Iron Knob
Postcode: 5601
Iron Knob, current population 156 (2005), is a town in South Australia on the Eyre Highway across Eyre Peninsula. Iron ore was originally mined here for use as flux in the copper smelting industry. The iron ore was of such high quality that it started an iron smelting industry as well. It is referred to as the birth place of the steel industry in Australia. It gets its name for the fact that it has a large amount of iron ore and was a major contributor to Australia’s iron industry.
Quarrying for iron at the town ended in 1998. Even though the mine is closed the town remains active. There is talk about a major mine company finding gold in the area, and there are other iron ore mines elsewhere in the Middleback Ranges. The iron ore was transported by railway to Whyalla where it is smelted.
New deposits of iron ore were opened at Iron Prince and Iron Duke. Due to the high price of iron ore the mine has been reopened
Iron Knob is very baron all most a ghost town my partner and i passed through recently it was quite freaky signs were rusted roads were run down and had massive pot holes. We saw one maybe two newish cars which made it even weirder. There is alot of old machinery on display but we were not game to step out of our car as we felt like we were in some kind of horror film. There are many empty areas which look to me that old transpotable house once lived i guess from the minors. Allthough the scenery out side of the town was breath takingly rich with life the town was not. Its kind of sad as it is part of the revelution of iron it self a once booming town left to rot! Iam dissapointed to not see more info on this site.