Pre-visit learning: student activities, project ideas and questions
The pre-visit activities aim to provide an introduction to the
types of gold and the techniques of mining these various types and
develop student understandings about the reasons Mount Morgan became
such an important mining site.
In the 108 years the Mount Morgan Mine operated the top of the
Mountain was removed.
The mine produced:
- 260 tonnes of gold
- 40 tonnes of silver
- nearly 400, 000 tonnes of copper.
To achieve this:
- 94, 000, 000 tonnes of overburden were removed
- 51, 000, 000 tonnes of ore were processed
Note: About 30, 000, 000 tonnes of tailings have been retreated
and returned to the open cut pit.
Mount Morgan was one of the richest gold mines in the world.
TASK 1: Why Gold?
Mankind’s fascination for gold has a very long history.
- Why is it so valuable?
- What are the properties of gold?
- Where is gold found and how abundant is it?
Visit the World
Gold Council site and prepare a PowerPoint or overhead projector
presentation to answer these questions.
This is an invaluable web resource detailing scientific, economic,
historic and even movie references to gold with extensive use of
photographs in a user-friendly manner.
See the Links for a
variety of other sources and teachers resources. Also refer to Resource
1.
TASK 2: Finding Gold
- How can I find gold? Read the article 'Geologist's
good news for gold diggers' for more information.
- How can I collect the gold? The image that comes to mind is
an old irascible gold miner toiling on his own swilling river
water around a pan.
- Why does panning for gold succeed and how can it lead to the
"mother-lode"?
Also refer to Resource
2.
TASK 3: Mount Morgan - setting the scene
- What type of gold was found at Mount Morgan?
- How much would that amount of gold be worth at today’s
prices?
- What was the cost on the environment?
Show the Slideshow to
set the scene for the visit. The slideshow features the water collection
sites and images of the mine workings.
Also refer to Resource
3.
The Science Visit
The following activities/sites need to be built into the day:
- The Mine Tour - To include gold panning if wanted.
- The Museum - To view machinery involved in separation
processes.
- The Lookout - To view the scale of the mine
- Dam No. 7 - To collect water samples above the mine
site.
- The swinging bridge - To collect samples below the mine
and see the landscape.
Map
Click here to view a map
of Mount Morgan.
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