WA School of Mines Mineral Museum Overview

WA School of Mines Mineral Museum

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Be mesmerised by minerals.

More than just rocks of the region, this collection is a learning tool, with mineral specimens from all around the world, housed in a beautiful heritage building. The minerals include sulphides, like pyrite or fool’s gold; carbonates such as calcspar and dolomite; and native elements such as graphite. Unfortunately, there are no diamonds in the collection! The mineral samples were used as teaching aids at the WA School of Mines, which first opened in Coolgardie in 1902, and then relocated to Kalgoorlie a few years later.

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Address:

117 Egan Street
Kalgoorlie WA 6430
Australia

Tel:

(08) 9088 6170

Email:

WASM-MECEAdministration@curtin.edu.au

Opening Hours

Mon to Fri 9am - 4:30pm

Staurolite

Twinning

Staurolite, a silicate, is used in geology as an 'index mineral'. This means it is used to estimate depth, temperature and pressure changes to rock, like movement of the earth’s crust or magma...

Malachite from Murin Murin

Viridescent deposit

Malachite, a carbonate of copper, is one of the oldest known green pigments. Malachite was used as an indicator of the presence of copper. This sample is from the Anaconda copper mine near Murin Murin...

Pyrite from Broad Arrow

Listen to the rocks talk

Minerals like galena and pyrite were used as conductors in early crystal radios. If you wrap chicken wire around a large pyrite sample and shape it into a dish, you can pick up radio waves. It is as...

Dead Finish Museum

Beers and bodies: a former pub and morgue now houses a museum

You can almost smell the beer flowing, and the conversation of sandalwood cutters and haulers in this museum, which is named after the old hotel in which it is housed. The hotel was affectionately...

Old Police Complex

A country police station

The first Laverton police station is described by the guide as ‘tents, tin and fibro,’ with the prisoners brutally chained to logs. In 1899 the original jail was moved from the close-by settlement of...

Ballidu Heritage Centre

A treasure hunter's delight

The Ballidu Heritage Centre collection is a dive through the ages, with memorabilia for the young and the young at heart. The beautiful old hall has display rooms set up like small stage sets. For...

Brookton Museum and Heritage Centre

Former Police Station & Quarters, now the Brookton Museum & Heritage Centre

This is an inviting old Police Station and residence, and a collection which engages visitors with the history of Brookton, its people, its environment and its history. The display changes each year...