Kanmantoo is a small mining town in South Australia. It is southeast of Adelaide in the eastern Adelaide Hills. It is in the catchment basin of the Bremer river. The name, derived from a local aboriginal word Kunga Tuko means, “different speech”. In 1839 Scottish squatters were the first Europeans to settle in the area. Some of the first residents were Joseph Lean, Henry Jackson Farrington, and William Snell. Joseph Lean arrived 13 December 1840 and for several years captained some of the earliest Kanmantoo mines. Lean was a seasoned Cornish miner, and was one of the pioneers of mining in Kanmantoo. A newspaper in 1915 reported that he was the one to discover the Ore in the Kanmantoo mine. He and his descendants pioneered the nearby town of Staughton, which is now a ghost town.

Kanmantoo is on the Old Princes Highway between Nairne and Callington, but most through traffic now bypasses the town on the South Eastern Freeway. An exception to this is Cyclists, as they are unable to use the freeway to travel between Adelaide and Murray Bridge. The Adelaide-Wolseley railway line also passes near the mine, but there is no station at Kanmantoo.