46 Oct 2021 OceanaGold WNP Project, Waihi - Archaeological / Heritage Assessment ruled out and would also be destroyed by the proposal. The remains of the Winner Hill gold mining complex are pre-1900 in date so any impacts will require mitigation under a under a general Heritage NZ archaeological Authority that will be applied for to cover the entire Gladstone Pit project to identify and record any pre-1900 archaeological remains. No archaeological features of Maori origin were identified in 2000 by Phillips or during recent survey for the WNP. It is considered unlikely that any such features would have survived on Winner Hill as a result of historic and modern mining, and farming activities. Gladstone Battery and Gold Mining T13/821; HDP schedule HAU245 Cat C The site of the Gladstone Battery and goldmining complex is an extensive area of collapsed drives, terraces, mullock heaps and tailings, which extend from the summit down to the north and west slopes, associated with historic gold mining on Gladstone Hill. The Gladstone Battery and its associated shaft is a Category C Heritage Item in the HDP (HAU245) (Figure 43). Erected in 1904 on the northern slopes of Gladstone Hill adjacent to the Gladstone Shaft, it was the smallest of the five stamper batteries in Waihi. It appears that the company saved their tailings in a small gully near the battery, and remains of the retaining bund remain today (Figure 44 and Figure 45). These tailings were uplifted and reprocessed at the Union Battery in late 1911 and 1912. The shaft has been infilled, and is hard to make out, but a concrete machine mount remains, though it may not be in its original position (www.ohinemuri.org.nz/research/waihi-gladstone-battery). Much of the Gladstone gold mining complex has already been affected by modern gold prospecting from the 1970s to 1999. Those features within the pit footprint that will be affected are Feature a), an isolated prospecting drive located near the summit with an area of tailings radiating out from the now blocked drive entrance; and Feature b), a fenced off shaft. However, the Gladstone Battery and its associated shaft, Feature c), a disturbed area dissected by the access road where tailings appear to have been utilised for a platform in one corner, and a square concrete foundation block with steel rods protruding from it in front of a collapsed drive (this may have been part of a mill site); and Feature d), a shaft at the base of the hill, are located outside the footprint of the proposed Gladstone pit and will not be affected. Several other shafts and drives shown on the Company map are now not visible on the surface (Figure 38). The Gladstone Open Pit will interact with sub-surface pre-1900 historic workings in two locations on Gladstone Hill. Pit excavation will entirely remove the 25m prospecting drive located on the summit of Gladstone Hill (Feature a) and partially remove historic drives accessed from a shaft between 1132RL and 1108RL in the north west of the pit shell. The proposed open pit mining will remove the majority of Gladstone Hill, however, much of the site has already been affected by modern gold prospecting. The possibility of additional subsurface remains in relation to past mining activities cannot be ruled out and would also be destroyed by the proposal. Many of the remains associated with the Gladstone gold mining complex are pre-1900 in date so any impacts will require mitigation under a general Heritage NZ archaeological Authority that will be applied for to cover the entire Gladstone Pit project to identify and record any pre-1900 archaeological remains. No archaeological features of Maori origin were identified in 2000 by Phillips or during recent survey for this project. It is considered unlikely that any such features would have
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