New Zealand - Arahura - Arahura gold dredge - Westland District, West Coast Region - Jun 1958 - Whites Aviation Photo Mining in New Zealand - New Zealand has abundant resources of coal, silver, iron ore, limestone and gold. It ranked 22 in the world in terms of iron ore production and 29th in gold production. - The total value of mineral production in New Zealand was $1.5 billion in 2006 (excluding oil and gas). - The most important metallic minerals produced are gold (10.62 tonnes), silver (27.2 tonnes) and titanomagnetite ironsand (2.15 million tonnes). - A 2008 report estimated that the unexploited resources of just seven core minerals (including gold, copper, iron and molybdenum) totalled around $140 billion in worth. (Reference; Wikipedia) Gold in New Zealand - Prospectors discovered gold in the Coromandel Peninsula in 1852, sparking the Coromandel Gold Rush, the Otago Gold Rush and the West Coast Gold Rush in the 1860s. - Initially alluvial gold was recovered, but then mining for gold in quartz veins which was recovered using stamper batteries took over. - From the 1890s Otago rivers were dredged for gold, using New Zealand-developed floating dredges. - Up to 2003 an estimated 998.71 tonnes of gold had been mined in New Zealand, a little under one percent all the gold mined worldwide. Available figures suggest that to that time a minimum of 312 tonnes had come from the Coromandel Peninsula, 274 tonnes from the West Coast, and 265 tonnes from Otago. - Production peaked in 1866 at some 22.9 tonnes. - Gold worth $250M in 2006 was produced from two large hard-rock mines (Martha Mine and Macraes Mine), several medium-sized alluvial operations, and a large number of small alluvial mines. (Reference: Wikipedia) ---------------------- Image source: Arahura gold dredge, Arahura, Westland District, West Coast Region. Whites Aviation Ltd: Photographs. Ref: WA-46794. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/32055448 https://natlib.govt.nz/records/32055448