Caledonian Mine, Thames, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Caledonian Mine	- not defined -
Thames	Town
Thames-Coromandel District	District
Waikato Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

On the 28 January 1871, the richest patch of gold ever discovered in New Zealand was uncovered in this mine.

The Caledonian Gold Mining Company was one of the early companies on the goldfield, registered only shortly after the gold discovery at Shotover in 1868. By 1870 the shaft was already down to 90 feet, and was paying healthy dividends, regardless of the rich patch about to be discovered.

Six bags full of specimen stone was carried out at the end of that shift from the Caledonian No. 1 Reef. The patch extended 80 feet long to a depth of 50 feet. The centre of the vein was almost solid gold 18 inches wide, but with rich gold also surrounding it. The patch extended towards the neighbouring Tookey lease however the patch cut out just before the boundary, and the reef in Tookeys proved barren.

It was an open secret in town that miners where carting out billycans full of gold at the end of their shifts. Strict Methodist mine manager Billy Rowe turned a blind eye. Neither were the directors concerned who were voting themselves large pay increases for 'services rendered', or shareholders who were obtaining large dividends. Over half a million pounds in dividends was issued within a few months. Monthly gold crushings during this short period were 25,255 ounces, 34,437 ounces, 27,241 ounces, 17,035 ounces, 24,171 ounces and 19,329 ounces, before yields decreased. The share price rose 200%.

Irishman Dennis Delaney lived in a humpy with his wife and children along the foreshore path between the town and mine. His poverty was in part due to his liking for whiskey. Early one morning he spied three Caledonian miners walking back from the mine carrying their billycans. He grabbed a club, and demanded they hand over the billycans, otherwise he would call the police. He obtained 150 ounces of gold from the robbery, which was spent on whiskey within a few weeks.

The patch gradually became exhausted, and one day at the end of a shift four directors and a detective turned up, and demanded the men be brought to the surface. Rowe refused stating mining rules required a new shift go down first to replace the old shift. When the old shift men were searched at the surface, no gold was found on them. Rowe left shortly after, and was replaced by Australian Stephen Richards who put an end to the theft. For months afterwards, parcels of gold were found stashed in remote parts of the underground workings, for retrieval later.

The Caledonian Gold Mining Company lasted until 1892. The English based Kuranui-Caledonian Company in 1896 took over the Caledonian, Kuranui, Otago, Red Queen, Hazelbank, Inverness, Albion, All Nations, Junction, Long Drive, Don Pedro, and part of the Golden Crown claims and the original reward claim at Thames, the Shotover leases. The Kuranui lease contained a 20 stamp battery. However, the reefs were near exhaustion, and by 1901 the mine was being worked by tributers. The company was still alive in 1912, when it asked the warden for protection, and is thought to not have lasted much longer past this.

By this stage the main Caledonian shaft had reached a depth of 470 feet, worked from four levels, in a maze of underground workings. The shaft was in the southern part of the Kuranui valley, with the northern portion worked by tunnels and adits at a shallower level.

The country rock is pyroxene andesite, highly propylitised, with lenticular masses of harder un-altered andesite. The most productive veins were called Caledonian 1 and 2 in the southern section, and the All Nations Reef in the northern section. Other gold bearing reefs included the Red Queen, Wheel of Fortune, Kellys, Caledonian 3, Darbys, Young American, Duffs, and Poverty.

Au-Ag values become uneconomic below 150 metres from the surface, with the veins massive fine grained quartz, with common cavities in the upper levels, and comb quartz crystals. Ore was found as in some cases abundant free gold, and also in electrum and pyrite, which averaged 67% Au and 33% Ag. Electrum is found as fine disseminations, or jagged shreds, plates, granular aggregates and filaments. Pyrargyrite frequently accompanies the electrum in the richer areas, and very locally sphalerite. Minor stibnite is found in the caledonian reefs, as tabular crystals.

The original Caledonian Mine is near the Thames Gold Mine Experience, a local tourist attraction with operating stamp battery, photographs, mine buildings and underground tours, in part accessing the Caledonian workings.

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