Gold continued

Introduction Prospecting for gold Underground mining 1900-1972 Sons of Gwalia gold mine 1900-1960 Open cut mining

Corporate underground gold mining continued

After 1910 the gold boom gave way to a period of consolidation. Metallurgical problems had seen a fall in returns from some mines. The next decade saw some technical improvements in both the machinery used in mines and in gold extraction techniques. However rising labour costs and improved working conditions for an increasingly unionised work force, rising processing costs and a fall in returns saw many mines close. A drop in the price of gold - in 1914 the price was half the 1903 price when production was at its peak - made gold mining a less profitable business after the First World War.