It is fitting that Mt Charlotte underground mine is in the hands of Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines for this mine symbolises the indomitable spirit of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and it is owned by the region’s biggest producer of gold, indeed the biggest in Australia.

From its early history as the poor relation of the Golden Mile, to its landmark position as the last operating gold mine during the gold bust of the 1970s, Mt Charlotte is symbolic of the plight of gold and the tenacity of the people of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

First discovered in 1893, Mt Charlotte had low grade but free milling mineralised rock and for 50 years the best miners could do with it was selectively mine the best of quartz veins.

Successive ownership and leaseholding by Western Mining Corporation (1937-41), Wiluna Gold Mines (1941-54) and WMC again (1954-62) identified drilling patterns and directions and a conclusion. To convert Mt Charlotte into an economic orebody required a high level of mechanisation and low level manning. It was this fact that saved the mine from closure when all around were being shut in 1976.

Gold Mines of Kalgoorlie Australia Limited acquired the leases in 1962 and prepared for immediate production. GMK began a mechanised cut and fill operation which was soon replaced by an open stope method of mining - progressively refined until the mine’s closure.

However, during this period, Mt Charlotte’s ownership changed from GMK to Kalgoorlie Lake View Pty Ltd, Kalgoorlie Mining Associates and finally Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines.

During troubled times for gold in the mid 1970s, Kalgoorlie Lake View announced the shutdown of its Fimiston operation and another company, North Kalgurli, also stopped gold operations. It was 1975 and gold production had virtually stopped on the Golden Mile for the first time in 82 years.

Deep underground mining at Fimiston was mothballed for nearly 10 years.

Mt Charlotte was championed by Sir Laurence Brodie-Hall. He helped attract an $8 million rescue package by Homestake Gold Limited in 1975 but the gold price continued to fall and by August 1976 was $A83 an ounce. A decision was made to shut down Mt Charlotte by December 1976, allowing a small crew to recover ore from already broken ground.

A devaluation of the Australian dollar and an improved gold price led to the downward spiral being reversed. Gold climbed to $A130 and the decision to shut down was reversed with the end in sight.

Symbolically, gold production in Kalgoorlie-Boulder continued when the threat of its complete halt had been in everyone’s sight.

By 1979 the Iranian crisis ensured Mt Charlotte’s success and gold reached $A752 an ounce by January 1980. Mt Charlotte generated enough profit to pay for the re-equipment of the mine, modernisation of the Oroya treatment plant and the re-opening of historic shafts, Boulder Perseverance and Lake View.

The poor relation of the Kalgoorlie field’s heyday had withstood the grinding economic pressures that had forced the closing of all Golden Mile mines in 1976 and Mt Charlotte had become a major producer in its own right.