Wikimapia is a multilingual open-content collaborative map, where anyone can create place tags and share their knowledge.

Warrego Mine

Australia / Northern Territory / Tennant Creek /
 copper mine, gold mine
 Upload a photo

The Warrego Mine is a mine just off the Warrego Road in the centre of the Northern Territory, Australia situated about 840km south-southeast of Darwin. The Warrego Mine is at an altitude of about 308m above sea level. Its production is: bismuth, copper and gold.

Exploration of the Warrego copper-bismuth-gold anomaly commenced in the late 1950s and operated up to late 1989, producing approximately 4.94 Mt of ore. In addition to Warrego mine production, ores from other mines were trucked to the Warrego site for processing. They included ores from the White Devil, Gecko, Eldorado, and Orlando mines. In 1999, Normandy Tennant Creek Pty. Ltd. started developing closure strategies for their Warrego tailings storage facility.

Robertson GeoConsultants Inc. and O'Kane Consultants Inc. were retained to propose strategies for the rehabilitation of its Warrego tailings storage facilities (TSF). As part of Phase 1 of this investigation, the current impacts of tailings seepage on the local aquifer were evaluated and a groundwater flow and solute transport model was developed to predict future impacts for alternative closure scenarios. The groundwater flow model was calibrated using existing information on ground water levels and groundwater quality. The spatial extent of the contaminant plume was estimated using a solute transport model (MT3D).

Estimates of future seepage from the tailings facility for different cover scenarios were simulated using the soil-atmosphere model SoilCover. These estimates were used as input to the calibrated groundwater flow model to predict the time required for recovery of the groundwater system to pre-mining water levels for alternative cover scenarios. The Tennant Creek operations, including the Warrego TSF, were recently acquired by a local mining group and are still in operation today.

robertsongeoconsultants.com/index.php?page=projects&...
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   19°26'42"S   133°49'18"E

Comments

  • lost (guest)
    needs a greenkeeper
  • Bill Martinsen (guest)
    I'd love to go back and have a look. I worked there in 1983.
  • Bernie Hill (guest)
    I also would like to have a look as I was working on the mill construction then went underground as a shaft sinker in 1971 and lived in Tennent Creek in Ford Crescent in a company house. My leading hand was Peter Leinzinberger on the shaft sink and the Underground Manager was Norm Moorwood with Ken Footes as the Manager.
  • FRANK KÜHNEL (guest)
    I was working ther from 1969-1972 as painter
  • Simon Walford (guest)
    I worked there for a short time, Dad (Tony) worked there for a long time and Peko before that. Interesting Information provided, thanks!
  • Charlie Kuehnel (guest)
    Frank Kuhnel, are you on facebook? My surname was spelt the same way as yours (with umlaut, the e added to anglicise). Might be interesting to compare family history?
  • rob haines (guest)
    worked for peko at orlando, juno & peko late 71 to 75. jumbo jahnsenn, neil parradine, claus vitch & johnny Atkinson are some of the shiftbosses I remember. from juno. worked as platman, bogger driver drillers o/sider ect during my time there. mother & stepfather are both buried in t.c. vince & mary atkins, we owned a house on ambrose st. rob haines
  • Henri (guest)
    Henri I worked at Warrego underground mechanical wokshop and started job of long hole driller before leaving the company. While working in the mechanical workshop I was one of the very few to bring parts of jaw crusher and apron feeder to level 8 and assembled all this stuff.One full shift riding those massive steel parts all the way down and unload to level 8. I also worked on the erection of the V 35 fan under the supervision of Peter Crane vendor engineer. I remember from this period 1971 1972 bob Atkinson administration, Basil Hardy head of maintenance Otto Hintz mecanical foreman. Trevor Palmer coming from Melbourne was a very good friend and I will never forget him.
  • Henry Sheppard (guest)
    I worked a t the Copper Smelter back in 1973. Amazing place.
  • Rob Ward (guest)
    I worked there from 1980 to 1982 in both Warrego and Gecko mines. Started off in the Warrego store and then moved to Gecko store with ? Crane. Then back to Warrego to the Transport section before being a shift loader operator at the smelter. Rob Ward.
  • Denis Byrne (guest)
    Denis Byrne (guest) I went to Tennant Ck with my uncle, Tom Byrne, mail contractor twice weekly to Camooweal. I worked Orlando Mine, 1966- 1969 underground workshop. Roy Searle, a wonderful mentor. Peko Mines 1969-1982 Transport, store deliveries to all mines and smelter, driving semi trailer, Leading Hand Concentrator Bagging Strip Sample Prep Supervisor, Ray Wooldridge, another wonderful Mentor. Left to open Contract Sample Prep in Townsville, later becoming Lab. My father in law at the time, Bob Reed, an amazing man, soo much knowledge. I enjoyed my time in Tennant Ck, the amazing beauty of the environment, the colours changing with the sun. Achieved many things while living there. Like myself I saw heaps of people gain so much, from such a small spot on the face of Australia. While at Orlando Mine, a tight camp. Ernie Skein who live at the Dolly Pot Inn, just west over the hill from the now Gecko Mine, we would take him to town on pension day. Weekly, top up his water drums, just to check, see if he was still alive. Been back twice and look forward to again.
  • Richard Whittingham (guest)
    Traveling thru Australia I was hired on at the Warrego Mine site. Based on my experience in Thompson Manitoba I would say in comparison It wasn't the safest work site I had ever come across. I lasted till first coffee the first and last time I went underground. Stayed top side the rest of my time there as a steel rigger installing the ore bins and even then it was an experience watching all the goings on. Most colorful guy there was a Canadian looking after the welding shop named "ESKIMO". One of many colourful characters you get to meet in the camps.
  • Barry Jones (guest)
    I worked there around 1982 or thereabouts. Myself and Shane Pickup were running the batch plant and sandblasting out of the civil shop. No fly in fly out then, i was there for a year, had a 6 week break due to a broken hand but went back, Made some good friends there, only remember nicknames mostly. Mudguts being the most memorable, would love to go back and have a look. Minesites are considerably different these days.
  • Tanzer (guest)
    Yes, considerably different these days. But there is still a hint of the pioneering spirit out there, in all but the most regimented Rio or BHP sites, the 'get it done' culture still exists - just modified.
  • Colin Richards (guest)
    Hi My name is Colin Richards and now live in Adelaide. I was a rigger putting the heaf frame together from start to finish..Basil Hardy was the engineer in charge. Then went to mining school in Mt Isa then returned to Warrego sinking the air shaft and the main shaft by benching and using a Cryderman io fill the kibble. After that ladder rising and development work. Hot as hell in those days U/G. It was 35 degrees wet bulb temp on the plat underground. Hotter away from the plat. Brian Brazier or Chiefy as he was called wad the underground mine foreman. Loved up there and the lifestyle. Lived in single mens area then the caravan park. Could tell many stories of characters and things that happened. Ome miner stuck $1000 in $50 notes on the wall of his room and a nude pic of himself with araldyte. Whem Peter the painter came in to paint the room as the miner had left he was told to paint over the money. Many more stories come to mind. Warrego Club sold a lot of beer and wad robbed at one time but they got caught on the Stuart Highway. Great place if you liked it..lot of Germans there. A fight in the mess one day saw the cook turn the fire hose on them..with us all cheering of course. The cook won.
  • Karenlee Thompson (guest)
    Anyone remember Neil Champion winder driver?
  • Phill watson (guest)
    I was sad I did the last shift in the Warrego power station and shut down the engines for the last time. I started as a sparky for six months with peko got made redundant after 3 and half stayed on with Poseidon then shut the doors with Normandy
  • Rick Howell (guest)
    I worked there briefly underground as a student from the UK in '78 and then returned in '80 for a longer spell. Worked on 10, 12 and 14 levels tramming, slushing, boggers etc. Lived in one of the huts - dongers - and used to catch the bus into TC. I hooked up with two guys from Mirlees working on the Power House - Black Bob (from Gibraltar) and White Bob (an Aussie- ran a Landcruiser and had a boxer dog) and the surveyor Kevin from Yeppoon (who ran a Datsun 180SSS). Kevin and I got plenty of white cans down our throats one night and went underground at Mad Mick's. Chiefy was there then, and a few Yugoslav shift bosses. Worked later with a big South American guy on 10 level in the scram drive. There was a Geordy lad shaftman riding the kibble from 8 to 14 during dayshift - he got sacked after reclaiming a couple of bags of cement from the tip. I recall Neil Champion (i think) - was he from London? and did Shane Pickup run a V8 Landy? Lively place then but lots of personnel changes and there was quite a bit of rivalry on a saturday night in TC hotel between the Peko men and the Noble Nob lot. Rick Howell
  • Show all comments
This article was last modified 5 months ago