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SPARGOS PYRITES GOLD WORKS
Other NameSPARGO'S PYRITES GOLD WORKS LocationSPARROWHAWK ROAD AND DERWENT GULLY ROAD AND ARRO AVENUE MAIDEN GULLY, GREATER BENDIGO CITY
File Number608052LevelRegistered |
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Statement of Significance
Spargos Pyrites Gold Works contains of the remnants of six circular
brick bases, several concrete floors, a culvert and a small mound of
calcined sand. The treatment of auriferous pyritic ore, to facilitate
gold extraction, commenced on the Bendigo goldfield in the early
1860s. None of the early attempts proved profitable until the
introduction of the chemical chlorination process during the 1870s.
Records show that John Spargo's treatment works was operating at
Bendigo by 1872, the plant including a reverberatory furnace and
arastra (grinding mill or Chilean mill). By the 1880s, Bendigo had
become a major centre for the treatment of 'refractory' ores, with
several large pyrites companies, including Spargo's, operating up
until the First World War. Spargo's, like many others, closed during
the war due to the lack of manpower, etc., and does not appear to have
recommenced after the war. Spargos Pyrites Gold Works is of historical, scientific and
archaeological importance to the State of Victoria. Spargos Pyrites Gold Works is historically and scientifically
important as a characteristic and well preserved example of an
important form of gold mining. In some ores, the greater part of the
gold is combined with pyrites, making the gold very difficult to
extract. From the mid-nineteenth century, miners experimented with
various metallurgical (heat treatment) processes to unlock gold from
pyritic ore. Extant evidence of these metallurgical processes, of
which Spargos Pyrites Works is an example, are extremely rare in Victoria. Spargos Pyrites Gold Works is archaeologically important for its
potential to yield artefacts and evidence which will be able to
provide significant information about the technological history of
gold mining.
Group
Mining and Mineral Processing
Category
Mine Machinery & relics