Tasmania: The Adelaide Mine

Mineral Matters #541

The Adelaide Mine, Dundas, Tasmania, is one of a small number of mines bringing out crocoite specimens for the collector market. It is also the Type Locality for dundasite.

The current operations are run by Adam Wright, of the Adelaide Mining Company, and new pockets are periodically encountered. Whenever I travel to Tasmania, I try to catch up with Adam to see what new finds have been made.

The previous owner was Frank Mihajlowits (pictured below). Frank was known as the “Crocoite King”, and was a very interesting character!

Below: Frank Mihajlowits, beer in hand, a common sight.

Below: Crocoite in situ at the Adelaide Mine in 2012. The crystals were multiple centimetres in length.