The Tamar Hematite Iron Company (THIC) was an iron mining and smelting company that operated from April 1874 to December 1877, in the area close to the location of the modern-day township of Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia.
The company's operations consisted of an iron ore mine near Brandy Creek, a blast furnace, jetty and township, on the Middle Arm of the estuary of the Tamar River, a tramway connecting the two sites, and charcoal and brick kilns.
The THIC was the first company to produce iron in commercial quantities from Tasmanian ore and bring their product to market, although others had made small quantities earlier. It was the third company in Australia—at the time considered to be six separate self-governing British colonies—to make commercial quantities of pig-iron that was smelted from Australian iron ore.
Pig-iron of good quality was made in its blast furnace from January 1875, until July 1875 when operations were suspended. Complicated by a decline in the price of pig iron, the venture was uneconomic at the scale of its operations.
Plans to raise capital and increase the scale of production lapsed, after the manager of the company—Algernon Horatio Swifte—died in early-1876. A quartz-reef rich in gold was discovered on land adjacent to the company's lease in mid-1877 and gold mining interests became interested in accessing the company's lease.
In December 1877, the leases and other dormant assets of the THIC were sold cheaply to a group of wealthy and influential investors, under controversial circumstances. It soon became clear that the new owners—collectively known at 'the Hematite Company'—were interested in gold, not iron. In 1878, part of the THIC's original lease was combined with the operations of the adjacent 'Tasmania' gold mine, bringing huge profits to the new owners.
Historical context Soon after the first settlement in Northern Tasmania, at York Town in 1804, colonial settlers found that there were extensive deposits of iron ore in the hills to the west of the Tamar estuary. Interest in the area was aroused again by the report in 1866 of the Government Geologist, Charles Gould.
There was an increase in pig-iron prices in the early 1870s, which led to the formation of a number of colonial-era iron-making ventures in Australia. The price of imported pig-iron increased, from £4 10s per ton in 1870 to £9 per ton in 1873 greatly advantaging locally manufactured iron. However, this high price did not last long, as iron-making capacity increased and pig-iron was once again imported cheaply as ballast in sailing ships returning from England to Australia.
The Tamar Hematite Iron Company was one of four ventures that smelted iron from local iron ore, in Tasmania during the 1870s; the others were, the British and Tasmanian Charcoal Iron Company, the Ilfracombe Iron Company—both nearby on the Tamar estuary—and the Derwent Iron Company. A fifth venture, the Swedish Charcoal Iron Company never went beyond issuing a prospectus. There were also three commercial iron-smelting operations in mainland Australia during the 1870s, the Fitzroy Iron Works, the Lal Lal Iron Company, and the Lithgow Valley Iron Works.
In July 1877, the cap of a payable gold reef—later known as the Tasmania Reef—was discovered on the eastern slope of Cabbage Tree Hill by brothers William and David Dally, although alluvial gold was known to exist in the area for some years before then.
Iron ore deposit The ore deposit was the sixth and last of the deposits in the West Tamar area that were mentioned by Charles Gould in his report of 1866. The area that the THIC would later mine lay on approximately 14-acres land to the east of Brandy Creek. Gould also noted that iron ore outcropped at various points in a line that "may be traced south-easterly continuously to Brandy Creek and thence in intervals along the flanks of Cabbage Tree Tier to the eastern side of Middle Arm Creek, some iron cropping out wherever the thickness of marine drift has been sufficiently stripped away to permit of its re-appearance."
The iron ore from the Brandy Creek mine was brown hematite or limonite—with recorded iron contents of 51.1% iron and 46.8%—and was relatively rich compared to contemporary iron ore deposits in England. The THIC won a bronze medal for the iron ore that it exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and first prize in its class for iron ore at the Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition of 1875.
History of operations
Algernon Swifte and the foundation of the THIC The company was formed around April 1873. The main proponent of the new company was a Tasmanian man, Algernon Horatio Swifte, who became its manager.
He enlisted a group of Melbourne-based investors, including Hastings Cuningham and John Benn, both of whom were wealthy and influential men.
In June 1874, a new mineral lease over the THIC land was taken out in the personal names of Cuningham and Benn, presumably because they had contributed much of the capital for the new company. Only some 14-acres of the leased land—east of Brandy Creek—contained the future iron ore mine, and much of the other leased land was probably intended to be a source of timber—especially for charcoal burning—although some of the land near Cabbage Tree Hill did contain more iron ore. However, all the leased land was leased under the Mineral Leases Act, 1870, something that would later be of great significance. The THIC controlled 620-acres of leasehold land, and another 83-acres of freehold land—in the area around what would become Swifte's Jetty—just south from where Brandy Creek flowed into the Middle Arm of the Tamar estuary.
Construction The new company started work quickly. In November 1873, it was advertising for 100,000 bricks to be provided within four months of the order and 20,000 feet of 4-inch by 4-inch hardwood timber in 12-foot or 15-foot lengths, which were the rails for its tramway. In early February 1874, Swifte returned from Melbourne with 6000 fire bricks, fire clay and other material for the blast furnace lining. By March 1874, it was reported that “The Tamar Hematite Iron Company are progressing with their tramway and a small furnace, and hope to be successful in their experimental operations.”
The blast furnace was constructed on land, at a location now known as Scotchman’s Point on the Middle Arm of the estuary of the Tamar River, close to the modern-day town of Beaconsfield. It was constructed, on a rock shelf near the water's edge, against a rockface, so that the tramway could run on the level from the top of the rockface to the charging platform of the furnace. It has been described as a small experimental furnace.
Iron smelting operations A small test furnace—made from sandstone quarried at the site—was erected next to the blast furnace to test the ore. It made the first iron smelted from THIC iron ore on 5 December 1874. Using the little furnace "a quantity of pig iron was made, one piece weighing, about ½cwt. [25kg], the slag ran well, separating. from the iron which ran freely" This iron was worked by a blacksmith, Peter Massey, who pronounced it to be "excellent material to work, standing the filing well, and polishing more like steel than iron."
The THIC's blast furnace was charged on New Year's Day 1875, and its first iron was tapped on 2 January 1875. This was the first production of pig-iron made from Tasmanian ore in a commercial quantity—although others had made small quantities of iron earlier—and only the second commercial production of pig-iron from local ore in the six colonies that would later become Australia. The furnace worked well, being tapped every eight hours and casting pigs of 80 lbs, each that carried the brand, "T.H.I. Co.- Charcoal."
The company had employed George Rowley as its furnacekeeper; Rowley also would be associated with some other colonial-era iron-making ventures.
In late Jan 1875, the THIC was seeking tenders for shipping to Melbourne and seeking to employ charcoal burners.
Suspension of operations and future plans By the time that the THIC's smelting operations had begun, the price of iron in Australia had fallen from the peak of 1873. Despite the quality of its pig-iron, the company struggled to sell it in Melbourne, at prices that returned an adequate profit. The company's relatively small furnace did not make quantities large enough to sustain a viable operation at the lower prices.
Some iron was sent to Britain and 200 tons of it sold in Glasgow for £6 7s 6d per ton, the landed cost in Britain being estimated as between £4 and £4 10s. In the long term, such an export market was not really viable, given the long distances involved.
Operations were suspended in July 1875, after about 600 tons of pig-iron had been made. In August 1875, the THIC was asking that all accounts owing be submitted for payment. It seemed to be bringing the early operation to a financial as well as operational closure. At the beginning of September 1875, there was still some 200 tons of pig-iron at the works, which was gradually being shipped to market. The THIC's pig-iron was being used at a local foundry in Launceston, in May 1876.
As early as January 1875, the THIC was tendering for up to 150,000 more bricks. It is likely that the bricks were intended for a larger furnace, which was never commenced. It seems that it had always planned to increase the smelting capacity of the works, and raise the additional capital to do so. As late as September 1875, the THIC's plan was reported to be "the re-organisation of the Company on a larger basis".
End of the Tamar Hematite Iron Company The death of its manager Algernon Swift, in February 1876, was a major blow for the company. The THIC was facing a protracted period of low iron prices, during which its operations were suspended, without its dedicated Tasmanian manager and local representative.
In March 1877, the THIC's works at Swifte's Jetty were described as "deserted, desolate, and dull, suggestive of the much-lauded energy and enterprise of the Victorians in contradistinction to and at the expense of the Tasmanians ! Why those works should be allowed to go to "wreck and ruin" after so large an expenditure of capital, and with an inexhaustible supply of ore, remains a mystery to all but the initiated."
Such unsympathetic views of the Victorian investors' plight turned more hostile, once payable quartz-reef gold was found in the area. Pressure to cancel the THIC's lease, supposedly to open it up for small-scale gold mining, was building. Some of those working to cancel the THIC's lease were Tasmanian politicians. The THIC's view was that its holding the mineral lease for iron was not a barrier to gold mining, as it had consented to gold mining on its leasehold previously.
In the face of increasing opposition—and even parochial hostility—to the THIC's mineral leases being held by Victorians—and with some perceived risk that those mineral leases might soon be cancelled, without compensation—the THIC's Victorian shareholders finally gave up. In October 1877, the THIC resolved to dispose of its land and assets, with the stated hope that local Tasmanian capitalists might both resume the iron-making operation and work the gold. At the start of November 1877, the leases and assets were put up for sale.
The effective end of the THIC came on 10 December 1877, when the leases and other assets were sold to new owners.
Technology
Process and equipment Blast furnace No picture survives of the THIC blast furnace, but it was a small furnace that was similar in external appearance to the one at the Derwent Iron Company in Hobart. The furnace was erected by Messrs Shields, of Hobart.