Monument record MDR3149 - Goodluck Mine, Lead Mine

Very extensive workings , commenced in 1830, with massive stone roof supports. There are tubs still in the mine, where there is an inclined plane and copper ore in toadstone. (1) The working life of the Goodluck mine dated from 1830 with the driving of the Goodluck level, or adit, by John Alsop. He already owned other lead mines nearby and the new workings eventually met shafts of these other mines at lower levels, so providing common haulage for a number of mines. By the end of 1831 the adit had also intersected two veins worked by other owners. After driving almost 600ft through solid limestone Alsop's miners reached the Goodluck vein with its rich deposits of ore. Apart from some intermittent working, mainly for barytes, the Goodluck Mine has been exhausted since the turn of the century and was finally sealed off after the entrance collapsed in 1952. However, in the 1970s the mine was restored as a visitor attraction. Restored buildings on the surface include a large coe and a stone-built powder magazine. Narrow iron tramway rails extend from the adit and there are two shafts, one fitted with winding apparatus. (2, 3) A prominent waste heap on the south side of the Via Gellia marks the site of the Goodluck lead mine which has been developed as a museum since 1972. It was one of a group of lead mines including Silvereye and Gells Mine on the slopes of Via Gellia. (4)