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Remains of the copperworks at Burra Burra, New South Wales, Australia
Burra Burra copper mine, 1874.
The world of copper smelting was led by Wales in the 19th century. The works around Swansea and Holywell supplied over 50% of the world's copper.
The US copper industry vastly outstripped the Welsh copper industry. In Australia there were huge deposits of copper ore which led to the growth of smelting towns around the Spencer Gulf, South Australia from the 1860s. The workers were migrants, almost exclusively from the Swansea region, in the early days.
The mine and smelting works in Burra Burra, South Australia were Welsh owned with workers recruited in the Loughor and Llanelli area. It was the establishment of these smelters that eventually broke Swansea's undisputed dominance over the world copper markets.
As British and European copper sources became depleted, Swansea began to import copper ore, from countries such as Chile. In the 1860s Welsh smelters helped to establish works in Chile and today that country is among the largest producers in the world.
George Mitchell
Born in Swansea in 1864, Mitchell trained in the local copper works. He emigrated to the USA in 1888 and worked in several copper mining and smelting companies around the country. He owned mines and property from Mexico to Alaska but his huge copper smelting plant at Swansea, Arizona was a commercial failure and ruined him.
