WA School of Mines Mineral Museum Overview

WA School of Mines Mineral Museum

Get directions

Be mesmerised by minerals.

More than just rocks of the region, this collection is a learning tool, with mineral specimens from all around the world, housed in a beautiful heritage building. The minerals include sulphides, like pyrite or fool’s gold; carbonates such as calcspar and dolomite; and native elements such as graphite. Unfortunately, there are no diamonds in the collection! The mineral samples were used as teaching aids at the WA School of Mines, which first opened in Coolgardie in 1902, and then relocated to Kalgoorlie a few years later.

Visit website

Address:

117 Egan Street
Kalgoorlie WA 6430
Australia

Tel:

(08) 9088 6170

Email:

WASM-MECEAdministration@curtin.edu.au

Opening Hours

Mon to Fri 9am - 4:30pm

Pyrite from Broad Arrow

Listen to the rocks talk

Minerals like galena and pyrite were used as conductors in early crystal radios. If you wrap chicken wire around a large pyrite sample and shape it into a dish, you can pick up radio waves. It is as...

Staurolite

Twinning

Staurolite, a silicate, is used in geology as an 'index mineral'. This means it is used to estimate depth, temperature and pressure changes to rock, like movement of the earth’s crust or magma...

Malachite from Murin Murin

Viridescent deposit

Malachite, a carbonate of copper, is one of the oldest known green pigments. Malachite was used as an indicator of the presence of copper. This sample is from the Anaconda copper mine near Murin Murin...

Bruce Rock Museum and Machinery Museum

From a cabinet of curiosity to a museum.

The old bank has been given a new lease on life, with the Bruce Rock Museum located within its walls. Some of the rooms have been refurbished with items from the early to mid 1900s to tell the history...

Woodlands Cultural Community and Visitor Centre

Welcome to Ngadju Country

For many travellers Norseman is just a fuel stop, before continuing North, South or East. However, the Woodlands Cultural, Community and Visitor Centre encourages visitors to consider learning about...

Dowerin District Museum

A charming museum in an old house built by a saddler.

This charming museum is built upon the legacy of one family: the O’Shaughnessy’s. It is housed in the original home built in 1915, for Eugene O’Shaughnessy the local boot maker and saddler. The...

Yilgarn History Museum

A meeting place between the Goldfields and the Wheatbelt

A visit to the Yilgarn Museum is a journey through the history of Southern Cross, which is sometimes referred to as the gateway to the Goldfields region. The museum building is the original courthouse...