Scotia Mine (Galliant; Happy Valley; Willis), Reefton, Buller District, West Coast Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Scotia Mine (Galliant; Happy Valley; Willis)	Mine
Reefton	Town
Buller District	District
West Coast Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

The Scotia gold mine is part of the Merrijigs area, west of the Golden Lead and Cumberland mines. The Soldiers-Big River Road passes close by, with a side track west for 200 metres to the site, being a cleared area on the edge of the escarpment.

The Scotia deposit was discovered by Robert Robin, the mine later called the Galliant (Henderson), although his subsequent description indicates they were neighbouring leases worked together. Happy Valley has been included here for the same reason. The official topographical map for New Zealand names the site Willis Claim, although as noted below he may not have had a great bearing on its development. The mine initially accessed rich ore, but it was small in extent. The ore was crushed at the Sir Francis Drake battery in the late 1880's, early 1890's.

The Galliant paid one dividend in 1894. The lease had been pegged in 1888. The lode was 1000 feet long, with a winze sunk on it to 120 feet depth near the Scotia boundary, and an adit near the entrance to the Scotia adit. Ore was 2-4 feet thick, and low grade. A profitable period occurred in 1891, where the lode was only 18 inches wide. The claim was abandoned shortly after the above dividend was paid.

The Happy Valley lease was the first one to be pegged on Merrijigs Hill, early 1882, by the McGee brothers. The auriferous leaders struck east-west, and north-south. A winze had been sunk to a depth of 60 feet, near the head of Slab Hut Creek. One small crushing saw little in the way of gold.

The Hard to Find Mine was just west of Scotia. The lode has a north north-west strike, in a minor fracture, and gold poor. A winze had been sunk to a depth of 60 feet, with a 250 foot long adit to the west. The lease was soon abandoned.

Neale discovered the National Lode, which maps place just north of Scotia across a gully. It can be reached off the Soldier-Big River Road, taking the track north, instead of west, at the track's junction. It was also gold poor.

In 1900, the Scotia, Galliant, and Happy Valley leases were taken over by a company called New Scotia. A new cyanide plant was erected, and tailings treated, achieving a solid profit. Development work was undertaken on the Galliant, but the ore was too low a grade to be profitable. In 1904, the mine was taken over by a syndicate, who sank Martin's Winze, producing one poor crushing, the lease abandoned in 1905.

From 1916 to 1918, the lease was subject to several disputes. George James Willis had applied for the lease, but had failed to submit the application paperwork within the six months required. The warden awarded to the lease to Joseph Gardner. Willis requested the warden re-hear the case, which was refused. The matter then went to the Supreme Court, and Court of Appeals, both supporting the warden's decision. Gardner then became involved in an ownership dispute with London based Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand, a company that had gobbled up large portions of the goldfield over the past twenty years. The warden was unsatisfied with Consolidated's evidence, and a visit to the site proved Gardner had pegged his claim correctly, disproving Consolidated's statements. This also went to the Supreme Court, which awarded the lease in Gardner's favour.

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References