6 Oct 2021 OceanaGold WNP Project, Waihi - Archaeological / Heritage Assessment Historical Background Brown et al. (2018) outlines the historical background research, results of the previous archaeological survey and assessment of historic heritage values within the wider project area within its Waihi context and should be consulted in conjunction with this assessment report. Specific historical background as it relates to the WUG mining area is provided here. Royal Standard Mine Elsewhere on the Ohinemuri goldfield prospecting had been done as early as 1893 in the Wharekirauponga Valley near the head of the Wharekirauponga Stream some 10km to the north of Waihi township in the southern Coromandel Ranges. However, no claims were taken up until 1895, when a considerable number were pegged. In 1896 practically all the individual claims had been taken over by the Royal Standard Gold Mining Company of London (Moore and Ritchie 1996:122). There was little underground mining actually undertaken at the Royal Standard, although the company spent a large sum of money constructing a horse drawn tramway 8km long down the valley to the Otahu Inlet just south of Whangamata, as there was no viable access in from Waihi to the south. They also purchased a battery with 80 stamps able to put through 2,400 tons in 24 days (Isdale 1984), constructed a water race to power the battery and built several buildings, including a manager's house, single men’s barracks, a cook house, offices and a store house (Moore and Ritchie 1996:123). By 1897, the Royal Standard Mine employed 197 men, living on site (sources say up to 250 people living on site), sawmilling and undertaking construction. However, in 1897 a manager arrived from England, who at once recommended the directors to stop work as the gold was not worth the cost of extraction. By June 1897 40 men had been laid off, and by April 1898 the mine was shut down and a further 80 men unemployed. The claims lay idle until 1899, when they were sold by public auction to Captain Hodge of Coromandel. Hodge did some small amount of work on several of the reefs to test their values and tried to raise further capital in England to continue operations. However, this was not successful and nothing of consequence has since been done on the ground (Downey 2002; Moore and Ritchie 1996:122). While the foundation terraces for the battery were excavated at Royal Standard there is some conjecture as to whether the battery equipment was transported to site and what happened to it. Moore and Ritchie (1996) state that it was never transported to the mine and that the few pieces of machinery recorded on site are believed to date to the 1920s. Downey (2002:234) states that the battery was transported to ‘the locality’ but it was not specified whether this locality was the actual battery site or not. However, at some stage in the 1960s or early 1970s Mr Glen Mayclair of Waihi wrote to Mr Bert McAra (the Inspector of Mines for the Hauraki District until 1973) (McAra 1988) about the possibility of removing battery equipment from the bush to set up a private site. In the 1970s the NZ Forest Service granted clearance for Mayclair to remove the battery equipment. Mayclair describes the battery machinery at the Wharekirauponga site as, “The battery is made by Bowes, Scott and Western. It is not assembled, in fact scattered around the bush flat. There are several kingposts, various kingpost braces, a pile of stamps, two stamp boxes, cam shaft, Pelton Wheel (Prices of Thames) and a host of small bits and pieces”.
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