What's Left Of The Old Rosebud Mine.

My friend Graeme decided to show me an old copper mine he found in the past when he was exploring the Mary Kathleen area.

We headed out towards the Fountain Spring direction where he took a badly washed out track in his Ford Ranger, that lead to the remains of a old copper mine which was prospected in 1905 by Jack White who called it Rosebud Mine.

The Old mine was sold off a few times over the years and we are rediscovering the remains of this area. Well after a very bumpy ride alot of the track has been washed away but we made it to the Old mine site. 

The shaft depth is a little over 100ft. We climbed down to another level down a slippery Rock track which a concrete structure was there on a ledge of the side of the mountain.

We also came across what looks to be an old rusty boiler. 

There was also what looks like a tunnel now caved in.

We also noticed some rusty old cars left there to rust.

Now the interesting part that at the entrance to the Old track and information board provided some details how the mine came into existence.

 This is how the Rosebud Mine looked when it was operating in the 1915.

This is the extract off the existing notice board.

Jack White prospected the Rosebud Mine at Bulonga in August 1905 then sold it

to Tony Allis.

During May 1906, a tunnel was driven in from the Corella River Theo ore assayed in 1906 was 2.5 to 9 % copper.

A winze was sunk below the tunnell level however, further sinking was impossible because of the water level. In December1911, machinery was installed and a shaft sunk to a depth of a littleo over100 feet, from which drives were then put in to prove the copper lode.

Tony Allis sold the Rosebud Mine to the Wilcox syndicate, who were then subsequently taken over by the Corella Copper Company in 1913.

It was this company that built and operated the Corella Smelter, which they moved from The Gorge'in May 1914.

A steam traction engine with two trailers carted all the construction materials from Ballara and later brought the copper matte from Rosebud to ther railhead at Ballara.

The Corella Smelter treated ore from the Rosebud, Secret, Galah and other mines in the Ballara area.

The traction engined driver was Jack Maxwell and his offsider was Bill Reeves. Bill Horsburgh was the manager for the Rosebud Mine at Bulonga Harry Nichols was superintendent at the smelter, the shiftboss was Tom Feehily, and two of the general workmen were Wal (Snow) Austin and Fnday Webb Several of these men figured prominently in the start up of the Mount Isa Mines.

On 31 May 1914, work commenced on Rosebud Weir to control the inrush of water into the mine during the wet season and to supply water to the township of Burlonga.

.In 1915, coking coal from the south was railed to Ballara then carted by motor truck to the smelter at Rosebud. The Corella Copper Company also had an ironstone quarry at Mount Philp the near Ballara that was used as flux for the copper ore.

The flux assayed about 70 % iron but contained no copper. In November 1916 sheltering operations were suspended due to a lack of water.

In April 1917 the Rosebud Mine was inundated due to a heavy wet season.

The last firing of the smelter was on 15 June 1917.

On 15 November 1917, the Corella Copper Company decided to close down all their mines and the smelter.

All the remaining mining plant was disposed of around the district and all hands were were paid off. The Rosebud Mine on which the smelter was erected, was the mine onw which the company relied on getting most of their ore. At the 300 feet level, the life not only diminished in size but also lost a good deal of its grade.

The smelter treated almost 24,000 tons of ore between 1915 and 1917 at a grade of 5 to 6% of copper. At Rosebud, all that is left today where the smelter once stood, 

is a large slag heap, concrete foundations, a shaft, and parts of the furnace.

The township of Bulonga was also known as Corella or Rosebud, had a hotel run by

Perie and Florence McClure, a store, and a bake house. 

The area had also been the centre for the Afghans who kept their camels on Corella River. The camels were used to cart ore to the railhead at Ballara and to the Rosebud smelter. 

All that is left of Bulonga are the many stone fireplaces, scattered glass, tin and iron, and some stump and concrete slab remnants of the few buildings that once existed.