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...

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...

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...

Ravensthorpe Visitor Centre & Museum Overview

Ravensthorpe Museum & Visitor Centre

Unearth a gem at this museum

A collection that just keeps giving: The Ravensthorpe Museum is a jam-packed display of local history. The collection unearths the history of local figures from the mining and agricultural industry...

Merredin Military Museum

Commemorating the armed services

For military buffs, this place has an interesting collection of items from World War I to the Vietnam War. You won't be able to miss ‘Huey’ an Iroquois UH-1H and the Kiowa, two Vietnam War era...

Norseman Historical Museum

A lucky horse finds gold and over a hundred years later a museum moves into the old School of Mines.

This museum has one of the most unusual and quirky items you will ever see - ask to see the typewriter keys! (Story below). Norseman Historical Museum celebrates the Goldfields, mining and local...

Hood Penn Museum

A family collection which turned in to a museum

This quirky museum includes several very realistic mannequins, including the friendly bartender from the old Edna May Hotel Bar! The collection was acquired as a donation from the Hood-Penn family...