Green's Reef, Ophir (Blacks; Omakau), Central Otago District, Otago Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Green's Reef	Reef
Ophir (Blacks; Omakau)	- not defined -
Central Otago District	District
Otago Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

William Green and son discovered gold in 1885, about 1.5 kilometres south of Ophir in the Raggedy Ranges at the head of Specimen Gully.

Gold nuggets had been recovered from the gully 20 years before, and a shaft sunk on what was called Captains and Skippers reefs by Laybole (surname), the owner of the Shamrock Hotel at Ophir. This was white quartz, holding a small amount of gold, but unpayable, and the shaft was abandoned.

Green sends one tonne of ore to Dunedin to be assayed with positive results.

By the end of the year Professor Ulrich, from the Dunedin University is at the site, and enthuses about the possibilities. He states where exposed in the workings, the reef is 30 feet wide, trending east-west, between two gullies across a ridge. The reef as such, is soft decomposed friable metamorphic schist, horizontal, and abundantly traversed in all directions by quartz threads and leaders. Magnesite is found in patches, and veinlets.

The schist when freshly broken is blue-grey, but on exposure quickly turns to a bluish-white with ferruginous brown spots. Gold is found as specimens within the quartz veins, and within the schist as spongy crystalline amounts from the size of a bean to barely visible.

The gold bearing rock is cut off to the south by the white quartz of Captain's Reef, and the mullocky Skippers Reef, marking a fault. It is cut off to the north also by a white barren quartz reef.

Two years later, and little has happened, the lease sold to a local syndicate, although Green's name is on the application so has some involvement with the syndicate. This is called Greens Reef and Seam Workings Company. The small Ophir battery, idle for years, is moved to the mine site.

By 1889, a local journalist accuses the mine of mismanagement, wasting, money, time and materials. The syndicate was having trouble obtaining the fine gold from the friable rock. Burren and Co held the lease bordering to the south, while Dennis Fogarty and Bryan Flannery had a large lease between the town and Greens. The battery is sold to a local syndicate called The Ophir Company, indicating all was not well at Green's mine.

In 1891, the mine is sold for a pittance, and that was the last information found.

The exact location is uncertain without local knowledge. A rough little used track leaves Ophir and heads over the ranges south, a branch ending near the head of a gully. Here within the sides of the gully are two small cuttings into the hillside. Half a kilometre to the east is a small private lease, with shed, and shallow small pit, off McIntosh Road. One of these is the most likely location. Co-ordinates approximate.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References