May 2018 Project Martha – Historical & Archaeological Background 26 increase of pumping and winding power will enable the management to further develop the property to a considerable extent.’113 1904 was also a year of expansion for the Grand Junction Company, who conducted exploratory works and discovered a large body of quartz.114 That same year the company purchased a relatively new 40 stamp battery and cyanide plant, formerly belonging to the Kauri Freehold Gold Estate Company, who operated Opitonui Mine near Coromandel.115 The battery (NZAA T13/312) was relocated to the hillside above the Grand Junction Company’s main shaft, although was not operational until 1906 (Figure 23).116 In addition to the new Grand Junction Battery, machinery in and about the mine was significantly overhauled from 1904.117 The buildings and plant were enlarged and by 1906 the company had expended around £218,000 on mine development (Figure 24 to Figure 26).118 Improvements included the construction of a power-plant (NZAA T13/313) which McAra notes: ‘…was particularly well-designed; the first part of it, completed in 1905, was housed in a building 98 feet by 50 feet, divided into a boiler-house and an engine-room. The steamgenerating equipment consisted of three Babcock & Wilcox, two-drum, water-tube boilers…the working pressure of the boilers being 200 pounds a square inch.’119 The plant was thought to be ‘one of the most elaborate steam-power plants of its type at [the] time’ and was later improved by the installation of an A.E.G. steam turbine in 1913 (Figure 27).120 Modest expansion within smaller companies, such as the Waihi-Gladstone, also occurred during the boom years of the Waihi goldfield. From 1903 to 1904 the Gladstone Battery was erected on the northern side of Gladstone Hill (NZAA T13/821), adjacent to the Gladstone Company’s shaft.121 The battery comprised five stamps and was first trialled in October 1904.122 Initial processing was done by plate amalgamation, although the battery was converted to cyanide methods in 1905.123 Work continued at the Gladstone mine throughout the early 1900s; however, by 1908 the Inspector of Mines noted: ‘The company have done a considerable amount of prospecting, but with very little success. A crosscut was driven a distance of 400ft. at the No. 2 level 200ft., making a total distance of 600ft. from the shaft. Several ore-bodies were cut through, but they yielded unremunerative values. The last lode cut is 13ft. wide, but the ore proving poor in this place, and the ventilation being indifferent, further prospecting 113 AJHR 1905 C-03, p.3. 114 Ibid., p.4. 115 Ibid.; McAra 1988, p.130; Climie 1962, p.52. 116 Ibid.; NZAA site record T13/312. 117 AJHR 1905 C-03, p.4. 118 Climie 1962, p.52. 119 McAra 1988, p.144. 120 Ibid., pp.144-145. Note: A.E.G. stands for Allemeine Elecktritats Gesellschaft, Berlin, NZAA site record T13/313. 121 Eric Lens, 2004 research entitled ‘Waihi Gladstone Battery’, accessed via: http://www.ohinemuri.org.nz/research/waihi-gladstone-battery/1894-waihi-gladstone-battery 122 Ibid, Waihi Daily Telegraph, 29 October 1904, p.3. 123 Eric Lens, 2004 research entitled ‘Waihi Gladstone Battery’, accessed via: http://www.ohinemuri.org.nz/research/waihi-gladstone-battery/1894-waihi-gladstone-battery
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjE2NDg3