Nugget and Cornish Mine (The Nugget; Gallant Tipperary; Gallant Tip), Skippers, Queenstown-Lakes District, Otago Region, New Zealandi

Regional Level Types
Nugget and Cornish Mine (The Nugget; Gallant Tipperary; Gallant Tip)	Mine
Skippers	- not defined -
Queenstown-Lakes District	District
Otago Region	Region
New Zealand	Country

The Nugget and Cornish gold mine, and Gallant Tipperary gold mines were two separate mines along the same reef, although the Gallant Tipperary later took over the Nugget and Cornish mine's lease. The Nugget and Cornish Mine was locally called 'The Nugget' at the time of operation, while the Gallant Tipperary Mine was locally called 'The Gallant Tip'.

The mines remain in the category of largely lost localities. They are not marked on maps, DOC information, or have workings/battery ruins which are well known and visited. The mines were written about extensively in newspaper articles of the time, however provide few clues on the location. The mines are one to two kilometres north of the Skippers town site, close to the western bank of the Shotover River. This places them in the Sandhill Cut/Cooks Terrace area. There are no access tracks, or any method to easily visit the area. Co-ordinates are very approximate.

In April 1866, while managing the Great Scandinavian Company at Skippers Creek, Thomas F. Roskruge explored to the east discovering the Nugget and Cornish Reef. Roskruge formed a new company, called the Nugget and Cornish Quartz Mining Company, merging with the Great Scandinavian Company, with Roskruge as mine manager. The merger dissolved due to dissension in the syndicate, with Roskruge, and M.J. Malaghan purchasing the company outright.

The British American Mine's battery was purchased and erected next to the Shotover River near the mine, in February 1871. The battery proved to be small and worn out. The battery was twelve stamps, in three sets of four stamps. Water for the battery is obtained by races from the Ballarat and Sandhill Creek, on the opposite side of the river, although it is not certain why water from the Shotover River could not be used.

The company was restructured in 1875, as the New Nugget and Cornish Quartz Mining Company. By this stage it has processed 1958 tonnes of ore for 3624.5 ounces of gold. Investors were mainly from Invercargill.

Thomas McCliment (32) is killed in a dynamite explosion underground in 1878.

There are three reefs on the lease, trending north-west, dipping south-west 70-80 degrees. The host schist contains mullocky reefs, showing veins and bunches of quartz, sometimes several feet thick. Gold is seen in the sugary stone as clusters of specks, the reefs up to 20 feet wide, with a well defined Hanging wall, and Footwall encased with clay. The gold is associated with abundant pyrite and arsenopyrite, or found free in the quartz.

The Nugget and Cornish Mine is sold at auction by the bailiff in 1876, purchased by the Bank of New Zealand, and a Mr Bastian of Invercargill for 2300 pounds. It is reported in 1879, Roskruge has taken up the position of station master at the Kingston railway terminus, at the southern end of Lake Wakatip.

The Gallant Tipperary Quartz Mining Company was in operation from around 1883, until it was liquidated in 1899. Shortly after forming it took over the lease of the old Nugget and Cornish party, in addition to its own neighbouring lease. Patrick Egan was killed underground in 1886, when a truck full of quartz came off the rails, and crushed him against the tunnel wall.

The Shotover Quartz Mining Company NL was formed in 1899, with the intention of extending the old low level adit at the abandoned Nugget and Cornish Mine. In 1906, the company amalgamates with the Ophir Mining Company, which controls an unimportant reef on the eastern side of the Shotover River, and one mile upstream. The intention is to release un-called capital in the Ophir Company to invest in both mines. The company is now called the Shotover Consolidated Mining Company Limited.

It is reported in 1909 the mine is on tribute. The company is voluntarily wound up in 1910, and purchased by the Dominion Gold Mining Company, who does little with the Shotover mine, and concentrates on its 200 acre holding at Karangahake.

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