the lower slopes, but it is estimated that the impact will last some four to five hundred years.
Dumping of the mine's tailings in the Queen river occurred until 1994. The acidity of the Queen River is still at extremely high levels, and there is no aquatic life
More photoshere
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