Wilberforce Valley, Selwyn District, Canterbury Region, South Island, New Zealand

Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	42° 57' 37'' South , 171° 20' 16'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-42.96047,171.33790
Köppen climate type:	Cfb : Temperate oceanic climate

The upper Wilberforce Valley is a remote and mountainous area north-west of Lake Coleridge. The only access is a 10 hour walk in, either up the valley, or across Brownings Pass from the Styx Valley to the west. The area is snow bound and inaccessible in winter.

Several auriferous reefs are found just east of Lake Browning in the North Creek watershed, and the eastern side of the Wilberforce Valley south of Lake Browning around Grave Creek. Historic information is patchy, however the general impression is enough gold was found to keep prospectors interested, but not enough for serious mining to take place.

The area contains a quartz vein swarm hosted by greywacke and argillite.
The vein swarm is 5-10 kilometres wide, striking east north-east, dipping 50-80 degrees west. It is cut by the Main Divide Fault Zone, with two sub-
parallel faults connected by a crush rock zone.

Quartz dominates the reefs, although in one albite is 45% volume. Sulphides in the reefs are pyrite and chalcopyrite, with generally lesser arsenopyrite. Gold is found associated with the arsenopyrite, free within the quartz, and breccia next to vein margins. The quartz is fine grained, milky white, 0.5-3 metres wide, and 5-10 metres long. The quartz reefs are often highly irregular in shape, with gold distribution erratic.

Calcite and/or ankerite is found in vein margin rock, up to 30% volume of the rock. Malachite staining is noted.

The earliest information found was 1884, when seven prospecting licences were issued. They were H.D. Macpherson as the Ashburton Quartz Mining Company; H. Slater as the Happy Creek Quartz Mining Company; P.M. Carew as the Irishmans Quartz Mining Company; J.P. O'Callaghan as the North Creek Gold Mining Company; John Smith as the McPhersons Quartz Mining Company; and E. Sullivan as the Unknown Quartz Mining Company.

This was despite government geologist, James Hector, shortly before releasing a report that gold levels were uneconomic. The North Creek Company built a hut, and extracted a small amount of quartz for test crushing, however it is not certain if it ever got to a battery, with employees injured when they fell over a cliff trying to transport it. Little is noted of the others.

In 1906, several prospectors left for the area from the West Coast. This was the result of government geologist Bell, who had just released a report a little more positive than Hector's, although lacking detail. Billet, Fedderson, Hyndman, are noted, while George Pfahlert is prospecting for the Kanieri syndicate led by Caliari (surname). Two, Bertram Fiddes and H.A. Baucke prospected the area for years during the summer months, and Fiddes Reward Reef is named after him.

In 1909, the King Gold Mining Company, was formed with 50 000 pounds capital to purchase a lease from Thomas Rapley and Joseph McCluggage, covering the Fiddes Reef. By 1910, the company was organised, but no information was found about mining.

During the Depression years, the Ashburton County Council sponsored unemployed men to prospect for gold in the area, however little gold was found.

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

10 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

Rock list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

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

Jurassic - Triassic 145 - 252.17 Ma ID: 1309391	Rakaia Terrane Triassic-Jurassic TZIIA semischist Age: Mesozoic (145 - 252.17 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Torlesse Supergroup Description: Semischistose (TZIIA) quartzofeldspathic sandstone, siltstone and mudstone with minor conglomerate beds, volcanic horizons and chert. Comments: Eastern Province (Rakaia Terrane) Rocks Lithology: Semischist, conglomerate, igneous rock, chert 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]
Hettangian - Anisian 199.3 - 247.2 Ma ID: 1334739	Undifferentiated Rakaia Terrane Triassic TZIIA semischist Age: Mesozoic (199.3 - 247.2 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Rakaia Terrane Description: Slightly foliated or cleaved; greywacke sandstone and argillitic mudstone; low-grade metatuff and metachert; TZIIA. Comments: Basement (Eastern Province) metamorphic rocks. Age based on Paleontology/struct infer/FT U-Th dating, J or lK-TT metamorphis Lithology: Major:: {sandstone},Minor:: {mudstone, siltstone, tuff, chert} Reference: Heron, D.W. . Geology Map of New Zealand 1:250 000. GNS Science Geological Map 1. [13]
Triassic - Permian 201.3 - 298.9 Ma ID: 3189657	Paleozoic-Mesozoic crystalline metamorphic rocks Age: Phanerozoic (201.3 - 298.9 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Haast Schist Comments: Caples Terrane Lithology: Metawacke; greenschist/almandine amphibolite grade metasedimentary/metavolcanic schist Reference: Chorlton, L.B. Generalized geology of the world: bedrock domains and major faults in GIS format: a small-scale world geology map with an extended geological attribute database. doi: 10.4095/223767. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5529. [154]

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

Localities in this Region

References

External Links