[1] The OK Copper Mines Development Syndicate NL was formed, consisting of members John Munro; railway contractors GC Willcocks and Acheson Overend; John Newell of Jack and Newell storekeepers; Edward Torpy, mineowner of Crooked Creek near Almaden; and CAS Andrew, civil engineer.

The syndicate developed the mine and constructed and operated the OK smelters, and was the first copper company in North Queensland to declare a dividend.

However, as copper prices were depressed and the capital market was contracting, and there was no reliable geological opinion on which to float the properties, no major development eventuated.

In 1897 separate reports by government geologists stated that only lack of capital for mining and rail communications was retarding development.

[1] New mining company listings on the Melbourne Stock Exchange between 1896 and 1900 were almost double those for the preceding five years, and the trend was sustained during the first decade of the twentieth century as a result of British capital flow.

Many mines were prematurely abandoned after the surface lodes were exhausted, earning some Australian promoters notoriety for dubious financial practices.

Capital investment diminished when dividends ceased, and with the exhaustion of high yield surface ores, realisation costs escalated.

This required approval by the Queensland Government as existing colonial mining laws and railway policies could not countenance such a proposal.

This allowed Moffat, Reid and Chapman to construct a private railway through mineral lands in return for an additional 1,800 acres (730 ha) of leases.

The reputation of mining companies associated with the Chillagoe district was tarnished and this resulted in heavy selling on the London sharemarket.

However, as a result of the sharemarket uncertainty, another report was commissioned to ascertain the amount of available ore, and this stated that there was less than half of the original estimate, and of a value less than what had already been expended on the infrastructure.

The company built a storeroom at the Walsh River for the wet season and planned to bring winding machinery from the Palmer Goldfield in June 1904.

Keith Maitland-Gibson, an experienced English engineer with American experience, significantly expanded the smelter in 1907 even though the income from the copper matte declined.

There had also been curious stock exchange share price rigging allegations in 1905, and difference of opinion between Willcocks and the other directors over the smelter and mine manager's work.

[1] The dislocation of world metal markets caused by the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, as much of the copper was contracted to German manufacturers, was overcome by the demand from the Imperial Government for munitions.

Four years of prosperity during the First World War, during which the Imperial government had control of the copper market, was followed by a severe slump in prices as wartime demand ceased.

Copper flotation, which had been successfully used in the United States since 1912, achieved a recovery rate 20% higher than gravity concentration, and this contributed to the recession of metal prices in the 1920s.

[1] A large and remarkably intact slag dump extends north of the main chimney for about 120 metres (390 ft) to a small watercourse.

An intact Pooley and Sons Ltd, Birmingham and London No 524, steel weighbridge is located on a former access track on the east side of the slag dump.

The place demonstrates the layout and processes of a mid-sized copper smelter, and contains a rare large, intact and very symmetrical slag dump.

The place demonstrates the layout and processes of a mid-sized copper smelter, and contains a rare large, intact and very symmetrical slag dump.