Norton Goldfield, Historical mining complex in Nagoorin, Australia.
Norton Goldfield is a former mine at Norton Road near Nagoorin in the Boyne Valley, worked from the 1870s to 1941. Its surviving remains include the bases of five reverberatory furnaces erected in 1886 for the Frampton United Company's chlorination works, a 10-head stamper battery, and a 375-metre water-race that Johan Gundolf built along Norton Creek.
The mining site began operations in 1871 and worked for over 70 years using different techniques to extract gold. The facility was gradually upgraded to handle more complex ores before it eventually closed after decades of production.
The field is remembered for the Kanaka labourers brought in to run the five reverberatory furnaces of the Frampton United Company in 1886, because the miners disliked smelting work. The name Norton is said to come from Albert Norton of the first Calliope Divisional Board. German army engineer Johan Gundolf built a water-driven arrastra and a 375-metre water-race along Norton Creek between 1906 and 1918.
The goldfield lies along Norton Road near Nagoorin, about 35 km south of Calliope. Access is via the road to Bororen, opened in 1902, which linked the field to the North Coast Railway. The terrain includes the banks of Norton Creek, where a 375-metre water-race was cut; paths are easier in drier months.
The ores at Norton held gold, silver, lead, copper and zinc together, and the mix defeated several treatments. In 1886 the Frampton United Company ran five reverberatory furnaces with a chlorination plant, costing £3,000 and handling 60 long tons a week; Kanaka labour was hired to operate the furnaces because the miners disliked smelting work.
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