The Sydney Mail of Saturday, 16 September 1865, described the activities at Cadia in great detail (spelling as in original text):

RANDOM NOTES BY A WANDERING REPORTER

Having given you now some idea of the capabilities of Orange as a gold-producing district, I shall proceed to consider it in reference to its wealth of copper. Copper ore is very largely diffused throughout the whole of the Orange district, and has been traced by experienced miners from the Canoblas range in a N.N.E. direction for twenty-five or thirty miles. The old Canoblas copper mine was worked many years ago, but for some years past the working has been given up, the Cadiangalong Mining Company having thrown the former company completely into the shade.

The Cadiangalong mines are now being worked on a much more extensive scale than is generally imagined; and I must confess that, much as I knew and had heard about them, I was surprised to see the large establishments maintained. They are situated upon the southern watershed of the Canoblas, the creeks emptying themselves into the Belabula River, a tributary of the Lachlan; while the northern fall of waters go to make up the beautiful stream of the Summerhill Creek, one of the affluents of the Macquarie. The shafts are sunk upon secondary spurs of the Canoblas range, the mountains of that name lying away about N.W., and some miles distant. The country is heavy, mountainous, and broken, cut up by numerous creeks and watercourses, which are sometimes hemmed in on either side by steep banks of schistone rocks; at other times they open out into beautiful level flats, or gently undulating rises that blend gradually with the ranges that tower above them. It is on such a piece of gently undulating land, having a broad flat at one extremity, that the mining settlement has been formed. A fine creek of bright and sparkling water, fresh from the springs of the giant hills above, winds its way through the spot, dividing the settlement into two parts. On either side of the stream, the huts of the miners are scattered about in all directions, now nestling down in the dip between two hills, now perched up on some bold rise, or again rising soberly from the level area. Stores and shops, in different lines of business, are ranged in something approaching to a row, whilst trades of various descriptions – the butcher, the baker, the shoemaker, the tailor – are carried on actively as if the work was not being done in a mountain fastness. The snort of the steam, the clang of the engine, and the roar of the furnace mingle with the hum of human voices, and give a stranger impression than that conveyed by a newly opened gold field, for above all and pervading all there is an unmistakable sulphury odour, somewhat irritating at first to persons of delicately sensitive olfactory nerves.

The original workings were carried out upon an outcrop of blue and green carbonate found on the eastern bank of the creek; but when the then company merged into the one at present conducting the operations, the work was carried off to the opposite side of the creek, and on to the face of two large hills that hem in the valley to the westward. These are known as the South Section and the North Section.

On the South Section, a powerful engine of 48-horse power is in course of erection. This will be employed in pumping the workings dry, in raising the ore, and also in crushing it. For the latter purpose powerful rollers are being fitted to it, with a self-feeding and regulating apparatus attached, by which ore will be returned to the rollers, until broken sufficiently fine to pass through the regulated gauge. On this section, taking the engine as a starting point, the first shaft is the Engine shaft, with a depth of 17 fathoms. Next to that west is Lawson’s shaft, 25 fathoms down, and beyond that again west is Want’s shaft, also 25 fathoms down. There is a drive on the course of the lode, that connects these three shafts, and is 64 fathoms in length. East of the Engine shaft are Martin’s, Baker’s, Clarke’s, and three other shafts, the deepest of which is 15 fathoms down. A drive connects the first two of these shafts at the 15-fathom level.

On the North Section, there are already two engines at work, one of 10-horse power and the other of 8-horse power, employed in pumping and raising ore. At the eastern extremity of the section, where the larger of these engines is placed, there is first Trevanna’s shaft, 18 fathoms down. Going up west we come to the shaft where the smaller engine is at work, known as the Engine shaft, and down 25 fathoms. The next is Jones’s shaft, 17 fathoms down. In this shaft there are two lodes that have been followed out by drives. Going west there are still four other shafts, from 10 to 15 fathoms down, and sunk upon the lode. There is an adit to the North Section opening out to the gully that divides the hill now being sunk upon from another that joins it higher up, and is part of the same spur. This adit has been driven upon the level upon the lode for a distance of 50 fathoms, and is within 24 fathoms of the nearest shaft.

The ores procured on the present workings are yellow sulphurets, and, though not particularly rich, are, from the nature of their component parts, admirably suited for mixing with the higher percentaged ores that the company pass through their furnaces, as the furruginous and siliceous matters contained in the sulphurets act as a flux not only upon the sulpurets themselves, but upon the higher classed ores.

There is a vast amount to be done with the copper ore first before it is made fit for the furnace, and next before the furnace brings it to that state of purity that gives the metal its value. The miner, who works under ground at a depth of 100 feet, blasting out the rock that contains the lode, does only a small proportion of the work. When this rough ore reaches the surface it is mixed usually with something like three times its own weight of rocky particles. It has, therefore, to be broken up into small pieces, after the refuse has been roughly cleared out from it. It is then jigged, that is, put into a broad shallow trough with a pierced bottom, so as to allow the admission of water into it, when it is submerged in another and larger trough, in which the process of jigging is performed. A long handle or lever passes through a framework connected with the perforated trough, and this, catching on a block as it is worked up and down by a boy, gives a jerk or shake to the trough. Thus, when the trough is charged with broken ore, it is partially submerged in the larger trough, the lever is set to work, and the jigging or shaking under water causes the heavier pieces to fall to the bottom of the trough, whilst the lighter pieces of rock, containing little or no metal, come to the surface, from which they are scraped off and are thrown away. The ore, thus partially cleared, is then hand-picked by children, who sort it, and reject any refuse that may remain. It undergoes some further manipulation beyond this, according as its quality is finer or baser, before it is ultimately sent down as fit for the furnace. When however, it leaves the hands of Mr. Holman, who is captain of the mines, it comes into those of Mr. Christoe, the company’s assayer, who has charge of the smelting works.

These works are situated on the eastern side of the creek, and at the southern end of the settlement. These consist of six furnaces at present at work, one in course of building, and an eighth shortly to be commenced. They are what are known as draught furnaces, the draught being furnished by the flues of the furnace being connected with a tunnel about sixty yards long, ending in a tall stack or chimney. When the whole of the six furnaces are at work, the draught that this long flue causes, is very much greater than would generally be believed. In fact, so much so, that recently in clearing out the tunnel, the residuum of sulphur, &c., that hung upon the walls, gave in smelting a very large per-centage of copper, showing that even by this modification some of the metal was volatised and carried off in vapour.

The first process to which ore is submitted is that of calcining, by which the water and some of the earthy particles are removed. The second is smelting the calcined ores, by which a large portion of the silicous matter is taken out, the remainder forming with the iron into a slag that has been found to be a valuable flux for the richer ores. The third process is the melting of the results of No. 2, which gives a regulus of about 45 per cent., with the best carbonate of oxide ores, containing themselves a per-centage of from 25 to 30 of copper. This brings on the metal to about 60 to 65 per cent., and it then undergoes the fourth process by being charged into the wasting furnace, by which it is brought up to about 80 per cent. By the fifth process it is returned in blocks to the roasting furnace, where it is roasted into copper of about 98 per cent. The sixth and last process is charging the process of No. 5 into the roasting furnace, where it is converted into pure copper of standard quality. In this last instance, the charge is usually about eight tons, and the process occupies twenty-four hours. In the calcining furnace about 40 to 60 tons a week are roasted and prepared for the subsequent operations, the quantity of course decreasing as the various operations are gone through. The quantity of ore smelted is usually about 200 tons per month, and this gives a monthly yield of about thirty tons of pure copper, being at the rate of from 15 to 16 per cent. The smelting is all done with wood for fuel, and for the above quantity of ore no less than 1200 tons of firewood are consumed. The number of men, boys, and girls employed on the works, when they are in full swing, is about 250. About 220 altogether were on the wages list at the time of my visit. The miners, or men engaged underground get 40s. per week wages; labourers from 30s. to 35s.; boys and girls, from 8s. to 15s.; engine drivers and firemen, from 45s. to 50s.; and smelters, from 60s. to 65s. Nearly the whole of the buildings on the ground belong to the Company, and they are let to the men at very moderate rents. For an ordinary slab cottage, sufficient for a married man and his family, 4s. per month are charged; whilst single men who lodge together are charged Is. per month. Stores, shops, and places of business are rented by agreement, and at different rates, according to the conveniences required. A township has been laid out on the more level land to the north of the settlement, but as yet no allotments have been sold. There is some little difficulty in the way of getting carriage for the metal from Cadiangullong to Orange, but when once it has reached there all impediment ceases, as there are plenty of means of conveyance, and carriers are only too glad to get back loading to Sydney. The metal is cast into bricks and tiles, which stow away easily in the bed of a dray or van, and form excellent ballast or dead weight for any lighter loading that may have to be carried. A post-office has been established on the settlement, the name having very wisely been abbreviated into Cadia, a title that no doubt causes some of our Sydney residents who see it in the Post-office list, to wonder where on earth the place can be, since the name, although gradually getting into use in the immediate district, is utterly unknown beyond it…

Bailliere’s New South Wales Gazetteer of 1866 described Cadia in similar detail:

“Cadia is a private postal township in the parish of Waldegrave…it is situated on the Cadiangullong rivulet (locally called Oaky Creek), and on a eastern spur of the Canobolas mountains, the watershed draining into the Belubula river. The Cadiangullong Consolidated Copper Company have extensive workings in the neighbourhood which employ a large number of hands. A considerable portion of the land in the district is highly fit for cultivation, the only obstacle being the heavy timber growing upon it. A good poor man’s diggings has been in existence for about three years on Flyer’s or Errowanbang creek, about 5 miles S.E. of the township. The nearest places are Orange, 12 miles north by bridle track, or 15 miles by dray road. Carcoar, 16 miles south, and Bathurst, 34 miles east. With these places there is communication by horse only, the road to Orange and Carcoar being over boggy creeks and heavy sidelings and that road being frequently altered by free selectors placing fences across the track. The road to Bathurst is, however a surveyed one. With Sydney, 168 miles, the communication is either by way of Orange, the nearest telegraph station, thence by coach, via Bathurst, to Penrith, and thence by rail; or to Bathurst direct, the route by the latter way being 154 miles. There is no hospital in Cadia but there is a medical man and the greater portion of the population being employed by the copper mining company, pay a weekly subscription, which entitles them to gratuitous medical assistance when needed. There is one hotel in the township. Cadia being the private property of the Cadiangullong Mining Company, all residents are subject to the control of the Board of Directors of that company, who have, as yet, granted no definite leases, or disposed of allotments in the township to any of business residents. There are at present four general stores, a post office, and other shops usually found in small towns. The population numbers about 600 persons.

Since our last notice of the Cadiangullong copper mines, very important progress has been, made, the prospects of the company being now very encouraging. Upon the North lode the adit has been extended, and the lode in the end is large and orey. Trevena’s or the engine shaft has been sunk 12 fathoms below the adit level, and levels are being drawn East and West on the course of the lode struck, which is over 6 feet wide, easy to quarry and yields a fine pale yellow ore. It has been decided to sink at once upon this lode another 12 fathoms, and it is confidently believed that at this depth some good discovery will be made, as the lode has improved from the surface downwards. The lode in the various stopes in this section of the mine are, generally speaking, producing ores throughout the greater portion of them, and the lode ranges from 6 to 10 feet wide, which augers well for the yield in the next leads. On the South lode the erection of the large engine, with the pumping, crushing, and dressing machinery, has been completed. This is one of the largest and finest pieces of machinery out of Sydney, the building enclosing it being substantially erected of stone. The engine shaft on the South side is now being sunk deeper; it is 4 fathoms below the 16 fathom level, and though not so productive as it has been, there are indications of an early improvement. The whole of the stopes in this part of the mine are more or less yielding ore; indeed this may be said of every portion of the mine. The smelting works are in full operation; giving full work to another furnace that has been recently completed. The company have about 90 tons of fine copper on the road to Sydney and at the mines; and it is calculated that the rise in the price of copper will make a difference close upon £4000 on the copper held by the company and on its way to England.

For positive sale by order of the Mortgagees.

1579 Acres 22 Perches of
FREEHOLD LAND,
situated on tho Cadiangullong Creek, 12 miles from township of ORANGE, and 44 miles from BATHURST, together with all the mining and smelting plant, buildings, machinery, tools, gear, and every requisite for carrying on copper mining and smelting on an extensive scale.

Title unquestionable.  For particulars of which apply to Messrs. WANT, SON, and JOHNSON, Solicitors, Pitt-street.

GORMAN and MILLER have received instructions from the mortgagees to sell by public auction, at their Land Sale Rooms, 183, Pitt-street, at 11 o’clock: on TUESDAY, 16th June,
The above valuable and extensive mineral property,
known as
THE CADIANGULLONG COPPER MINES,
situated as above, in the county of BATHURST, and about 12 miles from ORANGE, from whence the produce of the mine is transmitted to Sydney at an average cost hitherto of not exceeding £4 per ton of refined copper, but which will be much reduced as the Great Western Railway, now in progress of construction, reaches Bathurst.
With the CADIANGULLONG FREEHOLD and MINES will be sold all the PLANT and MACHINERY now on the ground, the BUILDINGS, SMELTING FURNACES, and IMPROVEMENTS, consisting of 1 Large Cornish stationary engine, 50 H.P., with 25-inch vertical cylinder, and 10 ton boiler, having the latest improvements, and used for pumping, crushing, jigging, and hauling. Attached to which is a 9-inch pump of 2 lifts, in adit 26 fathoms, with rods, balance boxes, jigging machines, &c., complete; also, a PATENT STONE BREAKER, and SAWING MACHINERY, &c., &c.
1—12 H.P. portable or fixed engine, with hauling and pumping gear complete, and 40 fathoms of 6-inch pump work.
1—8 H.P. portable engine, with hauling gear, &c., complete.
A large quantity of duplicate machinery.
Mining implements of all kinds
Forges, turning lathes and tools.
1 Engine-house for large engine, substantiaIIy built of stone, and roofed with galvanised iron.
1 Manager’s house, and a large number of miners’ houses, assay office, 2 blacksmith shops, wood sheds, mining office, 2 powder magazines 5 smelting furnaces, I roaster and 1 calcining furnace, 1 large shed with iron covered roof, 3 ditto covering furnaces.
Besides which there are TWO HOTELS, sundry store-keepers’ houses, shops, and post-office on the property, and belonging to the proprietors.
The quantity of FINE COPPER obtained from the Mines amounts to –tons since they were first opened.
A vein of GOLD-BEARING QUARTZ runs through the property, which, it is believed, contains a payable quantity of gold. This, however, has not been worked, owing to the company having devoted their capital to develop the copper mines.
A FAIR FIELD now presents itself for investment by any company possessed of MODERATE CAPITAL to carry it on, especially seeing that the chief difficulties have been overcome, and that a very LARGE PLANT with MOST AMPLE MACHINERY is already on the ground to continue operations for the working of the MINES and SMELTING WORKS, and with all necessary power for QUARTZ CRUSHING, as also for the operations to which engine power can be applied.
The auctioneers would invite the attention of
CAPITALISTS, SPECULATORS, and OTHERS who may be desirous of investing in this kind of property, and of acquiring a MOST COMPLETE AND VALUABLE MINE, to the amount of money that has been expended upon it and the extensive works connected therewith, to bring the whole into thorough working order, and in a fit state for operations to be resumed forthwith in a most efficient manner, every requisite for the purpose being on the ground.

______

*** An INVENTORY of the whole of the buildings, machinery plant, and materials can be seen at the rooms of the auctioneers, who will also afford every information that may be required on application by intending purchasers.

Report by Captain Josiah Holman, who had been engaged by the Company in March 1862. The report is dated 11 June 1868.

J. H. Miller, Esq., Manager of the Cadiangullong Copper Mining Company (Limited), Sydney.

SIR, – In compliance with your request, I now forward you a brief report on the above property, County of Bathurst.

LAND. – The property consists of 564 acres 2 roods 25 perches, situated on the East side of Cadiangullong Creek, and 1014 acres 1 rood 36 perches on the West side, forming a block 1579 acres 0 roods 22 perches, having its longest sides parallel with the bearings of the Copper Lodes. The creek furnishes a constant supply of good water.

BUILDINGS. – These comprise a manager’s house 30 by 60 feet, upwards of 60 huts suitable for officers and workpeople’s residences, a few of the latter built of slabs with shingled roofs, the remainder of slabs and bark roofs, two hotels and three stores, chiefly the property of the company; also a public school standing on an acre of land belonging to the Government, and a chapel; the foregoing forming the building of an irregular township.

Smelting Works. – The large shed covered with galvanised iron is 125 by 60 feet, under which are three copper ore furnaces, one roasting furnace and a refinery furnace. One ore smelting furnace and the refinery are complete, the others having had their bottoms recently taken out, will require rebuilding above the foundations. The ironwork of these is complete, and the whole of these furnaces could quickly be put in efficient working order. A detached galvanised iron covered shed 60 by 50 feet, contains one new copper ore smelting furnace complete, by having a new bottom. A detached galvanised iron shed, 35 by 25 feet, covers a calcining furnace. Detached is a smith’s shop with forge, anvil, vice and tools; also sets of smelting tools for immediate resumption of works. An assay office built of slags, with shingled roof 29 by 18 feet, contains two furnaces, assay tools, scales, weights, crucibles, chemicals and fluxes for assaying, with office furniture, stationery, &c, &c. One of Avery’s large weighing machines and a weighbridge used for weighing the fuel for the works.

The quantity of copper ores smelted at the works has been 7695 tons 12 hundred weight and 3 quarters, yielding a gross produce in refined copper of 837 tons 11 hundred weight and 6 pounds, viz: from East Cadia Mine 1341 tons 8 hundred weight; West Cadia 5164 tons 7 hundred weight 1 quarter, together estimated to yield 772 tons 16 hundred weight 1 quarter 17 pounds of copper and purchased ores from Canoblas Mine 871 tons 16 hundred weight 1 quarter; Carangara Mines 318 tons 5 hundred weight 1 quarter; and having produced as above stated 837 tons 11 hundred weight 6 pounds of refined copper. These works are capable of reducing over 300 tons of copper ore monthly.

MINES. – The East Cadia Mine has been explored to a depth of 23 fathoms only, at which horizon the great vein bearing both copper ores and gold has been proved to be fully 60 feet wide. It is well defined, and has very little underlay. This enormous vein has been developed at the twenty-three fathom level for an extent of only about twenty fathoms on the run of it, and driven across its whole width of over sixty-six feet, in which parallel zones of the vein stone yielded native copper, thinly dispersed through the iron stone, while other zones of iron pyrites yielded gold almost to paying quantities as tested at the Sydney Mint. The ground at these points is remarkably easy and expeditious for developing the vein. The chief obstacles that presented themselves while testing the vein of this depth was the large influx of water that soon overpowered the eight-horse power portable engine that pumped the water, and the short tenure of the lease held by the company making the trial.

The superficial deposit of copper ores discovered on this lode produced splendid specimens of red oxide of copper, thinly studded with the native metal. These ores were surrounded by others of lower quality; however, 1341 tons 8 hundred weight of ores were raised, and estimated to yield 123 tons and 16 hundred weight 1 quarter 2 pounds of fine copper, and averaging 0.23 per cent.

Both the surface and deeper works here have given ample evidence of the existence of gold throughout this unusually large lode, and, independent of its offering encouraging prospects for giving large returns of copper when developed to greater depths, I have great confidence that the vein, abounding in iron and iron pyrites, traversing the whole length of the property, will ultimately be found to produce gold in payable quantity, and inexhaustible in its supply of auriferous stone.

The engine shaft is vertical, and its position is right for testing the vein to a great depth.

WEST CADIA MINE – NORTH SECTION. – Upon this a 12-horse power portable engine is in position on Trevena’s Engine Shaft, adapted to pumping water and hauling stone. The shaft is 10 fathoms deep, having an adit drainage at 19 fathoms deep; a drive 12 fathoms below this where the 3 1/2-inch plunger lift of pumps is used, and a 6-inch drawing lift 9 fathoms below, reaching to the bottom of the shaft. At the deepest point the lode has been cross-cutted only and found to be poor. At 12 fathoms below adit the drive has been extended west of the shaft on Northey’s lode 63 fathoms, and having a tramway laid therein. The adit level has been driven west of shaft on Northey’s lode 95 fathoms, and has a tramway laid for over 100 fathoms leading out to the ore dressing floors. The 13 fathoms level over adit has been driven west on the lode 180 fathoms.

In addition to Trevena’s shaft the following have been sunk to depths varying from 12 to 32 fathoms, viz.: – Rodd’s, Hall’s, Gundry’s, Samuel’s, John’s and old engine shafts all sunk on the course and underlay of Icely’s and Northey’s lodes.

The slate rock contiguous to these lodes, but merging into granite at a little distance, is easy and expeditious for the rapid extension of this section of the mine, which hitherto has yielded nearly 3000 tons of copper ores.

WEST CADIA – SOUTH SECTION. – Has had erected thereon the Cornish condensing engine of twenty-five-inch cylinder, with ten-ton boiler, having pumping, winding, stone-breaker, crusher rolls, and jigging machinery connected thereto. The engine and crusher are fixed in strong masonry work. Near these are the smithy, with two forges and requisite tools, a large carpenter’s shop, and engine fitting shop, with large lathe and other useful tools, powder magazine, mining office, and furniture, &c., &c.

PHILLIP’S ENGINE SHAFT has been sunk thirty-two fathoms deep, having yielded rich ores from the surface to the deepest point reached. In this shaft a column of eight-inch pumps extends down to the twenty-six-fathoms level, at which depth the drives have been extended only twenty fathoms in length, in a large portion of which the lode yielded four tons of fine yellow sulphurets of copper of over 20 per cent. The sixteen-fathoms level has been extended west of this shaft into the hill side on the course of Jones’ lode seventy fathoms, and communicated with Lawson’s and Want’s shafts at a depth of twenty-five fathoms from surface, and large quantities of good quality copper ores have been produced at these sections.

Further east, on Baker’s and Clark’s lodes, several shafts have been sunk to depths varying from six to fifteen fathoms deep; from all quantities of good quality ores have been produced up to the recent closing of the mines. Over 2000 tons of rich ores have been produced from the south section of West Cadia; and the total produce of copper ores from the north and south sections has been 6164 tons 12 hundred weight 1 quarter, yielding by assay 640 tons 15 pounds of fine copper, giving an average of 12.366 per cent, on the ores returned.

SUSPENSION OF THESE MINES. – This was caused chiefly by the extraordinary low prices, then prevailing in the English markets for copper, to an inadequate capital to develop the mines on a large scale, and to a partial falling off in the quantity and quality of the ores produced latterly from the mines.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT. – The West Cadiangullong Mines are well provided with all requisite machinery of a heavy kind for years of work, all of which is ready for immediate duty. They are provided with iron tramways, tools, and materials for present action, and this portion of the property fully warrants an extended exploration by the raising of a capital of £10,000, and judiciously expended therein justifies me in holding out the expectation that it would be the means of opening up a permanently remunerative Copper Mining property.

THE WEST CADIANGULLONG GREAT IRON LODE should at least be practically tested on a small scale by stampers to arrive at the auriferous value of the stone, which, if remunerative, should be developed on a grand scale.

QUARTZ REEF. – This has been tested on a small scale to the south of the Iron Duke Hill, where some very good specimens of auriferous gossans were found; but the trials stopped short of satisfactorily opening up the vein at this point. At a short distance south-east a large quartz vein crops out for a great distance, but it has not been tested. It is then lost sight of on the flat, but again crops out near to Hick’s Hotel, east of the creek, where a shaft was recently sunk on it to a depth of twenty feet, displaying the reef fully four feet wide, composed near surface of ferruginous quartz, the latter giving an increased yield of pyrites in depth. Gold could be seen sparingly in this stone, and half-a-ton of this average stone forwarded to Sydney and crushed and tested at the Mint gave a yield of nearly half an ounce of gold in a ton of stone. This result is nearly, if not quite, payable by working it on a large scale. This reef fully warrants a deeper trial. I am, sir, your obedient servant,

JOSIAH HOLMAN, Mining Captain.

It is interesting to note some of the reasons for the closure of the mine. These factors affected the viability of each and every mine. While market price volatility was a chief cause in this case, limited capital is also mentioned. The falling off in quality of the ores after initial discoveries would normally have been expected and was at least partially factored into the development of the mines at Cadia, so that a mixture of ores was always available for smelting. The report makes clear that a lack of exploration in advance of mining was not a factor that had led to the closure of the mines, though more could have been done had the opportunity arisen.