The upper Wilberforce Valley is a remote and mountainous area north-west of Lake Coleridge. The only access is a 10-hour walk in, either up the valley, or across Brownings Pass from the Styx Valley to the west. The area is snow bound and inaccessible in winter.

Several auriferous reefs are found just east of Lake Browning in the North Creek watershed, and the eastern side of the Wilberforce Valley south of Lake Browning around Grave Creek. Historic information is patchy, however the general impression is enough gold was found to keep prospectors interested, but not enough for serious mining to take place.

The area contains a quartz vein swarm hosted by greywacke and argillite.
The vein swarm is 5-10 kilometres wide, striking east north-east, dipping 50-80 degrees west. It is cut by the Main Divide Fault Zone, with two sub-
parallel faults connected by a crush rock zone.

Quartz dominates the reefs, although in one albite is 45% volume. Sulphides in the reefs are pyrite and chalcopyrite, with generally lesser arsenopyrite. Gold is found associated with the arsenopyrite, free within the quartz, and breccia next to vein margins. The quartz is fine-grained, milky white, 0.5-3 metres wide, and 5-10 metres long. The quartz reefs are often highly irregular in shape, with gold distribution erratic.

Calcite and/or ankerite is found in vein margin rock, up to 30% volume of the rock. Malachite staining is noted.

The earliest information found was 1884, when seven prospecting licences were issued. They were H.D. Macpherson as the Ashburton Quartz Mining Company; H. Slater as the Happy Creek Quartz Mining Company; P.M. Carew as the Irishmans Quartz Mining Company; J.P. O'Callaghan as the North Creek Gold Mining Company; John Smith as the McPhersons Quartz Mining Company; and E. Sullivan as the Unknown Quartz Mining Company.

This was despite government geologist, James Hector, shortly before releasing a report that gold levels were uneconomic. The North Creek Company built a hut, and extracted a small amount of quartz for test crushing, however it is not certain if it ever got to a battery, with employees injured when they fell over a cliff trying to transport it. Little is noted of the others.

In 1906, several prospectors left for the area from the West Coast. This was the result of government geologist Bell, who had just released a report a little more positive than Hector's, although lacking detail. Billet, Fedderson, Hyndman, are noted, while George Pfahlert is prospecting for the Kanieri syndicate led by Caliari (surname). Two, Bertram Fiddes and H.A. Baucke prospected the area for years during the summer months, and Fiddes Reward Reef is named after him.

In 1909, the King Gold Mining Company, was formed with 50 000 pounds capital to purchase a lease from Thomas Rapley and Joseph McCluggage, covering the Fiddes Reef. By 1910, the company was organised, but no information was found about mining.

During the Depression years, the Ashburton County Council sponsored unemployed men to prospect for gold in the area, however little gold was found.

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Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References