The rise and fall of Waiuta gold mine
By Cameron
The ghost town is dotted with old broken wreckage's with moss infested chimneys that will rot for all eternity. The historic town is located at end of Snowy road. Waiuta was the South Island's biggest gold mine and at 1930 it reached around 600 people. It is also the most famous ghost town in the South Island.
History
In 1905 the gold reef was discovered. It was found on King Edward VII’s birthday so they called it Birthday Reef. In 1908 the first mine shaft the Blackwater Shaft opened. In total it was 567m deep. In 1926 a new mine opened called the Prohibition. In 1930 the population reached up to 600 people. In 1936 the Prohibition mine took over the work. It all ended in 1951 when the Prohibition mine collapsed and the town was abandoned.
Gold and contamination
The Waiuta gold mines were the most wealthy mines of the 20th century in the South Island. The mine produced nearly 750,000 ounces of gold from 1.5 million tons of quartz. That is $1,869,255,217 in today's value. The level of arsenic is 33,000 times the safe limit for drinking water. There were 96 barrels of highly-contaminated arsenic material removed from the Prohibition site for treatment and disposal at a specialised facility. It cost $3.6 million to clear out the water.
Waiuta town
Waiuta was a sports town. It’s main sport was rugby but they also played tennis. Waiuta also had a bowling green. If you go there now you can see the rotting rugby poles swaying in the breeze. As the town was abandoned and Tony Mangan’s Family was last to leave. It was left it to the ghosts and modern age explorers.
