Abandoned Copper Smelter - Stockfoto

The OK Mine and Smelter, operational from 1902 to 1909, exemplifies the establishment and development of copper mining in North Queensland, Australia. The abandoned mine-site shows the layout and processes of a mid-sized copper smelter, and contains a rare large, intact and very symmetrical slag dump in the foreground. The octagonal brick chimney dominating the smelter site is one of only three octagonal mining chimneys recorded in North Queensland, the others being at Chillagoe and Sunset No 2, Ravenswood. As a ruin the OK Mine and Smelter, including the large symmetrical slag dump, has considerable aesthetic significance. The OK Copper Mines Development Syndicate NL, which established and developed the mine and smelter, is significant in Queensland's history as the first North Queensland copper company to pay a dividend, due to its practical equating of technical requirements and expenditure on smelters and mine equipment against the known reserves of ore.