Kapanga Mine, Coromandel, Coromandel Peninsula, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Kapanga Mine	Mine
Coromandel	- not defined -
Coromandel Peninsula	Peninsula
Thames-Coromandel District	District
Waikato Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

Historic gold mine.

Gold was discovered in Driving Creek in 1852 by saw-miller Charles Ring. Quartz showing gold, and fine gold dust was presented in an attempt to get a reward for the discovery of a goldfield, however it was withheld from Ring when alluvial gold mining subsequently failed at the location.

The area was Maori land, and an arrangement was made for the alluvial miners to be charged a licencing fee, with the money going to the Maori's. Around three thousand miners descended on the area during the initial two month licence free period, however after this only fifty miners applied for licences. Not enough gold was being found to meet expenses, and within six months the rush had died out.

Charles Heaphy surveyed the quartz lodes in 1857, and this led to renewed interest. A party of prospectors began working on the Kapanga Reef, initially taking out one tonne of ore yielding 2.5 ounces of gold.

The Kapanga mine was the first hard rock gold mine in New Zealand. The mine has produced 71 454 ounces Au-Ag (Simpson et al, 2011- 54 965 oz Au and 18 954 oz Ag), across the fifty years it was operational.

The Kapanga Gold Mining Company was formed in the mid 1860's, taking over the Southern Cross, Albion, Golden Point, Cameron, and Coromandel claims. In 1867 it was constructing a battery it had ordered in from England.

The Kapanga Gold Mining Company Limited was reconstructed in 1880 as the Kapanga Gold Mining Company of New Zealand Ltd, and reconstructed again in 1886 as the Kapanga Gold Mining Company Ltd, then amalgamated with the Coromandel Gold Mining Company in 1891. The company was reconstructed again in 1893, then sold to the Hauraki Gold Mining Company Ltd. In 1895 a section of the mine was sold to Balgrove's Freehold Mining Company Limited.

Around 1896, the deeper levels were explored with a shaft to 1000 feet depth, but little gold was found and by 1899 the deeper sections were abandoned. Work focussed on areas above 420 feet from the surface, formerly worked by tributers but now taken over again by the company. In 1901, the company was voluntarily liquidated, and amalgamated with the Balgrove's company, and Kathleen Gold Mines Limited, as the Tarkwa Proprietary Limited, who closed the mine, and focussed attention on other assets it owned.

The host rock is andesite, with alteration around the veins consisting of quartz, illite, chlorite, pyrite, epidote, and calcite.

The quartz veins are narrow, sinuous, 10-45 cms wide, striking north-south, with the main Kapanga vein a length of 290 metres. The veins dip west 25-30 degrees, but at depth dip 30-60 degrees. The separate Hartridges and Anniversary veins strike east-west. Larnach, Coromandel, and Corby shafts are noted on an old map. Scotty's Reef was accessed by the nearby Scotty Mine, but proved un-economic.

Economic gold at Kapanga was restricted to small ore shoots, and patchy pockets of a limited extent, in extensive low grade quartz veins. High grade gold was commonly found at bends in the reef, or where small cross veins intersected the main reef. A small high grade pocket in Hartridges reef was found with a carbonaceous layer with abundant pyrite.

The quartz reefs were commonly finely crystalline, with cavities, lined with drusy and comb quartz, lesser pyrite, and sparse calcite. Natural arsenic and arsenopyrite was commonly associated with high grade gold areas. Natural arsenic is found as reinform nodules up to 15 cms in diameter, enclosing plates and filaments of electrum. Electrum averages 70% Au as coarse jagged particles, or branching filaments in quartz.

Mindat co-ordinates is an interpretation of a historic map, and needs confirmation. A number of private properties are in the vicinity.

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References