Consolidated Zinc

The company's initial operations focused on extracting zinc from mine tailings of the Broken Hill Ore Deposit at Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia.{{cite web|url=http://www.riotinto.com/whoweare/timeline.asp |title=Timeline |work=Rio Tinto website |publisher=Rio Tinto Group |accessdate=2009-04-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219090438/http://www.riotinto.com/whoweare/timeline.asp |archive-date=19 December 2010 }} The company was founded in Melbourne on 9 September 1905 as the Zinc Corporation Limited, to exploit residual zinc concentrations with an estimated value of $12 million in the 6 million tons of mine tailings deposited from mining activities over the previous 20 years. Key figures involved in the effort included William Baillieu and William Sydney Robinson.{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |author=Richardson, Peter |title=Robinson, William Sydney (1876–1963) |id2=robinson-william-sydney-8247/text14441 |accessdate=13 May 2012}} Also involved was future U.S. president, but then a mining engineer working for Bewick, Moreing and Company,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199419205 |title=Broken Hill Zinc Tailings |newspaper=The Age |issue=15,788 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 October 1905 |accessdate=10 February 2019 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} Herbert Hoover, who inspected the tailing dumps in the group's investigations prior to formation of the company.{{cite web|url=http://au.geocities.com/bhsilvercity/zcnbhc.htm|title=Zinc Corporation & New Broken Hill Consolidated Ltd.|date=2002|work=The Silver City: Mining History|publisher=Line of Load Association|accessdate=2009-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090723063317/http://au.geocities.com/bhsilvercity/zcnbhc.htm|archive-date=2009-07-23}}{{cite book|last1=Hoover|first1=Herbert|title=The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Years of Adventure 1874-1920|url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsofherbert0002hoov|url-access=registration|date=1951|publisher=The Macmillan Company|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memoirsofherbert0002hoov/page/89 89], 102}}{{cite book|last1=Blainey|first1=Geoffrey|title=The Rush That Never Ended|url=https://archive.org/details/rushthatneverend0000blai|url-access=registration|date=1963|publisher=Melbourne University Press|location=Melbourne|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rushthatneverend0000blai/page/265 265–268]}}

Other investors in the new company were Clark & Robinson (William Clark, Lionel Robinson and Company), and Arthur Terrell.

They established concentrating mills at Broken Hill in 1905 and 1910, and in 1906 an associated sulphuric acid manufacturing plant whose first manager was (later Sir) H. W. Gepp.{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211409722|title=Barrier Bits|date=29 November 1905|newspaper=The Critic|accessdate=10 February 2019|issue=45|location=South Australia|volume=IX|page=26|via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1911 they expanded into primary mining activities with the purchase of Broken Hill South Blocks Ltd (colloquially "South Blocks"), constructing underground mines and mining for zinc, lead, silver{{cite web|url=http://www.riotinto.com/documents/Investors/dlcsep06.pdf|title=RTC-CRA: United for Growth|date=September 2006|work=Rio Tinto Review|publisher=Rio Tinto Group|accessdate=2009-04-13|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327021733/http://www.riotinto.com/documents/Investors/dlcsep06.pdf|archive-date=27 March 2009}} and gold{{cite web|url=http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/109192/cobars-mining-history.pdf|title=Cobar's Mining History|date=February 2007|work=Primefacts|publisher=New South Wales Department of Primary Industries|accessdate=2009-04-15}} in the Broken Hill area.

In 1949, Zinc Corporation merged with the Imperial Smelting Corporation to become Consolidated Zinc. In 1953, Haddon King became chief geologist.{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=king-haddon-rymer-forrester-12740

|title=King, Haddon Rymer Forrester (1905–1990)

|author=D. F. Branagan

|accessdate=9 May 2012}}

Over time, the company built up substantial financial resources but failed to develop suitable new mining projects. This led to a merger in 1962 with the Rio Tinto Company, a company who found itself in a complementary position of having substantial development opportunities but not enough financial resources with which to pursue them. The resulting company, known as The Rio Tinto – Zinc Corporation (RTZ), and its main subsidiary, Conzinc Riotinto of Australia (CRA), would eventually become today's Rio Tinto Group.

• Rio Tinto Company Limited

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{{Herbert Hoover|state=collapsed}}

Category:Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange

Category:Defunct mining companies of Australia

Category:Former Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries

Category:Zinc smelters

Category:Metal companies of Australia

Category:Metallurgical industry of Australia

Category:Manufacturing plants in Australia

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