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Addisons Flat gold claim 1930s.
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DescriptionNelson Provincial Museum Neville Lewers Collection
Photo 1: 325448
Photo 2: 325449
Photo 3: 325452
Photo 4: 325453
PhotographerNeville LewersDate of Photo1930'sMap[1] ContributorMaye Dunn
Photo 1: 325448
Photo 2: 325449
Photo 3: 325452
Photo 4: 325453
PhotographerNeville LewersDate of Photo1930'sMap[1] ContributorMaye Dunn
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Location (city or town)Addisons Flat.
Category Information
Category TagGoldmining
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Date Created26th June 2019CommentsColleen Byrne Great photos a lot of building work
Lu Tyree Colleen Byrne what was all that building work?
Colleen Byrne Not sure but wasn't it black sand mining at addison beach
Maye Dunn Lu Tyree the wheel is a water wheel which was used to bring water to the frame work which is covered in a calico type cloth to catch the gold. There is more to it than just this but this is what is shown in the photos.
Lu Tyree MaKes Sense now thanks.
Theresa Gibson A fairly sophisticated set up.
Kerry Kerr Worked Sid Kelly’s Claim there in the mid 90s with a north island mob called Cameron Island then with my brothers Jim and John !
Bob Laing Great piece of history
John Rosanowski Our dad, Gus Rosanowski, worked there on a relief scheme during the 1930s depression. They were turning over the tailings to pick up the gold missed in the early days.
Phyllis Aberhart It's sad to see its what remains of the area is now in a farmer's cow paddock
Arthur Bass The old timers must have lost a lot over the back. Diggers and screens were still getting gold out of old workings
Trevor Alty The water wheel is dedicated to driving the large drum, which is the amalgamating barrel. The gold impregnated mats are washed to strip them of the highly concentrated gold bearing sand. That sand is then placed in the drum with a quantity of mercury (quick silver). The drum is revolved for a good number of hours and the micro fine gold is captured by the mercury and forms what is called amalgam. The amalgam is then placed in a retort and heated. The mercury vaporizes off and the gold is left in the form of a honey combed lump. This is then smelted and becomes pure gold. Addison Flat gold averaged around 96.5% purity. When the gold is sold it eventually ends up at a Mint. Probably the Perth Australia Mint in this case. There the gold is further purified, to be 100% gold. (24 Carat) and melted into bars (gold Bullion) or coins. The Perth mint did gold sovereigns. The 3.5% was mainly silver. The small gold catching table under the drum was no doubt used to run the gold stripped sand over after the amalgam had been recovered. Much of the Addison's Flat gold was obtained from oxidized sand. And some of the gold was coated with iron oxide. Iron oxide coated gold cannot be captured by mercury. What was captured on the small table would have then been treated by what is called Aqua Regia which is a mixture of Nitric and Hydrochloric Acid. This mixture dissolves gold into
Maye Dunn Excellent information Trevor Alty
Trevor Alty Thank you Maye Dunn. My observations are based on my experiences as a Blacksand Goldminer. for a good number of years. I had a beach claim, at Tauranga Bay. Westport. Used similar equipment, Smaller scale and motorized. But the basics haven't changed since the first beach gold blacksand discoveries of the late 1800"s. Gold history on the Coast is a passion of mine.
Trevor Alty - The water wheel is dedicated to driving the large drum, which is the amalgamating barrel. The gold impregnated mats are washed to strip them of the highly concentrated gold bearing sand. That sand is then placed in the drum with a quantity of mercury (quick silver). The drum is revolved for a good number of hours and the micro fine gold is captured by the mercury and forms what is called amalgam. The amalgam is then placed in a retort and heated. The mercury vaporizes off and the gold is left in the form of a honey combed lump. This is then smelted and becomes pure gold. Addison Flat gold averaged around 96.5% purity. When the gold is sold it eventually ends up at a Mint. Probably the Perth Australia Mint in this case. There the gold is further purified, to be 100% gold. (24 Carat) and melted into bars (gold Bullion) or coins. The Perth mint did gold sovereigns. The 3.5% was mainly silver. The small gold catching table under the drum was no doubt used to run the gold stripped sand over after the amalgam had been recovered. Much of the Addison's Flat gold was obtained from oxidized sand. And some of the gold was coated with iron oxide. Iron oxide coated gold cannot be captured by mercury. What was captured on the small table would have then been treated by what is called Aqua Regia which is a mixture of Nitric and Hydrochloric Acid. This mixture dissolves gold into solution. The gold is then extracted by way of electrolysis. .
Maye Dunn - Excellent information Trevor Alty
Trevor Alty - Thank you Maye Dunn. My observations are based on my experiences as a Blacksand Goldminer. for a good number of years. I had a beach claim, at Tauranga Bay. Westport. Used similar equipment, Smaller scale and motorized. But the basics haven't changed since the first beach gold blacksand discoveries of the late 1800"s. Gold history on the Coast is a passion of mine.
Maye Dunn -When I was growing up in Barrytown my father had a blacksand claim so I'm familiar with the process of extracting it but on a lot smaller scale of course. Thanks Trevor Alty.
Linda Hughes - Maye Dunn I remember scooping gold flakes out of the sand and soft rock( if there is such a thing) with a teaspoon when I was very young. This was on Uncle Laurie’s beach claim at the 12 mile. I also had to help clear the cradle. Amazing memories.
Maye Dunn - Linda Hughes aren't we so lucky to have experienced this...life so different today.
Linda Hughes -I know, going up into the bush with my brothers and the Piner boys, finding crawlies in the creek, swinging on supplejacks etc,etc. so much fun.
Sandra Mctaggart - interesting as always maye.
John Kerr We mined Addisons Flat (east side of main road) in mid 90s. The gold bearing blacksand was buried under about 17 meters of over burden. Apparently the old timers stripped the over burden using some sort of venturie system. They dug a tunnel a couple miles long from out towards the coast back in to the bottom of the blacksand lead, through the papa. They then sluiced the sand down the tunnel to the tables (photos?). I was told they had 16 thousand square feet of tables and had to continually close sections off and wash them up because the gold was so fine (talcum powder) that it would migrate down the tables and off the end?
Trevor Alty John Kerr. There may have been a bit of tunneling involved,but nothing is shown on the Geological Survey Map of 1914. It shows that a water race and water race pipes were used to transport the blacksand to the Tables. The lead you worked at is known as "The Shamrock Lead" there was quite a number of leads that were contained within the Addisons Flat Mining area. The reason for the distance to the tables was to get, what is called "Fall" IE A lower elevation so that they could get flow in the water.This flow enabled the sand to be carried in a slurry, and the same flow enabled the tables to do their work. To my knowledge Blow ups or Hydraulic Elevators were not utilized on the Shamrock Lead. Instead they used what is called "A Water Balance" to raise the blacksand to the surface. A Water Balance works on much the same principle as the Denniston Incline. Heavy wagons going down, pull empty wagons back up. Instead here they used water laden wagons/buckets to achieve the same effect. The empty wagons at the top were filled with water, sent down on the opposite ladder/rails, which pulled up the blacksand laden wagons/ buckets. The contents were then tipped into the race and off on their long journey to the tables. Meanwhile at the bottom, the water ones were emptied and filled again with blacksand and so it went on. One lot up, the other lot down. Photo's are (1) Shot of area taken off 1914 Geological Map Waiterere Survey District. (2) A Plot on Google Earth.( Prior to the area being developed as farmland, these races were plainly visible on Google Earth). (3) An Addisons Flat Water Balance. Most likely the Shamrock Lead one.) .
John Kerr Thanks Trevor, that makes more sense because we came across old props and shovels etc in the lead. Couldn't imagine how they would have shifted all the overburden and it was more likely they were tunnelling and lifting just the blacksand. There were old shafts there but also a big hole where we started? Those old timers certainly took the best of it, because we couldn't really make it pay with the price of gold at the time. Cheers.
Flag Mckenzie There was a.large tunnel from the workings to the tables and it is still there. It comes out in a small creek not far from the cement works pumping station. The remains of the tables are still there. You used to be able to walk thru the tunnel but it was partly collapsed when the farmland was being developed. The tunnel comes out on Johno Occonors property and can still br accessed easilly with permission.
Lu Tyree Colleen Byrne what was all that building work?
Colleen Byrne Not sure but wasn't it black sand mining at addison beach
Maye Dunn Lu Tyree the wheel is a water wheel which was used to bring water to the frame work which is covered in a calico type cloth to catch the gold. There is more to it than just this but this is what is shown in the photos.
Lu Tyree MaKes Sense now thanks.
Theresa Gibson A fairly sophisticated set up.
Kerry Kerr Worked Sid Kelly’s Claim there in the mid 90s with a north island mob called Cameron Island then with my brothers Jim and John !
Bob Laing Great piece of history
John Rosanowski Our dad, Gus Rosanowski, worked there on a relief scheme during the 1930s depression. They were turning over the tailings to pick up the gold missed in the early days.
Phyllis Aberhart It's sad to see its what remains of the area is now in a farmer's cow paddock
Arthur Bass The old timers must have lost a lot over the back. Diggers and screens were still getting gold out of old workings
Trevor Alty The water wheel is dedicated to driving the large drum, which is the amalgamating barrel. The gold impregnated mats are washed to strip them of the highly concentrated gold bearing sand. That sand is then placed in the drum with a quantity of mercury (quick silver). The drum is revolved for a good number of hours and the micro fine gold is captured by the mercury and forms what is called amalgam. The amalgam is then placed in a retort and heated. The mercury vaporizes off and the gold is left in the form of a honey combed lump. This is then smelted and becomes pure gold. Addison Flat gold averaged around 96.5% purity. When the gold is sold it eventually ends up at a Mint. Probably the Perth Australia Mint in this case. There the gold is further purified, to be 100% gold. (24 Carat) and melted into bars (gold Bullion) or coins. The Perth mint did gold sovereigns. The 3.5% was mainly silver. The small gold catching table under the drum was no doubt used to run the gold stripped sand over after the amalgam had been recovered. Much of the Addison's Flat gold was obtained from oxidized sand. And some of the gold was coated with iron oxide. Iron oxide coated gold cannot be captured by mercury. What was captured on the small table would have then been treated by what is called Aqua Regia which is a mixture of Nitric and Hydrochloric Acid. This mixture dissolves gold into
Maye Dunn Excellent information Trevor Alty
Trevor Alty Thank you Maye Dunn. My observations are based on my experiences as a Blacksand Goldminer. for a good number of years. I had a beach claim, at Tauranga Bay. Westport. Used similar equipment, Smaller scale and motorized. But the basics haven't changed since the first beach gold blacksand discoveries of the late 1800"s. Gold history on the Coast is a passion of mine.
Trevor Alty - The water wheel is dedicated to driving the large drum, which is the amalgamating barrel. The gold impregnated mats are washed to strip them of the highly concentrated gold bearing sand. That sand is then placed in the drum with a quantity of mercury (quick silver). The drum is revolved for a good number of hours and the micro fine gold is captured by the mercury and forms what is called amalgam. The amalgam is then placed in a retort and heated. The mercury vaporizes off and the gold is left in the form of a honey combed lump. This is then smelted and becomes pure gold. Addison Flat gold averaged around 96.5% purity. When the gold is sold it eventually ends up at a Mint. Probably the Perth Australia Mint in this case. There the gold is further purified, to be 100% gold. (24 Carat) and melted into bars (gold Bullion) or coins. The Perth mint did gold sovereigns. The 3.5% was mainly silver. The small gold catching table under the drum was no doubt used to run the gold stripped sand over after the amalgam had been recovered. Much of the Addison's Flat gold was obtained from oxidized sand. And some of the gold was coated with iron oxide. Iron oxide coated gold cannot be captured by mercury. What was captured on the small table would have then been treated by what is called Aqua Regia which is a mixture of Nitric and Hydrochloric Acid. This mixture dissolves gold into solution. The gold is then extracted by way of electrolysis. .
Maye Dunn - Excellent information Trevor Alty
Trevor Alty - Thank you Maye Dunn. My observations are based on my experiences as a Blacksand Goldminer. for a good number of years. I had a beach claim, at Tauranga Bay. Westport. Used similar equipment, Smaller scale and motorized. But the basics haven't changed since the first beach gold blacksand discoveries of the late 1800"s. Gold history on the Coast is a passion of mine.
Maye Dunn -When I was growing up in Barrytown my father had a blacksand claim so I'm familiar with the process of extracting it but on a lot smaller scale of course. Thanks Trevor Alty.
Linda Hughes - Maye Dunn I remember scooping gold flakes out of the sand and soft rock( if there is such a thing) with a teaspoon when I was very young. This was on Uncle Laurie’s beach claim at the 12 mile. I also had to help clear the cradle. Amazing memories.
Maye Dunn - Linda Hughes aren't we so lucky to have experienced this...life so different today.
Linda Hughes -I know, going up into the bush with my brothers and the Piner boys, finding crawlies in the creek, swinging on supplejacks etc,etc. so much fun.
Sandra Mctaggart - interesting as always maye.
John Kerr We mined Addisons Flat (east side of main road) in mid 90s. The gold bearing blacksand was buried under about 17 meters of over burden. Apparently the old timers stripped the over burden using some sort of venturie system. They dug a tunnel a couple miles long from out towards the coast back in to the bottom of the blacksand lead, through the papa. They then sluiced the sand down the tunnel to the tables (photos?). I was told they had 16 thousand square feet of tables and had to continually close sections off and wash them up because the gold was so fine (talcum powder) that it would migrate down the tables and off the end?
Trevor Alty John Kerr. There may have been a bit of tunneling involved,but nothing is shown on the Geological Survey Map of 1914. It shows that a water race and water race pipes were used to transport the blacksand to the Tables. The lead you worked at is known as "The Shamrock Lead" there was quite a number of leads that were contained within the Addisons Flat Mining area. The reason for the distance to the tables was to get, what is called "Fall" IE A lower elevation so that they could get flow in the water.This flow enabled the sand to be carried in a slurry, and the same flow enabled the tables to do their work. To my knowledge Blow ups or Hydraulic Elevators were not utilized on the Shamrock Lead. Instead they used what is called "A Water Balance" to raise the blacksand to the surface. A Water Balance works on much the same principle as the Denniston Incline. Heavy wagons going down, pull empty wagons back up. Instead here they used water laden wagons/buckets to achieve the same effect. The empty wagons at the top were filled with water, sent down on the opposite ladder/rails, which pulled up the blacksand laden wagons/ buckets. The contents were then tipped into the race and off on their long journey to the tables. Meanwhile at the bottom, the water ones were emptied and filled again with blacksand and so it went on. One lot up, the other lot down. Photo's are (1) Shot of area taken off 1914 Geological Map Waiterere Survey District. (2) A Plot on Google Earth.( Prior to the area being developed as farmland, these races were plainly visible on Google Earth). (3) An Addisons Flat Water Balance. Most likely the Shamrock Lead one.) .
John Kerr Thanks Trevor, that makes more sense because we came across old props and shovels etc in the lead. Couldn't imagine how they would have shifted all the overburden and it was more likely they were tunnelling and lifting just the blacksand. There were old shafts there but also a big hole where we started? Those old timers certainly took the best of it, because we couldn't really make it pay with the price of gold at the time. Cheers.
Flag Mckenzie There was a.large tunnel from the workings to the tables and it is still there. It comes out in a small creek not far from the cement works pumping station. The remains of the tables are still there. You used to be able to walk thru the tunnel but it was partly collapsed when the farmland was being developed. The tunnel comes out on Johno Occonors property and can still br accessed easilly with permission.
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West Coast New Zealand History (7th Jun 2021). Addisons Flat gold claim 1930s.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 29th Apr 2026 10:52, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/25563