Thomas Harwood Nutt in 1884 noticed there was an irregular wedge-shaped piece of land adjoining Blocks 8 and 10, which had been missed when the principal leases were taken up. With Michael Farrell, Thomas Nutt pegged the lease as Block 9 and named the claim 'Elizabeth' after his wife who had remained in England with their five children.

Most mining fields abound with stories of prospectors being deprived of their share of the proceeds of the sale of mineral leases held by syndicates or partnerships. Many such legends are of romantic but doubtful origin, often invented as a cover-up for failure to make a fortune at the 'diggings'. The descendants of T.H. Nutt, who live in England, have always stoutly averred that his wife and children were defrauded of a share in Nutt's claim when sold to the Central Broken Hill Company No Liability. Nutt died from the effects of 'gastric fever and congestion of the lungs' in a room at the Nevada hotel, Silverton, on 17 May 1886, at the time the sale was being negotiated. Although he held a one third interest in the mine at the date of death, his widow and children, 21 000 kilometres distant from Broken Hill, apparently received no benefit from the valuable mining claim pegged by Nutt in 1884.

With the assistance of the South mine management, the Central company opened up the mine, which during its early life produced a fair quantity of very high grade ore, including one parcel of 38 000 tonnes assaying 23% lead, 1020 grams of silver per tonne, and 27% zinc. A smelting plant was erected in 1890 but operated with indifferent success.

The sulphide problem proved beyond the Central's capacity and the original company collapsed during the slump of 1891-1893. Reformed as Broken Hill Central Silver Mining Company N.L. the mine was acquired in 1895 by a new organisation Sulphide Corporation Limited registered in London. The Sulphide Corporation established a smelters and electrolytic treatment works at Cockle Creek, near Newcastle on the eastern Australian coast, to process the output from the Central mine.

James Hebbard, former inspector of mines at Broken Hill, became manager of the Central mine in 1902. However, the Sulphide Corporation suffered a considerable loss on its Cockle Creek plant, but the mine at Broken Hill was working at a profit.

The Central experienced several 'creeps', the first of which occurred in 1902. Three years later a destructive subsidence took place which completely wrecked both old shafts that had been sunk in the orebody, as well as the offices, store and boiler plants. In 1906 the mine suffered another blow when a 'creep' destroyed the concentrating mill. As a result, all surface plant was transferred to safer ground and a new mill was constructed, being serviced by a 450 metres flying fox from Kintore shaft. A further disaster struck the Central in 1923 when an underground fire rendered the mine idle for two years. The company purchased the Junction mine for $150 000, which provided a temporary source of ore until mining was resumed.

The share capital of Sulphide Corporation Limited was increased in 1916 to provide for the purchase of the Zinc smelting works at Seaton Carew in the United Kingdom. The plant was later acquired by Imperial Smelting Corporation.

Ore reserves became exhausted, and in 1940 after having produced six million tonnes of ore and distributing $8 million in dividends, the Central mine ceased production. The small 13 ha lease was transferred to Broken Hill South Limited in the same year, and was acquired by Minerals Mining and Metallurgy Limited in 1972.