Kosminsky Mine, Dundas mineral field, Zeehan District, Tasmania, Australia

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The Kosminsky mine (sometimes incorrectly spelt Kozminsky or Kosminski) is situated between the Comet-Maestri and the South Comet mines, on the south side of Kosminsky Hill, about 3.5 km from Dundas. First pegged in 1890 by James Davis, it was taken over by Abraham Kosminsky later that same year. Despite having no less than eleven lessees, operating over a fifty year period, being opened by adits on three levels and followed by a shaft, the total output is estimated at only 20 t of ore, containing 480 ounces (13.6 kg) of silver and 10 t of lead (Blissett, 1962). The main adit is near the South Comet Creek, and the main shaft is about a kilometre to the north, near the top of Kosminsky Hill.
Two parallel ore bodies, composed of galena, sphalerite, quartz, siderite, pyrite and minor chalcopyrite, occur as veins in black Cambrian slates. These outcrop in South Comet Creek, which marks the northern end of the Great South Comet lode, and are a probable faulted continuation of that lode. The lodes, up to 400 m long, strike NW and dip 65o SW.
Attractive crocoite and pyromorphite associations are reported from the mine, as are good mimetite specimens (Andersen, unpublished), but some local collectors suggest that the crocoite /pyromorphite specimens actually came from Platt’s Prospect (see below). Liggins (1982) recorded the predominant crocoite crystal forms as: CR1, 2, 3a, 6 and 7 (Fig. 10).

References

Bottrill, R.S., Williams, P., Dohnt, S., Sorrell, S. and Kemp, N.R. (2006). Crocoite and associated minerals from Dundas and other locations in Tasmania. Australian Journal of Mineralogy. 12, 59-90

Mineral List

Chalcopyrite Crocoite Galena

Mimetite Pyrite Pyromorphite

Quartz Siderite Sphalerite

9 entries listed. 9 valid minerals.