Luanshya was founded in the early part of the 20th century
after a prospector/explorer, William Collier, shot and killed a Roan Antelope
on the banks of the Luanshya River, discovering a copper deposit in the
process. The antelope fell to the ground, its head resting on a rock where an
exposed seam of copper ore was visible. The mining company eventually formed to
exploit Collier's find was named "Roan Antelope Copper Mines Ltd".
For most of the 20th century, copper was mined in great
quantities at Luanshya but towards the end of the century, mining there became