Mine Name: Irvinebank
State: Queensland
Status: historic
Brief description of impact/history:
Irvinebank is a former mining town in northern Queensland, just west of Cairns. The region was at the heart of the famous John Moffat tin and base metals mining empire from the 1890s to the 1920s, though very little remains of the former halcyon days.
The stream draining through Irvinebank has the tell tale signature of acid mine drainage (AMD) – the red / rustic iron staining. The pH was only mildly acidic, however, at 6.1, suggesting significant dilution from runoff associated with recent rains.
