The Cannington Silver and Lead Mine is an Australian underground mine located in north-west Queensland, in the Shire of McKinlay, about 124 mi southeast of Mount Isa. The deposit was discovered by Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) in 1990. Although sitework and underground mining began in 1997, full production was not achieved until early 1999, with 1.5 million tons of ore processed that year. Production since has reached 3 million tons of ore per year. As of 2010 it was the largest and lowest cost silver and lead mine in the world. The expected life of the Cannington mine is 25 years.
