Brief history of Mining Mining in Australia started in the early 19th century with the discovery of silver and lead in February 1841 in South Australia. Soon after, number of other mines where established with the discovery of copper. In the 1850s, gold was discovered in Victoria and New South Wales. After these firstdiscoveries Australia was found to have many other minerals such as iron, copper, opal, diamond, uranium, gold and many more. From the history of mining it is seen that mining in Australia started in SouthAustralia and one of the biggest mines existing at that time was the Burra mine, mining copper. Burra is a town in the northern part of SouthAustralia, known for its large copper deposits. In the 1840s the town was established with single mining company township and was later known as 'The Burra' collectively with company, private and government owned townships. For 15 years the Burra mines supplied 95% of SouthAustralia's copper and 5% of the worlds copper. Copper was first discovered in 1845 by a young shepherd, who took some samples of the rich ore to the Secretary’s office of the South Australian Mining Association (SAMA). Later copper was found at another spot which lead to the division of the mine into two parts. A survey was ....... complete assignment. second assignment of the course.