Kirwan's Reward Mine, Reefton, Buller District, West Coast Region, South Island, New Zealand

Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	42° 6' 32'' South , 172° 0' 26'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-42.10903,172.00739
Köppen climate type:	Cfb : Temperate oceanic climate

The Kirwan's Reward Mine was unusual as no lode or reef was ever found, rather a field of loose boulders containing gold on or near the surface. Modern exploration companies have found visible specks of gold in quartz still remaining in recent years from rock chip sampling.

The site contains a partly cleared open pit (cast), over one hundred years old, with small mining relics, and the aerial cableway, at least one bucket
can still be seen attached from the pit. The mine can be reached by a 4 to 5 hour hike up Kirwan's Track, starting from the end of Boatmans Road, 16 kilometres north of Reefton. A few hundred metres north of the pit is Kirwan's Hut, which can be used to stay in overnight. Nearby a track extends to the 1297 metre Kirwan's Hill with impressive views. The track continues in part along the old cableway to the Lord Brassey stamp battery, and another 4 hours to Montgomerie Hut. The 40 kilometre loop continues 5 hours back to the end of Boatmans Road. Along the way these tracks pass beautiful beech forest, ferns, creeks, and various relics from old mines. Please be aware the upper areas of the track can be covered in snow during winter.

The site was discovered by William Kirwan in 1896. Tragedy struck the Kirwan family later, when William's youngest daughter Anastacia (24) died from influenza in 1919. She had been caring for patients at the Reefton hospital during an outbreak, when she contracted it herself. William's son Edward Thomas Kirwan (27) was killed when part of the roof collapsed at the Roa coal mine in 1930.

The Anglo-Continental Company took an option over the lease, sinking adits and winzes, without successfully discovering any underlying lode. The Kirwan's Reward Gold Mining Company was formed in 1898, with a 10 head, expanded 1902 to 15 head battery erected, and aerial cableway connecting the mine to the battery. They dug an open pit to process the surface and near surface loose gold. All work stopped during the winters due to snow.

The mine produced 22 419 tonnes of quartz yielding 341 kg of gold. Mining ceased in 1908.

The lease was then acquired by P.N. Kingswell, who unsuccessfully prospected the site, then sold the plant and claim to Pettigrew and party in 1909. They conducted a trial crushing, producing a poor result, and prospected a low level adit under the pit.

Gold is found with arsenopyrite and pyrite, as free specks, intergranular films, and fillings of minute fractures in milky white quartz.

Further along the track, and once linked by a 1.5 kilometre aerial ropeway to the mine, is the Lord Brassey stamp battery, restored by DOC in 2010.

Mineral List

4 valid minerals.

Regional Geology

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Rhuddanian - Jiangshanian 440.8 - 494 Ma ID: 1327522

Greenland Group metasediment Age: Paleozoic (440.8 - 494 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Buller Terrane; Greenland Group Description: Undifferentiated greenish-grey quartzose greywacke and argillite; locally hornfelsed close to granitoid plutons. Comments: Basement (Western Province) metamorphic rocks. Age based on Based on stratigraphic age range Lithology: Major:: {sandstone},Minor:: {mudstone} Reference: Heron, D.W. . Geology Map of New Zealand 1:250 000. GNS Science Geological Map 1. [13]

Ordovician - Late Cambrian 443.8 - 501 Ma ID: 1312947

Greenland Group metasedimentary rocks Age: Paleozoic (443.8 - 501 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Greenland Group; Greenland Group metasedimentary rocks Description: Quartzose metasandstone and metamudstone, hornfelsed near plutons and locally schistose. Comments: Western Province (Buller Terrane) Rocks Lithology: Sandstone, mudstone, schist Reference: Edbrooke, S.W., Heron, D.W., Forsyth, P.J., Jongens, R. (compilers). Geology Map of New Zealand 1:1 000 000. GNS Science Geological Map 2. [12]

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

References

External Links