Donoghues, Ross, Westland District, West Coast Region, South Island, New Zealand
| Latitude & Longitude (WGS84): | 42° 53' 41'' South , 170° 47' 35'' East |
|---|---|
| Latitude & Longitude (decimal): | -42.89493,170.79314 |
| Köppen climate type: | Cfb : Temperate oceanic climate |
Donoghues is a historic and modern gold mining site, 2 to 3 kilometres south of Ross, bordering State Highway 6.
Local firm Birchfield is presently (2017) conducting shallow open pit (cast) mining in the area. The deposits are similar to Jones Flat, east of Ross, of auriferous gravel layers, known locally as 'bottoms'. Historic mining accessed three layers, although there could be more at a deeper level, as copious water prevented miners and companies from accessing the deeper ground.
Modern mining is a good indication of where the gold occurred. Open pits border the east of the highway, in a very narrow strip before Mount Greenland, at Robinson Creek and north towards Ross. A second nearby area is across Robinson Creek, to the west on flatlands, between the highway and coast.
Gold was discovered here by a prospector called Donoghue, after which the site is named. The discovery is likely shortly after gold was discovered at Ross in 1865.
The Prince of Wales Company on the flats operated between 1887 to 1902 producing 33 000 ounces of gold. Ross United, Alexandria, Croesus, Last Chance, Golden Gate, Royal Standard, Duke of Edinburgh are companies mentioned, as well as many small parties of miners. Some small scale mining also took place within the upper reaches of Robinson and Clear creeks, beyond the present modern mining. Activity in all these areas lasted roughly from the late 1860's to around 1900.
Initially mining was by primitive hand methods, then shafts were sunk, until the copious water at the sites overwhelmed operations. Latter methods were hydraulic sluicing of the upper 'bottoms', and the Prince of Wales Dredging Company is also noted in 1900.
Sometimes leases in the area had 'elevator claim' after the name (Prince of Wales Elevator Claim, Ross United Elevator Claim). This relates to later mining, where there was a need to extricate tailings from low levels. An elevator tramway system was employed where ore would be transported out of the tunnels via a bucket system. The Prince of Wales buckets would contain 5 cubic feet of ore to each bucket, at a rate of 7-10 buckets per minute. The gravel would be discharged into gratings, which separated the boulders, with the fine material entering a series of sluicing boxes. These were lined longitudinally with iron railway sleepers, and sometimes wood, which trapped the heavier gold.
Mineral List
1 valid mineral.
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
| Holocene - Late Pleistocene 0 - 0.126 Ma ID: 1365310 | OIS1 (Holocene) fan deposits Age: Pleistocene (0 - 0.126 Ma) Description: Postglacial fan and scree deposits. Comments: Holocene river deposits. Age based on Based on stratigraphic age range Lithology: Major:: {gravel},Minor:: {sand, silt} Reference: Heron, D.W. . Geology Map of New Zealand 1:250 000. GNS Science Geological Map 1. [13] |
| Quaternary 0 - 2.588 Ma ID: 1309795 | Late Quaternary alluvium and colluvium Age: Pleistocene (0 - 2.588 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Pakihi Supergroup Description: Unconsolidated to poorly consolidated mud, sand, gravel and peat of alluvial and colluvial origin. Comments: Zealandia Megasequence Terrestrial and Shallow Marine Sedimentary Rocks (Neogene) Lithology: Mud, sand, gravel, peat 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
