LYELL, MOUNT

mining area, western Tasmania, Australia. The site, discovered in the 1880s, derives its name from a 2,900-ft (880-m) peak in the west coast range, which was named after Charles Lyell, the 19th-century English geologist. First mined for gold and later silver, the area currently yields about 90 percent of the state's copper. After 1968, vast new underground deposits were developed. Most of the workers reside nearby in Queenstown. The ore is railed north to the port of Burnie, from which most is shipped to Japan and the remainder sent to Port Kembla, N.S.W.