Harbour Cone Mine, Portobello, Otago Peninsula, Dunedin City, Otago Region, New Zealandi
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Harbour Cone Mine | Mine |
| Portobello | Town |
| Otago Peninsula | Peninsula |
| Dunedin City | City |
| Otago Region | Region |
| New Zealand | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
45° 51' 29'' South , 170° 38' 56'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Portobello | 1,200 (2012) | 0.9km |
| Dunedin | 114,347 (2017) | 11.4km |
| Waitati | 534 (2011) | 13.6km |
| Warrington | 427 (2011) | 16.5km |
| Karitane | 427 (2015) | 24.2km |
Harbour Cone is your typical volcano shaped hill, 1.5 kilometres south of Portobello. Gold was discovered on the steep south-east slopes of the hill, bordering Battery Creek in 1872.
The prospectors, Forbes and McAulay (surnames) formed the Hoopers Inlet Gold Mining Company. Some ore was sent for testing to Melbourne, achieving 4-10 dwt Au per tonne. Soon after the lease was abandoned, and the shaft filled in. Sheldermine and Basan (surnames) cleared out the shaft and re-opened the mine in 1887. A five head battery was erected.
Gold is found in pyrite veinlets in a nepheline syenite dyke. Unexposed syenite is cut by a 20 cm fracture zone, contain disseminated pyrite, and pyrite veinlets, enclosing gold. It is an unusual association to find gold in the Otago region.
A large scale open pit was mooted in the 1980's by now defunct Wellington based Circular Quay Holdings Limited, drawing considerable local opposition, although testing showed the amount of gold was insufficient to support any mine. In fact Fleming in 2015, sluiced 50 cubic litres of gravel, 70 metres downstream from the main shaft, finding two gold grains 0.2 mms in diameter, so the site does not warrant visiting at least to locate any gold.
The site contains the remains of the 30 foot deep main shaft, and three drives, north-west, south, and south-east of the main shaft, and an open cut near the main shaft. Walking tracks exist across Harbour Cone, but there are no marked trails to the workings.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsDetailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Native Gold Formula: Au |
| ⓘ Pyrite Formula: FeS2 |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 1 - Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Native Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
| Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
| ⓘ | Pyrite | 2.EB.05a | FeS2 |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| S | Sulfur | |
|---|---|---|
| S | ⓘ Pyrite | FeS2 |
| Fe | Iron | |
| Fe | ⓘ Pyrite | FeS2 |
| Au | Gold | |
| Au | ⓘ Native Gold | Au |
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
Australian Plate
- Haast SchistAccretionary Complex
New Zealand
- South IslandIsland
- Southern AlpsMountain Range
Pacific PlateTectonic Plate
This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to
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References
Otago Daily Times newspaper (1887) The Harbour Cone Gold Mining Works, issue 7789, 05 February 1887.
Oldershaw, Walter (1970) New gold locality on the Otago Peninsula. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 13 (4) 1052-1053 doi:10.1080/00288306.1970.10418221
