May 2018 Project Martha – Historical & Archaeological Background 14 Union Gold Mining Company ceased operations in 1887. Unable to raise the necessary capital the (Union) claim was taken up by the Waihi Gold and Silver Mining Company, a newly formed concern established by prominent Auckland businessman Thomas Russell.62 The company was floated on the London stock exchange and operations began at Union Hill in 1888 (Figure 9). The Waihi Battery (NZAA T13/823), sited at the foot of Union Hill, was under construction that same year and by 1890 the mine was declared a success.63 The company also acquired other workings in the Union Hill area, including the Rosemont, Amaranth and Winner claims, with the exception of Silverton, which continued under the Silverton Gold Mining Company.64 Between 1883 and 1889 the Martha Extended Company crushed 28,496 tons for a yield of £17,370 and the annual government report on gold mines for 1887-1888 stated: ‘The Martha Company still continue to work their mine, although the quartz is of very low grade; however, it is found that the mine will only pay the company by letting it on tribute. The reef is about 30ft. in thickness, but only very small portion of this contains sufficient gold to pay for working.’65 The company let the mine on tribute to the Hollis Brothers, who continued to work a low yield, with around 16 employees in 1889.66 By 1890 the Martha Extended Company was facing insolvency and the business was purchased by Thomas Russell for £3000 that same year.67 Russell on sold the company, including the neighbouring claims of ‘Britannia’, ‘Nut’, ‘Go Ahead’, ‘Victory’, and ‘Monmouth’, to the Waihi Gold and Silver Mining Company in 1890.68 He received £20,000 in paid-up shares and oversaw the reconstruction of the Waihi Battery (at the foot of Union Hill), which involved trialling various extraction processes and the addition of 60 stamps between 1891 and 1894.69 Following the sale of the Martha Extended Company the Martha Battery was deemed surplus to requirements and was sold to the Silverton Company in 1891, who renamed it the Silverton Battery (NZAA T13/311).70 The battery was mentioned in Warden Northcroft’s annual report, dated May 1892, which noted: ‘The Silverton Company have renovated and reconstructed a portion of the old Martha battery, which they are fitting up with all the latest appliances, and, as their mine has the appearance of being a very good one, they should have a very bright future before them.’71 Pan amalgamation was trialled by the Silverton Company with little success; however, their adoption of the Cassel cyanide process in 1893 led the way for extraction development throughout Waihi.72 62 Sources consulted for this project variously refer to the company as the Waihi Company and the Waihi Goldmining Company. 63 Clough 2004, pp.26-27; McAra 1988, p.50. In reference to the Waihi Battery, the annual government mining report for the year ending March 1890 stated: ‘The claimholders are anxiously looking forward to see if the plant erected by the Waihi Gold- and Silver-mining Company is going to be a success. The first plant erected by this company has been partially dismantled—that is, the rolls and Globe mills have been taken down, and a thirty-head stamping-battery erected instead. The battery is of American pattern; the stamps are 9001b., each, and work remarkably well.’ AJHR 1890 C-03, p.40. 64 Climie 1962, p.48. 65 AJHR 1888 C-05, p.27. 66 Climie 1962, p.46; AJHR 1889 C-02, p.43. 67 McAra 1988, p.49. 68 Ibid.; Climie 1962, p.48; AJHR 1891 Session II C-04, p.40. 69 McAra 1988, p.49; Clough, 2004, pp.18-19. 70 AJHR 1892 C-03A, p.6; Lens, 2017, p.4. 71 AJHR 1892 C-03A, p.6. 72 Lens 2017, p.4.
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