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

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...

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...

Laverton Outback Gallery

Aboriginal art from Laverton and the Western Desert region

In this gallery you will find artworks, paintings, digging sticks, carvings, weavings and crafts by artists from the surrounding regions, including the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. Well known weavers in the...

Shackleton Progress Association

A Wheatbelt town named after an Antartic explorer.

The Shackleton Hall houses a collection which tells the history of settlement in the area. It also includes information related to Kwolyin, a ghost town, located approximately 9km to the west of...

Sandstone Heritage Museum and Visitor Centre

Tiny town with a huge history

A 1940s converted shop houses this locally cherished collection. The Museum was opened by dedicated volunteers who decided to save Sandstone’s relics, buildings and history. The items in the...

Shire of Wiluna Canning-Gunbarrel Discovery Centre

A stop on the edge of the desert

Wiluna is the southern gateway to the Canning Stock Route and the western gateway to the Gunbarrel Highway. The Canning-Gunbarrel Discovery Centre is housed inside the old Wiluna District Hospital and...