John Warren (mining)

John Warren (c. 1837 – 31 October 1910), frequently styled "Captain Warren" or "Captain Jack" after the traditional (esp. Cornish) mining practice, was a mining engineer and mine manager in Australia.

"Captain Warren" redirects here. For the English surveyor, astronomer and author, see Jean Baptiste François Joseph de Warren.

History

Warren was born in Newton Abbot, England,[1] and from age thirteen was working in the mining business. He had experience in the east county mines including Dolcoath and Tavistock[2] and later in America.[1]

He was in South Australia by October 1864, when in response to a newspaper advertisement,[3] he succeeded George Vercoe as manager of the Karkarilla mine, Tipara, one of the complex of copper mines at Moonta.[4]

Vercoe would later accuse Warren of incompetence as a mine manager and as a geologist,[5][6] to which Warren countered just as bluntly.[2] Percy Wells was another trenchant critic.[7]

The Karkarilla mine became uneconomic and was taken over by another company in 1867 and renamed Hamley, and Warren, while being retained, was also made responsible for the nearby Paramatta mine,[8] and 1869 the Wheal James mine.[9]

He resigned from the Paramatta company on 25 November 1876, and for two and a half years was in charge of the Balade mine, New Caledonia.[10]

He returned to South Australia, where he served as manager of the short-lived Bird-in-Hand gold mine near Woodside.[1]

That was followed by the Block 10 mine at Broken Hill, which he managed for over ten years.

He assisted T. J. Greenway in tackling the "sulphide problem".[11][12]

Zinc sulphide, which constituted a fair percentage of the ore body, was much more difficult to reduce to the metal than the oxides and carbonates of silver and lead, which were the initial source of the mines' wealth. Sulphide tailings accumulated in great heaps at the mines, or was simply not brought to the surface. Greenway, engineer for Block 14 and later the Broken Hill South mines, put considerable effort into crushing and concentrating the ore, which could then be more economically shipped to Europe for processing.[12]

A strike called by the Amalgamated Miners' Association and other unions in Broken Hill was held ?? – November 1892 after the Mineowners' Association cancelled stope workers' contracts and imposed a contract payment system.[13] Warren held fast against the unions by taking on new workers, mostly from Moonta, and still meeting their production targets.

In June 1901 Warren resigned from Block 10 after a dispute with assistant manager L. W. Grayson, who also resigned and set up in business as a consulting engineer. A petition signed by most employees of the mine urged Warren to reconsider.[14] He must have relented, as he was reappointed to his old position in July.

In 1902 he was both elected president of the Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers and appointed Justice of the Peace. In April he again resigned, after he had been obliged to effect a number of economies, including the termination of many jobs.[15] His replacement was V. F. Stanley-Low.

He was for a short time in 1903 manager of the Cobar-Chesney mine, and the Broken Hill Junction Mining Company for about a year 1904–05.

Inventions
  • Around 1874 Warren and Fred May, chief engineer at Moonta Mines, invented an improved jigging machine (separates heavy crushed ore from the light stuff, using water and a shaking action), which was proven at the Hamley mine and the Lady Alice near Gawler. A copy of the machine, made by James Martin & Co. of Gawler, was sent to the Balade mine, New Caledonia, in 1875.[16]

Others to develop jigging machines were Cowlng, Hancock, Petherick.[17]

  • He invented a vanner or vanning table, of which the Wilfley table is an example
  • He patented improvements to the magnetic ore separator.[18]

Other interests
  • While in Broken Hill, Warren was founder and president of the local Boys' Brigade.[19]
  • Also while in Broken Hill, he was active in the Horticultural Society.[20]

Recognition
  • The Warren vanner, which he developed, was named for him.
  • In 1893 he was presented by the mine's grateful management with a model of the Block 10 surface workings, crafted in silver by J. M. Wendt.[21]

Family

Warren had a daughter born 4 December 1866[22] It is likely both mother and daughter were named Mary Ann or Mary Anne, and one died 1866 and the other 1867.

He married again, to Marian Mortimore (c. 1838 – 12 November 1903), date and place not yet found. They had a daughter:

  • Marian Warren (c. 1873 – 14 July 1923) married Frederick Thomas Collins (c. 1878 – 10 September 1937) in 1906. They had a daughter on 14 May 1906, another on 26 November 1910. John Warren was living at their place, 6 Mackinnon Parade, North Adelaide, when he died; earlier he had a home on Prospect Road, Prospect.

Collins married again on 23 November 1925 to Dora Baker.

References
  1. "Death of Captain Warren". The Register (Adelaide). LXXV (19, 960). South Australia. 1 November 1910. p. 4. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia. note: Newton Abbot misspelled and mislocated into Cornwall.
  2. "To the Editor of the Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser". Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser And Miners' And Farmers' Journal. VI (525). South Australia. 16 October 1877. p. 3. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "Advertising". South Australian Register. XXVIII (5604). South Australia. 14 October 1864. p. 1. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Untitled". South Australian Weekly Chronicle. VII (324). South Australia. 22 October 1864. p. 1. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Vercoe v Warren". Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser And Miners' And Farmers' Journal. VI (533). South Australia. 13 November 1877. p. 3. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Open Column". Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser And Miners' And Farmers' Journal. VI (565). South Australia. 5 March 1878. p. 3. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "The Paramatta Mine and its Late Manager". South Australian Chronicle And Weekly Mail. XX (999). South Australia. 13 October 1877. p. 4. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Moonta". The Wallaroo Times And Mining Journal. III (225). South Australia. 27 March 1867. p. 5. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "The Week's News". Adelaide Observer. XXVII (1469). South Australia. 27 November 1869. p. 7. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "Presentation to Captain Warren". The South Australian Advertiser. South Australia. 1 May 1879. p. 5. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "The Broken Hill Mines". The Chronicle (Adelaide). 42 (2, 157). South Australia. 23 December 1899. p. 21. Retrieved 21 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "Mining Gossip". The Australasian. CXVIII (3, 084). Victoria, Australia. 9 May 1925. p. 45. Retrieved 21 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "The Broken Hill Mines". The Age (11, 653). Victoria, Australia. 1 July 1892. p. 6. Retrieved 4 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. "Captain Warren's Resignation". The Barrier Miner. XIV (4078). New South Wales, Australia. 26 June 1901. p. 2. Retrieved 3 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "Work at Broken Hill". The Age (14, 616). Victoria, Australia. 10 January 1902. p. 4. Retrieved 4 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. "The Week's News". Adelaide Observer. XXXII (1737). South Australia. 16 January 1875. p. 3. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. "Honour to Whom Honour is Due". The Register (Adelaide). LXXXVII (25, 442). South Australia. 13 July 1922. p. 9. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. "Patents". The Week (Brisbane). LIII (1, 367). Queensland, Australia. 7 March 1902. p. 8. Retrieved 3 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. "Broken Hill Notes". The Critic (Adelaide). South Australia. 10 November 1900. p. 13. Retrieved 4 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. "Spring Flower Show". The Barrier Miner. XV (4444). New South Wales, Australia. 15 September 1902. p. 2. Retrieved 4 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. "General News". Adelaide Observer. L (2, 703). South Australia. 22 July 1893. p. 30. Retrieved 19 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. "Family Notices". The Wallaroo Times And Mining Journal. II (193). South Australia. 5 December 1866. p. 4. Retrieved 20 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
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