Consolidated Zinc: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}

'''Consolidated Zinc''' was an Australian [[mining]] company from 1905 to 1962.

==History==

The company's initial operations focused on extracting [[zinc]] from [[mine tailings]] of the [[Broken Hill Ore Deposit]] at [[Broken Hill, New South Wales]], Australia.<ref name="RT-Timeline">{{cite web|url=http://www.riotinto.com/whoweare/timeline.asp |title=Timeline |work=Rio Tinto website |publisher=Rio Tinto Group |accessdate=2009-04-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219090438/http://www.riotinto.com/whoweare/timeline.asp |archive-date=19 December 2010 }}</ref> The company was founded in [[Melbourne]] on 9 September 1905 as the '''Zinc Corporation Limited''', to exploit residual zinc concentrations with an estimated value of $12 million in the 6 million tons of mine tailings deposited from mining activities over the previous 20 years. Key figures involved in the effort included [[William Baillieu]] and [[William Sydney Robinson]].<ref>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |author=Richardson, Peter |title=Robinson, William Sydney (1876–1963) |id2=robinson-william-sydney-8247/text14441 |accessdate=13 May 2012}}</ref> Also involved was future U.S. president, but then a mining engineer working for [[Bewick, Moreing and Company]],<ref name=Broken>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199419205 |title=Broken Hill Zinc Tailings |newspaper=[[The Age]] |issue=15,788 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 October 1905 |accessdate=10 February 2019 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> [[Herbert Hoover]], who inspected the tailing dumps in the group's investigations prior to formation of the company.<ref name="SC">{{cite web|url=http://au.geocities.com/bhsilvercity/zcnbhc.htm|title=Zinc Corporation & New Broken Hill Consolidated Ltd.|date=2002|work=The Silver City: Mining History|publisher=Line of Load Association|accessdate=2009-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090723063317/http://au.geocities.com/bhsilvercity/zcnbhc.htm|archive-date=2009-07-23}}</ref><ref name="Hoover">{{cite book|last1=Hoover|first1=Herbert|title=The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Years of Adventure 1874-1920|url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsofherbert0002hoov|url-access=registration|date=1951|publisher=The Macmillan Company|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memoirsofherbert0002hoov/page/8989], 102}}</ref><ref name="Blainey">{{cite book|last1=Blainey|first1=Geoffrey|title=The Rush That Never Ended|url=https://archive.org/details/rushthatneverend0000blai|url-access=registration|date=1963|publisher=Melbourne University Press|location=Melbourne|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rushthatneverend0000blai/page/265 265–268]}}</ref>

Other investors in the new company were [[Clark & Robinson]] (William Clark, Lionel Robinson and Company), and [[Arthur Terrell]].<ref name=Broken/>

They established [[concentrating mill]]s at Broken Hill in 1905 and 1910, and in 1906 an associated [[sulphuric acid]] manufacturing plant whose first manager was (later Sir) [[H. W. Gepp]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211409722|title=Barrier Bits|date=29 November 1905|newspaper=[[The Critic (Adelaide)|The Critic]]|accessdate=10 February 2019|issue=45|location=South Australia|volume=IX|page=26|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

In 1911 they expanded into primary mining activities with the purchase of [[Broken Hill South Blocks]] Ltd (colloquially "South Blocks"), constructing underground mines<ref name="SC"/> and mining for zinc, [[lead]], [[silver]]<ref name="RTC-CRA">{{cite web|url=http://www.riotinto.com/documents/Investors/dlcsep06.pdf|title=RTC-CRA: United for Growth|date=September 2006|work=Rio Tinto Review|publisher=Rio Tinto Group|accessdate=2009-04-13|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327021733/http://www.riotinto.com/documents/Investors/dlcsep06.pdf|archive-date=27 March 2009}}</ref> and [[gold]]<ref name="Cobar">{{cite web|url=http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/109192/cobars-mining-history.pdf|title=Cobar's Mining History|date=February 2007|work=Primefacts|publisher=New South Wales Department of Primary Industries|accessdate=2009-04-15}}</ref> in the Broken Hill area.

In 1949, Zinc Corporation merged with the [[Imperial Smelting Corporation]] to become Consolidated Zinc.<ref name="Cobar"/> In 1953, [[Haddon King]] became chief geologist.<ref name=ADB>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=king-haddon-rymer-forrester-12740

Over time, the company built up substantial financial resources but failed to develop suitable new mining projects. This led to a [[merger]] in 1962 with the Rio Tinto Company, a company who found itself in a complementary position of having substantial development opportunities but not enough financial resources with which to pursue them. The resulting company, known as The '''Rio Tinto – Zinc Corporation''' (RTZ), and its main subsidiary, Conzinc Riotinto of Australia (CRA), would eventually become today's [[Rio Tinto Group]].<ref name="RTC-CRA"/>

== See also ==

* [[Rio Tinto Company Limited]]

[[Category:Former Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries]]

[[Category:Metal companiesofAustralia]]

[[Category:Metallurgical industry of Australia]]

[[Category:Manufacturing plants in Australia]]