Logan's Mine (Cromwell company), Bendigo, Central Otago District, Otago Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Logan's Mine (Cromwell company)	Mine
Bendigo	- not defined -
Central Otago District	District
Otago Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

This mine was incredibly rich in its early years, then went through decades of constant ownership changes with little gold found. It is typical of rich mines, where investors sink funds into a location based on past results, not appreciating most of the gold has already been extracted. Modern exploration companies often still employ the practice.

The goldfield was discovered in late 1862, and soon there was a rush of miners extracting gold from the alluvial gravels. Thomas Logan in 1863 was searching the hillsides for the source of the alluvial gold. Initially he struggled to find capital to develop the reef found, until 1866 when the Bendigo Quartz Mining Company consisting of Dunedin businessmen was formed. Two miners were employed to sink a shaft, but when no gold was found the project was abandoned.

Considering how rich in gold the reef turned out to be, there is a theory Logan was unhappy with the arrangement, and purposely sank the shaft in a barren area. Logan, William Garrett, Brian Hebdon, and Cromwell hotel owner George Wellington Goodger formed a syndicate called the Cromwell Company
in 1868. A 12 head stamp battery was erected, with an iron water wheel at the mouth of the Bendigo Gorge, with operations starting in March 1869.

Garrett soon fell out with the other partners, and tried to dissolve the company, however before this took effect he died in a riding accident on 30 December 1869. In 1870, the company took alluvial gold miners, Alldridge and party to court over a water rights dispute. In August 1872, Hebdon sold out and returned to England, replaced with Borthwick Baird. To 1874 the mine had produced a phenomenal amount of gold, and there was healthy returns for several years after. In 1875, the mine manager was J. Parry.

January 1876 the company was registered as a public concern, with Dunedin businessmen injecting more money. February 1877 the Aurora battery was shifted to the main shaft, and in March 1878 Charles Todd was appointed mine manager. July 1878 another battery was erected, totalling now 15 stamps. There were three shafts.

Gold production declined after 1880, although the company was still paying dividends. Seventy men were employed. A lot of dead exploratory work was being conducted with no new gold finds. Gold production continued to decline and the company was voluntarily wound up in 1884.

At the end of 1884 a new company was formed called the New Cromwell Quartz Mining Company. A new shaft was sunk to a depth of 520 feet by 1891 on a parallel reef to the north, with the battery expanded unreasonably to 20 heads. Despite all this development work over an extended period, the only crushings were dregs from the old workings.

More capital was successfully sought from London, until the company folded in 1894. A new London based company was then registered, with more capital invested in September 1896. By 1898 the mine was on tribute, with the over-arching company registered named the Cromwell Proprietary Gold Mining Company. With the gold exhausted in the upper levels, this company closed in 1900. In 1901 the mine is on tribute to Salmond and party. The Matilda battery tailings were sold to a syndicate who intended to cyanide them. In 1902 the tributers had the impossibly long name of Melchesidic Bospednic Edwards and party.

The mine was sold in 1903 to D.B. Waters representing a small syndicate, tributed to Edwards and Pascoe in 1904, then the Cameron brothers in 1905, who prospected only. In 1906, the mine was sold to J. Stevenson of Dunedin who formed a small syndicate and hydro sluiced the gravels on the lease until 1907. It was sold again in 1908 to a syndicate of local residents, with half the battery shifted to the Come In Time Mine.

In 1910, the Cromwell Gold Mines Development Company was formed with sixty shareholders and only 1500 pounds capital. They drove a low level tunnel, failed to find any gold, and offered the mine for sale in 1913.

In the 1930's, Charles Todd, the son of the former mine manager of the same name formed a company, and continued to develop the low level tunnel over the next few years, also finding no gold. The company was wound up, and the plant sold in 1938.

The reef strikes south-east, is steeply dipping, cutting quartziferous mica schist. The quartz reef was Fe stained near the surface and bluish at depth, with ferrigunous clay walls. At depth the quartz is impregnated with pyrite, galena, and marmatite. Gold is found in seams and masses in the quartz, especially shoots dipping steeply east.

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