As with all mining towns and regions,Renison Bell is very dependent
on world economies for it's survival.
The fortunes of each of the West Coast towns have fluctuated over the years.
The Renison Bell,mine and township,14km south of Rosebery and Zeehan
is latest to face economic disaster.The mine had been until recently, in
near-continuous production for about 40 years
and employed more than 200 workers at its peak.
In January negotiations were continuing to sell the mine mill and other equipment
prior to the mine being flooded.
The town was named after George Renison Bell, an early prospector and settler who explored the Tasmanian West coast and discovered a number of mineral deposits. Tin was discovered in the area around 1890 .
Early deposits were exhausted by 1922 and by the 1940s Renison Bell was nearly a ghost town.
The mine was expanded in the 1950s when a new underground mine and concentrating plant were developed and grew into the world's largest underground tin mine and by the late 1980s it was producing 46 per cent of Australia's total demand for tin.
