Drapers Load Antimony Mine Walk (Coimadai)

After unsuccessful attempts were made to find gold in the Pyretes area, Antimony was discovered in 1891 and mined in the range from the 1890s to the 1940s. Commonly used today as a flame retardant and to increase the strength and hardness of lead, Antimony was particularly valuable during the War years as a bronze alloy.

At the mine site there are the remains of a rock crusher, half filled in tunnels and tin sheets.

Care should be taken as there are still deep tunnels and shafts in the park.

How to get to the Mine
The remains of the Draper's Lode antimony mine can be found on the Antimony Mine Road which is off the Coimadai-Diggers Rest Road. Continue along Antimony Mine Road until you reach the car park area which has a sign "Lerderderg State Park, Pyrete Range". A gate blocks further vehicle access along the road. This carpark is named "Antimony Mine Track Exit" on signage. The walk to the mine and back is about 8.4km.

Head up the hill along the gravel road past a dam on the left (which formed a lovely heart shape when we visited).



It is 2km along this road before reaching the track heading to the mine. After about 700m there is a gate across the road which allows authorised vehicle access only. Walkers can walk around this gate and continue along the road. Continue on the road (following signage which says "To Sugarloaf Trk"). Continue on the road past the intersection with Chapmans Road until you reach the first valley. Beside the road there are some patches of interesting grass trees.



The track to the mine is at the point where the road does a sharp curve. There is a sign "Antimony Mine Track Exit 2km" which points back to the car park, a sign "Sugarloaf Trk" which goes to the Mt Sugarloaf point and a sign "Antimony Mine - No Exit" which points to the mine.



Follow the track to the mine site which runs beside dry creek beds which become increasingly eroded. This is a distance of 2.2km one-way.



On the way there is an interesting wire mesh bridge over a deep creek. It's an exciting walk/crawl over the bridge. If you want to avoid crossing the bridge, there is a track a little upstream if the creek is not holding significant water.



At the mine site, which is about 15 minutes past the mesh bridge, there are mulllock heaps, ruins of a building, old metal rails, adits, old equipment and substantial equipment foundations.



These are spread across the southern and northern side of the dry creek which has high steep banks. To get to the northern area, continue along the track until there is a path across the creek at a point with lower bank.



Drapers Load Antimony Mine is located in an area which was formerly the Pyrete State Forest. The Pyrete Range was added to Lerderderg State Park in 2005.

Access for Dogs:

Dogs are permitted on leash.

Review:

This is a really interesting walk with the wire mesh bridge (are you brave enough to cross it?) across a creek on the way to the mine and quite of lot of mining relics scattered about the mine site.

We have added a lot of information to the walk to make the route and distances clearer and you should not have any risk of getting lost, even though you will probably not have phone reception.

Photos:

Location