William Henry Corbould
CORBOULD, William Henry, MAuslMM MIMM MAIME MRACI (1866-1949)
William Corbould, mining engineer and metallurgist, was born at Ballarat on 5 November 1866. He attended briefly at Ballarat College and at the Ballarat School of Mines under Professor Mica Smith, obtaining assaying and metallurgical qualifications. At the age of nineteen he obtained a job as assayer and chemist at the Pinnacles Mine near Silverton, New South Wales. He moved from there to Broken Hill in 1886, where for the next three years he was an assayer for several mines and developed his knowledge of practical geology and metallurgy. After a period at a small silver-lead mine in the Northern Territory, Corbould (later to be known by the mining fraternity as "Jimmy Corbould") went overseas through the Far East to North America studying geology and smelting. To recoup his fortunes he established a successful cosmetic business in San Francisco. In England he established connections with London mining financiers, visiting mines and studying chlorination and cyanidation. After seeing mines in Germany and South Africa he returned to Australia, where he accepted the position of Manager at the Ediacara silver-lead mine, South Australia. When this failed he joined the western gold rush in time to establish himself at Kalgoorlie, where he became a foundation member of the Chamber of Mines of Western Australia and Manager of Hannan's Reward Mine, now known as Mount Charlotte and still a major producer. The nine years in Kalgoorlie from 1893 to 1902 were broken by a visit to England in 1896. He then consulted for twelve months for various Canadian mines before returning to Kalgoorlie. In 1903 he became Manager of Lloyd's copper mine at Burraga, near Bathurst, New South Wales, where he returned to his primary interest of base-metal pyrometallurgy.
In 1909 Corbould was appointed General Manager of Mount Elliott Ltd, near Cloncurry, Queensland, which soon became one of the most profitable copper mines in Australia. Under its energetic but unconventional manager, the enterprise returned over 400,000 pounds in dividends between 1910 and 1913. He methodically tackled the many problems that arose during the wartime copper boom and was appointed Managing Director of Mount Elliott Ltd. The post-war slump in metal prices retarded Corbould's efforts, but he retained his faith in the Cloncurry field. However by 1920 only Mount Elliott was still working, and following industrial and other problems he resigned in 1922.
As a consultant, Corbould toured the Mount Isa field in 1923. Convinced by Mount Elliott that the future of mining in north-west Queensland lay in large scale operations, he had returned to the district brimming with enthusiasm. Noting that the ore bodies of Mount Isa resembled the silver-lead lodes of Broken Hill, Corbould secured an option on 400 acres and hurried to Sydney in January 1924 to float Mount Isa Mines Limited. As Director and General Manager, he was responsible for much of the exploratory work and the raising of capital; almost single-handed he consolidated the many leases and persuaded the Queensland Government to extend the railway from Duchess to the mines. In late 1925 Corbould attracted overseas capital from Leslie Urquhart's RussoAsiatic Consolidated group which secured the large-scale development of the field. He resigned in 1927 and departed overseas but his faith in the area was not vindicated until 1947 when the first dividend was declared; ironically it was copper, not silver-lead, that made Mount lsa's name. After his resignation from the Mount Isa Mines Ltd board in 1927, Corbould retained his close association with mining, visiting New Guinea and other centres. It was the triumvirate of the Australian mining engineer, Jimmy Corbould, the London financier, Leslie Urquhart, and the American (later Australian) mining engineer, Julius Kruttschnitt (q.v.) who made Mount Isa one of the world's greatest mines
Corbould and his wife had a daughter and twin sons. He died at Monte Carlo, France on 16 March 1949, the Ballarat School of Mines being a substantial beneficiary under his will in honour of his teacher, Professor Mica Smith.
References:
Eminent Queensland Engineers Vol 1 is available here.
G.N. Blalney, 'Mines In the Spinlfex1 (Syd, 1960);
I. Hore-Lacy led). 'Broken Hill to Mount Isa' (Melb, 1981);
ADB, Vol. 8, p.113; Information from Mr I.Hore-Lacy, Melbourne.
NOTE; William Corbould has also been recognised for his work in Western Australia. Biographies are similar.
