Discovered by George Renison Bell.

A large underground tin mine, one of the largest in the world. Operated nearly continuously since 1890; since 2004 owned by Metals X Ltd.

The Renison tin lode, 12 km NE of Zeehan, was discovered in 1890 by George Renison Bell. With a total resource of over 40 Mt of about 1% Sn, this turned out to be one of the world’s largest known primary tin deposits. In its early years it was an alluvial field, hard rock mining began about 1900, but large scale production at Renison did not commence until about 1965 when the price of tin increased sharply and the operation was taken over by Consolidated Goldfields Ltd. In 1996, the $34 million Rendeep project was implemented to access deeper ore reserves. The mine was purchased by Murchison United in 1998 and by Bluestone Mines Tasmania Pty Ltd in 2004. Low tin prices closed the mine in 2005, but it was re-opened by Metals X Ltd in July 2008. In its 1965-2005 heyday the Renison mine was the largest underground tin mine in southern hemisphere, yielding over 2 million tonnes of ore to date(?).

The ore deposits are mostly pyrrhotite-rich replacement deposits hosted in Late Proterozoic dolostone, with some rich fault-zone mineralisation, local skarns and vein deposits. The mineralisation was formed by hydrothermal fluids derived from underlying Late Devonian granites. Most of the cassiterite is microscopic, included within massive pyrrhotite. Many good mineral specimens occur in late-stage veins, including fluorite, quartz and various sulphides and carbonates.

Located approximately 15 km NE of Zeehan on Tasmania’s West Coast.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References