Century-Old Mistake Once Led To Gold Rush In Australian City’s Streets
When people are excited about the opportunities waiting for them in a new land, it's not unusual for them to act like the streets are paved with gold. Indeed, that might literally be the term they use if they've built this new location up in their heads enough. But it's not like there's a place where that's literally true, right?
Well, not in the sense that it's worth it to go out in the streets with a pan like a prospector exploring the Old West. But there is one place in Australia that has actually had gold paved into its streets.
Welcome to Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Australia, is a small city compared to metropolises like Melbourne, Brisbane, or Sydney.
Nonetheless, the nation's Gold Industry Group identified it as the largest city in the continent's vast outback.
California wasn't the only Gold Rush
And its relatively large size can mostly be attributed to the momentum the area built up after gold was discovered in Western Australia during the late 19th Century.
This brought a gold rush to the area known as the Eastern Goldfields, which straddled the towns of Kalgoorlie, Boulder, and Coolgardie (pictured.)
Still the biggest business
The area rose to prominence for hosting such a staggering deposit of gold that the area is still being mined today.
Moreover, the mining operation there, known as the Super Pit, remains one of the biggest open-pit gold mines in Australia.
How much gold?
According to the Gold Industry Group, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (the company that mines the Super Pit) Poured its 50,000th gold bar in 2019. This occasion also marked the corporation's 30-year anniversary.
But this makes them a relative newcomer to the area's riches as this ceremonial bar brought the total of gold mined in the 120 years since the deposit was discovered to 60 million ounces.
How it all started
Back in 1893, a prospector named Patrick "Paddy" Hannan discovered gold in the area around Kalgoorlie near Mount Charlotte.
And he was sure that if word got out about what he had found in the gully, it would cause pandemonium.
The biggest of secrets
To avoid this pandemonium, Hannan kept the gold a secret at first and only told his two partners about it.
But of course, he had to register his claim for his discovery to mean anything, so he traveled to Coolgardie to do so.
Ther prediction came true
After that registration, enough word spread that prospectors flooded into the region, hoping to make some lucrative discoveries of their own.
Within three days, an estimated 400 men found their way to the area.
The birth of the mile
By the end of the week, the number of prospectors combing over the area had more than doubled to about 1,000.
It was this excitement and the estimated 1,600-ton gold deposit that would give the area the name the Golden Mile.
A distracting bounty
According to the Western Australian Museum, between 70% to 75% of the gold in this deposit exists as native gold, while 5% to 10% of it found its way into surrounding minerals.
However, that remaining 20% was a little tricky to spot in the 1890s.
More than they thought
The remaining 20% is found in rocks known as tellurides, which means they're a compound of gold and another metalloid called tellurium.
But since these tellurides looked different from the other abundant gold, it wasn't exactly trusted.
Who were the real fools?
As far as the town's residents were concerned, the difference between the native gold and this compound was the difference between real gold and pyrite (pictured).
For those who are unfamiliar, pyrite is known as "fool's gold" due to its similar appearance to gold but significantly lower value.
Treated like a common rock
So according to the Western Australian Museum, people were casual with these tellurides once this distinction was made.
When these rocks weren't outright discarded, they were used as building materials for cart tracks, walkways, and especially the new town roads being constructed in Kalgoorlie at the time.
A common metaphor becomes the truth
Since this confusion started soon after the first gold was found in 1893, this building activity was part and parcel of the town's sudden expansion.
In other words, in the early days of the Western Australian gold rush, the streets of Kalgoorlie were literally paved with gold.
It took them years to notice
For about three years, the residents' mistakes went without correction, and the area's early miners worked hard to extract the more obvious gold from the dense collection of mines.
All the while, they had no idea that gold was right under their feet when they headed back home.
A sudden realization.
According to Gold Industry Group, it wasn't until 1896 that people realized what they had been throwing away and using to build their town.
It's unclear who or what tipped them off to this fact.
What was really in there
The Western Australian Museum identified calaverite as one of the main minerals involved in this building process, which isn't something a gold miner should throw away.
That's because the rare mineral typically contains about 42% gold.
Even more to it than that
As obviously valuable as this gold was, it wasn't the only precious metal hidden in these calaverite rocks.
According to GeologyHub, over 1% of calaverite's weight is composed of silver.
Ironically important
The Western Australian Museum explained that tellurides went from a building material at best and a waste product at worst to one of the Super Pit's most important resources.
Out of the 1,600 tons of gold that have come from the mine, about 331 originated in tellurides.
The world's strangest gold rush
GeologyHub reported that in addition to the roads and walkways, some of the town's buildings at the time were also made with tellurides.
So while there was no telling what happened to the discarded pieces, the gold they could account for wasn't any easier to get back.
Where there's a will, there's a way
Despite how cumbersome and costly it would be to dismantle years of construction, the draw of even more gold was a powerful motivator.
And from the sounds of things, it was powerful enough.
There's gold in the streets!
Once it became clear what everyone was standing on, Kalgoorlie's didn't hesitate to dig for their piece of a potentially lucrative pie.
According to Gold Industry Group, people rushed to tear out the stones that once paved the town.
Destroy and rebuild
GeologyHub explained that throughout the decade following this discovery, just about every project that came from that three-year period was ripped apart.
And once the gold inside was extracted, it was smelted.
Beaten by a century
However, any enterprising prospectors out there will be disappointed.
That's because both Kalgoorlie's residents and the owners of the nearby mines had the same idea they're now getting over a century ago.
The cost was worth it to them
As GeologyHub reported, Kalgoorlie's wayward gold had all been scooped up by 1910.
And as far as they could tell, this effort was paid for by the area's original mine owners.
Don't get any funny ideas
GeologyHub was also explicit in cautioning their viewers against trying to find any calaverite they missed in the more than 100 years since.
In their words, "Please DO NOT go into the city or the surrounding area and break pavement or structures to look for this mineral."
A lose-lose situation
Anyone who doesn't heed this warning is likely to walk away from Kalgoorlie-Boulder empty-handed.
And depending on how aggressive and destructive they are about their search, they could incur some serious costs of their own. After all, it's hard to get away with tearing up part of a city.
No such thing as free gold
Although the region that was once known as The Golden Mile remains rich in gold, the prospect of finding gold that isn't already spoken for is functionally impossible.
There's nary a stone that Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines has left unturned.
The main source
And that thoroughness shows how important the Goldfields region around the Super Pit is for Australia at large.
According to the Western Australian Museum, over 60% of the nation's gold production starts right here.
It hasn't come easy
In the time since the Eastern Goldfields earned their name, the gold industry in Western Australia has seen its share of troubles.
The first decline came in the early 20th century due to rising extraction and processing costs, while another came during World War II due in part to the ensuing labor shortage.
The world changes
However, the biggest decline was more gradual. As far back as 1970, gold fell behind as the nation's most valuable mineral to produce and accounted for 2% of Australia's total mining value.
That said, the region also produces 98% of the nation's nickel. So mining companies in the area aren't putting all of their eggs in the gold basket.
