Minerva Mine, Greymouth, Grey District, West Coast Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Minerva Mine	Mine
Greymouth	- not defined -
Grey District	District
West Coast Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

In 1885 the Minerva Sluicing Company registered a gold claim at the Blackball Forks. A stamp battery from the William Tell Mine, Mount Greenland, at Ross, was moved to the site, and began crushing for the Minerva Gold Mining Company in 1892. The battery and other equipment was carted in on the backs of men, the track too diabolical even for pack animals.

By 1896, the mine became uneconomic, and the company was liquidated. By 1898, the Minerva Sluicing Company had been reconstructed into the Roaring Meg and Hydraulic Power Company, with Gerald Perotti as director. They were working for gold along the creek, but its rocky nature, and still lack of access hampered efforts.

The Minerva site saw some brief activity from 1933 to 1935 for gold from out of work coal miners during the depression.

The Mines Department employed Malcolm Wallace to remove the battery in 1946, and it was taken to the Mokihinui area at Buller. The battery was hauled out by tractor in pieces over a two week period.

To reach the mine go through Blackball, and just past the Blackball Mine ruins, take a gravel road which winds through the hills 8 kilometres to the Smoke-Ho car park. Then hike up the Croesus Track a couple of kilometres to the mine/battery site. Not a lot remains other than the water race, and some sleepers from a tramway. A coal seam is exposed near the car park. The track continues up the valley to other old gold mining sites, through thick temperate rainforest, cloud forest, and eventually sub-alpine vegetation.

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