The Pam smelter was built around 1886–1887. John Higginson, owner of the Pilou and Ao mines, decided to have it built to process the copper ore extracted from these mines.
The facilities were constructed using the labour of 300 convicts assigned by the prison administration. The plant operated for less than two years before resuming operations in 1895, then closing permanently in 1902.
The village built around the plant gradually lost its population and was finally abandoned in the 1970s.