Time-Traveling to the Golden Age:Reliving History by Rail. # Goldenpast

Today,
the town and district attracts significant numbers of tourists,
on either organised tours or the hire car 'circuit' around Tasmania.
The
grand Empire Hotel overlooks the revived steam train station
where rides to neighbouring Strahan are available through dense rainforest.
The
recent addition of mountain bike trails
and white water rafting add to the town's growth as a tourist destination.
Some
older features continue to fascinate tourists, either the mountains,
the slag heap, and the gravel football ground.
Visitors can catch glimpses of the town's past at the local museum,
or simply by driving up Orr Street, the old main street with the dominant Post Office tower.
The
mining operation at the original Mount Lyell mine continues,
with Copper Mines of Tasmania operating between 1995 and 1999 independently,
after which it became part of an Indian company group
– and its concentrates are shipped to India for processing.
In 2021, Indian mining company Vedanta Limited divested its copper mining activities in Queenstown.
Exploration continues within the West Coast region for further economic mineral deposits,
and due to the complexity of the geology, there is always the possibility that new mines will open
: the Henty Gold Mine is a good example as it commenced operation in the 1990s.

Queenstown is the terminus of the West Coast Wilderness Railway,
which travels southwards alongside the Queen River,
and then along the northern slopes of the King River to the port of Strahan in Macquarie Harbour.