Type reservoir | Basin countries Australia | |
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Location 200km North of Hughenden, Queensland | ||
Kidston dam aka copperfield dam
Kidston Dam as so known as Copperfield Dam and was built for the local mine. The Kidston Gold Mine closed July 2001. It has a capacity of 20 400 ML.
Contents
This storage and associated pipeline was built to provide water to the Kidston Goldmine in the early 1980s on the Copperfield River, a tributary of the Einasleigh River in the Gilbert River catchment. The dam was one of the first dams built in Australia using the Roller Compacted Concrete technique. At the closure of the mine, the storage was handed back to the state and is owned/ managed by DEWS. Downstream properties receive water via a pipeline which was built to supply the mine and associated township. There is also a local arrangement to release water (towards the end of winter) to fill downstream waterholes. This allows riparian properties access to water for stock and domestic use until the coming wet season.
Fishing
The area is popular with recreational fisherman. In recent years the dam has seen an exponential growth in the redclaw population. There have been instances of a single fisherman catching 1500 crayfish.