Located in western New South Wales, the town of Broken Hill is home to the world class Broken Hill orebody which was identified 1883 and is considered to be one of the largest natural accumulations of lead, zinc and silver in the world. Pre-mining, the size of the orebody was estimated to have been in the order of 280 million tonnes of at least 20% combined lead and zinc with appreciable silver (100-150 g/t).

The deposit originally contained 28 million tonnes of lead metal, 24 million tonnes of zinc metal, 1 billion ounces of silver and 1.2 million ounces of gold. To date, it has been mined continuously for over 125 years, underpinning the industrial and mining development of Australia as a nation and spawning the world’s largest mining company, BHP-Billiton.

Of huge historical significance to both Australia’s mining and economic history, the township of Broken Hill was listed on the National Heritage List in 2015 and to this day, remains Australia’s longest running mining town.