I worked for the company in the late 60's early 70's that hauled the ore from the portal to the crushing plant and then the concentrate to Tauranga to be shipped to Japan. The ore went through a ball mill and a 100 mm layer on the truck deck was a load. The mine was mainly lead and zinc but a reasonable amount of copper was also recovered. There were traces of silver and gold but not in great quantities. Some of the ore was quite spectacular with the colourings. We called it Peacock ore. I still have a piece in the garden somewhere.
@@iancoates1799 thanks for watching. Its great to hear from someone who actually knows what was going on there. Ive seen lead concentrate hauled on specialised trucks in western australia, weird looking, low loading things. Its easy to forget just how heavy it is
My grandfather, father-in-law were all miners. Tui mine, Waiorongomai Valley, I know them well, and the bloody one covered by pig fern I nearly fell in up the Coromandel pig hunting. I used to chuck a few handfuls of copper sulphate in the water troughs around the farm and they'd be sparkling clean in a week.
@@anonnz-gr4qd the history of Waiorongomai sounds very gloomy as far as getting payable amounts of gold out, is that also what you have heard? Definitely have to be careful off track around Coromandel, theres holes everywhere
Did a lot of exploring up Waiorongomai Valley (right beside Mt Te Aroha) back in the 70's, was still tons of artifacts up there then. To find the mines you just followed the old railways and they'd eventually lead you to mine entrances.
@@mreckes9967 thanks for watching. I have been out in the Waiorongomai valley in the last couple of videos but I dont think UA-cam is showing them to many people
@@mreckes9967 thanks for watching. Yes it is the Tui mine, This particular entrance was known as Ruakaka for some reason. Very interesting about the mercury, Ive seen a documentary about Minamata Bay. Its sad to think mercury from here contributed to that.
Haven't seen anyone going through mines in NZ so you're a nice find. Really like what you're showing off too. Most people that do this seem to be interested in stuff that isn't terribly interesting if you aren't actually there
Hey, thanks for checking out what Im doing and Im really happy that you like seeing the same stuff I like looking at too. It still surprises me just how many mines are around
I would have thought this was Tui mine, which was an old lead mine, not a gold mine. Fun fact the tailings which were small chip size were used by locals on their gardens cause it keep the weeds at bay....... because of the heavy metal toxicity! It shut down in the 70's as Japan learned that mercury was bad for people. This mine had high mercury levels in the ore. The ore was shipped unprocessed to Japan where they refined it. Mercury waste for ore processing (and likely other things) made its way into the harbours and seas. Then from there into fish. The cats on the wharfs went mad due to mercury poisoning. This allerted the officials who realized humans (and cats) where eating toxic fish. So hence mercury discharge into the environment was stopped and Tui mine closed down as a result. The dark coloured / red coloured water is most likely acidic water. I forget the chemistry but mines and tailings leach out metals, combined with oxygen and create very acidic water. This acidic water then further leaches out metals. Acidic drainage is the big polluter with old mines. Google / wikipedia will have articles on this.
What really surprises me is that there are no wetas! I know their natural habitat is in caves but I thought there'd be lots of them in a mine as well! Good to see that there aren't any there - they're horrible things!
@@gaius_enceladus cave wetas generally hang out nearer the entrances of mines. Ive gotten myself relatively used to them and I know they dont bite. Some mines Ive been in have been totally infested and they jump all over me. In the next hour I will be uploading a new youtube video where I look at wetas under a UV light...they are less spectacular than I hoped but the glow worms look good : )
Cool vids - I used to live in Te Aroha and we’d go up the Wairangomai Loop… I remember a mine shaft just off the track that went straight down. It used to give me the heebee geebees being up there with Dad. I was only pretty young though…
@@Gazzabondi thanks. Youve definitely got to keep your wits about you when you go off track in the Waiorongomai Valley. Lots of shafts and holes in the top of stopes.
A guy l know was fixing a weld on a copling between a truck and trailer from a certain business in waihi and I noticed some small rocks on the workshop floor. We knew immediately we picked it up that it was ore from the weight.
The reason it was a lead mine relates to how the hydrothermal deposition worked. This hot water coming up from in the earths crust was under tremendous pressure and had very high levels of metals in it. As it came closer to the surface the heavy metals dropped out first, and the lighter ones later on, as the heavier the metal the less it likes being dissolved. This is the same as what is happening underneath Rotorua at the moment. The Tui mine area is somewhat unique in the coromandel geological area as the gold bearing rock had been complete eroded away as this area, for whatever reason had the gold bearing rock being higher / easier to erode / different hydrothermal deposition etc. Thus leaving behind the heavier metals. So if you were dig lower down in places like Waiorongomai you would eventually get down to the lead, copper and other heavy minerals. I don't know how far one would have to dig, but it wouldn't be economic at all.
@@zestoslife I have read that the lower drives at Waiorongomai were the richest, so what you are saying would make sense. I also know that the amount of gold there was often over stated to try and get new investors. They seemed to waste a lot of money there a hundred or so years ago
Found you today, I'm in Morrinsville with a lovely view of Mt Te Aroha. Never knew there were mines up there. This is such a neat mine, the colours are amazing!
@@melfromnz7850 thanks for watching. Yeah its the most colourful mine Ive been in so far. I also never knew there were mines up Te Aroha until a year ago, let alone so many
I grew up on Tui Rd; the mine site was very familiar to us. Our driveway was quartz gravel from the mine - no weeds grew in it (wonder why?). The golf club used to water its greens from Tui Stream (it runs through the course) until the grass started dying 😅
I would say that it must be easier to explore now we have really powerful torches and cameras and the internet for research but I imagine that 50 years ago the mines were in slightly better condition and without an extra half century of regrowth to bash your way through. Either way, its always great meeting other fellow explorers
My Dad used to go into that mine when he was a lad. Did you know that some parts of that mine have 12kg per ton of ore and the southern cross mine still has a lot of gold down there but the water is a problem.
@@user-jq3gt9uq1f I definitely recall seeing a lot of blue quartz in those shafts which I believe is the gold bearing material so it doesn't surprise me. I know there has been a lot of talk about reopening. I used to work at the Pye factory in Waihi which is now a great big hole in the ground so there definitely gold around
The waste rock (the stuff that wasn't taken away by locals) ended up on massive tailings dam / area that was (still) next to the bar / gate across the road up the mountain. It was the most polluted place in NZ, and only recently got cleaned up. Water flowing out from the tailings used to go down Tui stream, which killed all life near it. Due to heavy metals and likely acidic water levels. In the 70's or 80's the Uni of Waikato was doing a geology / earth science field trip with students to the area. They discovered that the town was taking their drinking water from Tui stream !!!! Thus giving the town heavy metal toxin issues, including mercury!
@@zestoslife its very cool that you are giving me all this information. Im sure there are still a couple of adits Im yet to discover on the Tui side of the mountain. It will give me extra things to talk about, next time Im up there
@@StevenAverage I grew up in Te Aroha, and studied the mine in geography and earth science at uni, which I was thinking about majoring in. Fascinates me the geology and human interplay.
@@zestoslife I grew up in Whangarei but then spent more than 20 years in Western Australia. Ive worked on mines, my brother is a driller on a mine. The mines there are on a different scale though, with tunnels big enough for trucks
Very interesting and pretty mine. I like making copper sulfate crystals. Last I did it in my 50's, like 15 years ago. Just devolve the copper sulfate in water and put in a nice jar and let it be. A warm area like the top of a fridge will speed it up. A cloth or something to keep dust out. You need to be carefully, if some of the liquid gets on your fingers, some goes through the skin. I could taste it a second after getting some on my fingers. If you pull out the best, biggest crystals, you can over time get it more pure.
Thanks. That must be why I remember putting the jar of solution in the hot water cupboard. Would be even better to do with copper sulphate Id found myself
@@fredericktinsley3255 thanks for watching. Yeah, I still need to improve my lighting, my current torch doesnt have much variability. I have a list of things to slowly buy to improve the footage : )
Glad to have found your video in my feed. Thank you. I'm down south in North Canterbury and have been daydreaming about doing just this at a couple of locations around here but wondered about the legalities. I suspect the mine entrances have been buried but still perhaps worth a look.
Im not 100% sure of the legalities either but unless I see a sign saying trespassers will be prosecuted, its fair game and at my own risk. Thanks for watching
@@StevenAverage Sweet as, thank you Steve. Sounds fair to me. And its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, or so they say. Good luck exploring!
Explored this mine heaps, been there with Merv Grafton a couple of times too. I would like to have seen what the intermediate level 4 was like along with level 5 that connected to the champion mine thats now flooded. P.S, M.G is Merv Graftons initials, he has explored a ton of mines in the area and left his mark with his carbide lamp everywhere he has been.
@@nzoomed Id like to get hold of a carbide lamp sometime, to see how bright they are. I also thought a Davies lamp would be a good idea. I thought it might be cheaper than a gas detection device
@@StevenAverage I got myself one when I got to know Merv, he would always take his lamp in. They turn up on trademe from time to time and can be found in antique shops often. The carbide is the hard stuff to find these days but caving clubs have access to it. Believe it or not but carbide caving lamps are still made to this day.
@@nzoomed now I think about it, I reckon Im also in contact with Merv right now. Does he have something to do with the mining museum? Im hoping to meet him this week
@@StevenAverage Yup thats him, he was the one who introduced me into exploring these mines. He has a wealth of knowledge but turns out there is quite a number of mines even he himself has not discovered.
@@nzoomed I look forward to meeting him. Also sounds like there are still a lot of mines to keep me going for a while. Hopefully he will tell me where to stay away from as well
Wow just stumbled on your channel. We were just up there a few weeks ago. Thanks for this brilliant footage of the inside of these mines. I dont have the balls to go in those haha
Thanks for watching. I just had to google what gossan is. I think you are right. Description of heavily decomposed rock leaching sulphides fits perfectly with what I was seeing
@@teresafarac7560 thanks for watching. Its the most interesting mine Ive found so far. Probably because it was the most recently one worked. Still freaks me out that theyve left dynamite in there and I didnt know till afterwards
@@StevenAverage yes Copper is ,, I see both the blue and green here ,, kinda like Mother Earth Super Conductor ,, Excellent area for Grounding energy. .. 🤔
@@jayaplin2691 I sometimes get myself a bit lost when looking for mines. I like to follow any old cut tracks I see in the undergrowth but I think some of the tracks were actually made as forestry tracks and I end up wandering aimlessly for while. I sometimes wonder if Id find kauri gum around if I looked hard enough
Comment about the baby white stalagtites being calcium , calcium and water react (albeit slowly). Given The water dripping everywhere, wouldn’t it have done so ? I dunno, not a chemist. This is fascinating, I have driven up the te aroha mountain many times to work at the BCL/kordia site, I knew there were mines in the area, never thought I would see inside one. Thanks for posting it
@@tonysouthern3017thanks for watching. I think the stalactites are calcite, I sometimes forget the proper names for things when Im actually in the mine.
@@user-jq3gt9uq1f its always fun to see whats down these mystery holes in the mountains. Im sure most people dont know about whats been left behind. Thanks for watching
@@laurakeightley9882 I never did stop and really try to get some copper sulphate to do that crystalisation thing. I should have, it would have been a cool extra thing to video. Thanks for watching and subscribing especially. It surprises me that I get any more views than just my parents and a few friends I convince to watch.
@@laurakeightley9882 I live out west of Ngaruawahia but its a nice drive to Te Aroha, through the fog and seeing the mountain rise up through it for most of the way
Be interested to know why the blue water pipe was there. Was it taking water back into the mine (ie toxic water that has flowed out of the mine, putting it back in.) Or is is used to extract clean water for ?? Since there are not any farms around there from memory.
@@zestoslife Ive been told the blue pipe is used to pump lime in to the mines to neutralise acid. They have created concrete dams and weirs inside some of the tunnels and stopes and they hold a lot of water in them, I believe the pipes all lead into those areas
@@StevenAverage that would make sense. I haven't been back since they did the remedial work, so not familiar with current setup. Never did get into the mine drives themselves much to my annoyance in retrospect.
@@MerleDoughty-yw6cl thanks for watching. This is the north side, part of the Tui mine...up above the golf course. I think it was mainly lead being mined in the end but I think it started out as a gold mine.
@@StevenAverage thanks I seem to recall going up to where the mine was of course it was all fenced off. I did explore the old workings on the other side, how much of the old tram is still left on that side. My grandfather was a blacksmith back in the day, my gran told me he would go out and pan for gold at the bottom of that old workings, he would get enough to go to the pub for a few drinks. A mate and I went fossicking there one cold day with a pan, got nothing but cold feet
@@MerleDoughty-yw6cl Ive also had a bit of a fossick around the tui mine and got nothing but cold feet. Ive seen what looks like likely streams to try, deep in the Coromandel but I just dont think the geology is old enough to be worthwhile
My great grandfather mined these areas we even owned what is now Whanganui Island and was named after him before returning the island to it's Maori name . He was awarded a clock I have today in 1896 for his service and his idea of a battery , for crushing quartz . Would the red liquid be left over mercury? Just asking
@@bowhunter69 thats some really cool history to have in your family. I often think about the guys working these places in the old days. I also thought the red colouring could be from mercury or rather cinnabar. It could also just be rusting iron. Hard to say without testing it
@StevenAverage yeah the sight of seeing in these tunnels is crazy to think he was possibly in these very places . Personally I'm way to claustrophobic 🤣
@@nickblokland4680 that would make sense. I know mercury was one of the issues there. The blue pvc pipes running through these mines carry lime to try and control some of the acidity in the water as well
@@StevenAverage If you get to Thames, you could do a video tour of the Mining museum. If you walk out of that museum car park heading north up the road, and walk along under the hillside, there is a walking track leads up the hill from the roadside within about 100, 180 mtrs. It climbs steeply up the hillside, and one on the right of the track and then one on the left, about 500 Mtrs up it, there are ( or were when I was a kid ) two substantial shafts leading into the hillside. And about a kilometer further on along the track, you will hear a small waterfall, off the right of the track. The stream is only as wide as you can step most of the way up there, but that tiny waterfall has dug out a pool, and every time I looked in the pool, there were kōura sitting there on the sand, waiting for titbits to drop down into the pool I thought.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 actually heading out to thames in the next day or 2. One of my friends is taking me to some mines that sound in a very similar area
@@StevenAverage They are like, 500, maybe 700 mtrs from the edge of town. I didn't have a torch with me, but went a little way into one, they were quite firm and maybe were exploratory only?.
At 9:17 behind the post is that ......Gold?😂 I put a short on my channel from your video. Just so you can see it. Hope thats ok. Will take it down ASAP if you ask
@@bobkoroua hard to say, im not 100% sure what youre looking at. It seems unlikely but I would love to see a nice seam of gold in one of these mines. All good about using my footage, its not like im making money out of it : )
@@bobkoroua ive found rock up there with what looks like metal in it and probably a tiny amount is gold. Not worth mining though, too many other metals and minerals to separate it from. If you happen to venture into this mine, be extremely careful, among other dangers is a box of dynamite left lying inside
@@StevenAverage Thank you for the warning but you can relax, just sitting here watching you clumping happily around with thousands of tons of rock balanced precariously overhead raises my blood pressure to dangerous levels. I'm seriously claustrophobic and squish avoidant.
@@JohnTaylor-gy2ps Ive been told its to pump lime into the water as a neutralising agent for acids that are leaching out. This mine was the most contaminated in New Zealand and theyve spent millions on rehabilitation of the area
I know, right. Ive never seen anything like it before. Its a big stope up above. Ive since learned that this arrangements of ore chutes below a stope is called shrinkage stope mining, or cave and block mining
@@StevenAverage lived in Matamata and went to school there in the 1970s they took us up Mt TeAroha to visit the TV broadcasting station up there it was a great experience I particularly remember the bus struggling up that steep road. In Ireland now.
@@andyjota8906 Ive walked up through the bush to the tv tower at the top a couple of times. Ive always thought it would be cool to ride a bike down the road from the top. The mine was probably still operating when you went up in the 70s
@@StevenAverage Yes i remember some one going on about a gold mine but I just assumed it closed down along with the gum digs when the Gum diggers left. I used to live in Gladstone Rd off the Waharoa Rd that was when all the big dairy factories where operating and Waharoa had a big dairy factory!
@@andyjota8906 I didnt know gum diggers worked around Te Aroha, I thought that was just up around dargaville. I should find out if there is a local museum and visit it
I worked for the company in the late 60's early 70's that hauled the ore from the portal to the crushing plant and then the concentrate to Tauranga to be shipped to Japan. The ore went through a ball mill and a 100 mm layer on the truck deck was a load. The mine was mainly lead and zinc but a reasonable amount of copper was also recovered. There were traces of silver and gold but not in great quantities. Some of the ore was quite spectacular with the colourings. We called it Peacock ore. I still have a piece in the garden somewhere.
@@iancoates1799 thanks for watching. Its great to hear from someone who actually knows what was going on there. Ive seen lead concentrate hauled on specialised trucks in western australia, weird looking, low loading things. Its easy to forget just how heavy it is
My grandfather, father-in-law were all miners. Tui mine, Waiorongomai Valley, I know them well, and the bloody one covered by pig fern I nearly fell in up the Coromandel pig hunting. I used to chuck a few handfuls of copper sulphate in the water troughs around the farm and they'd be sparkling clean in a week.
@@anonnz-gr4qd the history of Waiorongomai sounds very gloomy as far as getting payable amounts of gold out, is that also what you have heard?
Definitely have to be careful off track around Coromandel, theres holes everywhere
Did a lot of exploring up Waiorongomai Valley (right beside Mt Te Aroha) back in the 70's, was still tons of artifacts up there then. To find the mines you just followed the old railways and they'd eventually lead you to mine entrances.
@@mreckes9967 thanks for watching. I have been out in the Waiorongomai valley in the last couple of videos but I dont think UA-cam is showing them to many people
@@mreckes9967 thanks for watching. Yes it is the Tui mine, This particular entrance was known as Ruakaka for some reason. Very interesting about the mercury, Ive seen a documentary about Minamata Bay. Its sad to think mercury from here contributed to that.
Haven't seen anyone going through mines in NZ so you're a nice find. Really like what you're showing off too. Most people that do this seem to be interested in stuff that isn't terribly interesting if you aren't actually there
Hey, thanks for checking out what Im doing and Im really happy that you like seeing the same stuff I like looking at too. It still surprises me just how many mines are around
I would have thought this was Tui mine, which was an old lead mine, not a gold mine. Fun fact the tailings which were small chip size were used by locals on their gardens cause it keep the weeds at bay....... because of the heavy metal toxicity! It shut down in the 70's as Japan learned that mercury was bad for people. This mine had high mercury levels in the ore. The ore was shipped unprocessed to Japan where they refined it. Mercury waste for ore processing (and likely other things) made its way into the harbours and seas. Then from there into fish. The cats on the wharfs went mad due to mercury poisoning. This allerted the officials who realized humans (and cats) where eating toxic fish. So hence mercury discharge into the environment was stopped and Tui mine closed down as a result.
The dark coloured / red coloured water is most likely acidic water. I forget the chemistry but mines and tailings leach out metals, combined with oxygen and create very acidic water. This acidic water then further leaches out metals. Acidic drainage is the big polluter with old mines. Google / wikipedia will have articles on this.
The Ruakaka level is part of the Tui mine.
What really surprises me is that there are no wetas!
I know their natural habitat is in caves but I thought there'd be lots of them in a mine as well!
Good to see that there aren't any there - they're horrible things!
@@gaius_enceladus cave wetas generally hang out nearer the entrances of mines. Ive gotten myself relatively used to them and I know they dont bite. Some mines Ive been in have been totally infested and they jump all over me. In the next hour I will be uploading a new youtube video where I look at wetas under a UV light...they are less spectacular than I hoped but the glow worms look good : )
Sounds good, although their absence might suggest there's still significant contamination in places.
@@lyalld7852 there is definitely still contamination up there. There always will be. Sulphides leaching out of the rocks and oxidising cant be stopped
Cool vids - I used to live in Te Aroha and we’d go up the Wairangomai Loop… I remember a mine shaft just off the track that went straight down. It used to give me the heebee geebees being up there with Dad. I was only pretty young though…
@@Gazzabondi thanks. Youve definitely got to keep your wits about you when you go off track in the Waiorongomai Valley. Lots of shafts and holes in the top of stopes.
A guy l know was fixing a weld on a copling between a truck and trailer from a certain business in waihi and I noticed some small rocks on the workshop floor.
We knew immediately we picked it up that it was ore from the weight.
Sometimes I think a metal detector would be handy
The reason it was a lead mine relates to how the hydrothermal deposition worked. This hot water coming up from in the earths crust was under tremendous pressure and had very high levels of metals in it. As it came closer to the surface the heavy metals dropped out first, and the lighter ones later on, as the heavier the metal the less it likes being dissolved.
This is the same as what is happening underneath Rotorua at the moment. The Tui mine area is somewhat unique in the coromandel geological area as the gold bearing rock had been complete eroded away as this area, for whatever reason had the gold bearing rock being higher / easier to erode / different hydrothermal deposition etc. Thus leaving behind the heavier metals. So if you were dig lower down in places like Waiorongomai you would eventually get down to the lead, copper and other heavy minerals. I don't know how far one would have to dig, but it wouldn't be economic at all.
@@zestoslife I have read that the lower drives at Waiorongomai were the richest, so what you are saying would make sense. I also know that the amount of gold there was often over stated to try and get new investors. They seemed to waste a lot of money there a hundred or so years ago
I used to walk up and around that area a lot. Cheers.
@@4evaavfc thanks for watching. Even without the mines, you get some awesome views over the plains and the bush is beautiful up there
Found you today, I'm in Morrinsville with a lovely view of Mt Te Aroha. Never knew there were mines up there. This is such a neat mine, the colours are amazing!
@@melfromnz7850 thanks for watching. Yeah its the most colourful mine Ive been in so far. I also never knew there were mines up Te Aroha until a year ago, let alone so many
I grew up on Tui Rd; the mine site was very familiar to us. Our driveway was quartz gravel from the mine - no weeds grew in it (wonder why?). The golf club used to water its greens from Tui Stream (it runs through the course) until the grass started dying 😅
@@sciangear4782 its kind of weird how this mine site was more toxic than any other
Great video thanks, brings back memories of searching through the shafts in Karangahake mountain nearly 50 years ago.
I would say that it must be easier to explore now we have really powerful torches and cameras and the internet for research but I imagine that 50 years ago the mines were in slightly better condition and without an extra half century of regrowth to bash your way through. Either way, its always great meeting other fellow explorers
My Dad used to go into that mine when he was a lad. Did you know that some parts of that mine have 12kg per ton of ore and the southern cross mine still has a lot of gold down there but the water is a problem.
@@user-jq3gt9uq1f I definitely recall seeing a lot of blue quartz in those shafts which I believe is the gold bearing material so it doesn't surprise me. I know there has been a lot of talk about reopening. I used to work at the Pye factory in Waihi which is now a great big hole in the ground so there definitely gold around
Myself n few work mates, mid 2000's, did few missions through these old mines.
@@boatymcboatface666 always good to have mates with you in these places. It makes it less nerve wracking
The waste rock (the stuff that wasn't taken away by locals) ended up on massive tailings dam / area that was (still) next to the bar / gate across the road up the mountain. It was the most polluted place in NZ, and only recently got cleaned up. Water flowing out from the tailings used to go down Tui stream, which killed all life near it. Due to heavy metals and likely acidic water levels. In the 70's or 80's the Uni of Waikato was doing a geology / earth science field trip with students to the area. They discovered that the town was taking their drinking water from Tui stream !!!! Thus giving the town heavy metal toxin issues, including mercury!
@@zestoslife its very cool that you are giving me all this information. Im sure there are still a couple of adits Im yet to discover on the Tui side of the mountain. It will give me extra things to talk about, next time Im up there
@@StevenAverage I grew up in Te Aroha, and studied the mine in geography and earth science at uni, which I was thinking about majoring in. Fascinates me the geology and human interplay.
@@zestoslife I grew up in Whangarei but then spent more than 20 years in Western Australia. Ive worked on mines, my brother is a driller on a mine. The mines there are on a different scale though, with tunnels big enough for trucks
Very interesting and pretty mine. I like making copper sulfate crystals. Last I did it in my 50's, like 15 years ago. Just devolve the copper sulfate in water and put in a nice jar and let it be. A warm area like the top of a fridge will speed it up. A cloth or something to keep dust out. You need to be carefully, if some of the liquid gets on your fingers, some goes through the skin. I could taste it a second after getting some on my fingers. If you pull out the best, biggest crystals, you can over time get it more pure.
Thanks. That must be why I remember putting the jar of solution in the hot water cupboard. Would be even better to do with copper sulphate Id found myself
Dim lighting when showing specimens!😮😊
@@fredericktinsley3255 thanks for watching. Yeah, I still need to improve my lighting, my current torch doesnt have much variability. I have a list of things to slowly buy to improve the footage : )
Glad to have found your video in my feed. Thank you. I'm down south in North Canterbury and have been daydreaming about doing just this at a couple of locations around here but wondered about the legalities. I suspect the mine entrances have been buried but still perhaps worth a look.
Im not 100% sure of the legalities either but unless I see a sign saying trespassers will be prosecuted, its fair game and at my own risk. Thanks for watching
@@StevenAverage Sweet as, thank you Steve. Sounds fair to me. And its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, or so they say. Good luck exploring!
Explored this mine heaps, been there with Merv Grafton a couple of times too. I would like to have seen what the intermediate level 4 was like along with level 5 that connected to the champion mine thats now flooded. P.S, M.G is Merv Graftons initials, he has explored a ton of mines in the area and left his mark with his carbide lamp everywhere he has been.
@@nzoomed Id like to get hold of a carbide lamp sometime, to see how bright they are. I also thought a Davies lamp would be a good idea. I thought it might be cheaper than a gas detection device
@@StevenAverage I got myself one when I got to know Merv, he would always take his lamp in. They turn up on trademe from time to time and can be found in antique shops often. The carbide is the hard stuff to find these days but caving clubs have access to it. Believe it or not but carbide caving lamps are still made to this day.
@@nzoomed now I think about it, I reckon Im also in contact with Merv right now. Does he have something to do with the mining museum? Im hoping to meet him this week
@@StevenAverage Yup thats him, he was the one who introduced me into exploring these mines. He has a wealth of knowledge but turns out there is quite a number of mines even he himself has not discovered.
@@nzoomed I look forward to meeting him. Also sounds like there are still a lot of mines to keep me going for a while. Hopefully he will tell me where to stay away from as well
Wow just stumbled on your channel. We were just up there a few weeks ago. Thanks for this brilliant footage of the inside of these mines. I dont have the balls to go in those haha
@@motorsport32cw thanks for watching. It was a really cool mine to go in. I hope I can find other colourful mines in the future : )
Alot of that brown clay looking stuff looks like a gossan, great video thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching. I just had to google what gossan is. I think you are right. Description of heavily decomposed rock leaching sulphides fits perfectly with what I was seeing
I used to walk through that mine when I was a kid
@@teresafarac7560 thanks for watching. Its the most interesting mine Ive found so far. Probably because it was the most recently one worked. Still freaks me out that theyve left dynamite in there and I didnt know till afterwards
🧚 . . Lots of copper there ,, interesting ,, !
@@SacredDreamer its the most copper Ive seen in a NZ mine. The blue colours are more interesting than straight up gold mines
@@StevenAverage yes Copper is ,, I see both the blue and green here ,, kinda like Mother Earth Super Conductor ,, Excellent area for Grounding energy. .. 🤔
Brother in laws family owned a timber mill near by, chances are the timber came from there. My grandfather worked for them for a while too
@@jayaplin2691 I sometimes get myself a bit lost when looking for mines. I like to follow any old cut tracks I see in the undergrowth but I think some of the tracks were actually made as forestry tracks and I end up wandering aimlessly for while. I sometimes wonder if Id find kauri gum around if I looked hard enough
Comment about the baby white stalagtites being calcium , calcium and water react (albeit slowly). Given The water dripping everywhere, wouldn’t it have done so ? I dunno, not a chemist. This is fascinating, I have driven up the te aroha mountain many times to work at the BCL/kordia site, I knew there were mines in the area, never thought I would see inside one. Thanks for posting it
@@tonysouthern3017thanks for watching. I think the stalactites are calcite, I sometimes forget the proper names for things when Im actually in the mine.
re Azurite.. my favourite bit of it I found when reworking leftovers from earlier panning expeditions.. it came in a set of two.
Its top of my list of mineral specimens Id like to find.
@@StevenAverage I didn't even know about it until today thanks man and in te aroha wow
@@user-jq3gt9uq1f its always fun to see whats down these mystery holes in the mountains. Im sure most people dont know about whats been left behind. Thanks for watching
So interesting, i live on the other side of the hill!
And oh yes we used to make copper crystals in science class, good memories. U just got a new subscriber buddy
@@laurakeightley9882 I never did stop and really try to get some copper sulphate to do that crystalisation thing. I should have, it would have been a cool extra thing to video. Thanks for watching and subscribing especially. It surprises me that I get any more views than just my parents and a few friends I convince to watch.
@@laurakeightley9882 I live out west of Ngaruawahia but its a nice drive to Te Aroha, through the fog and seeing the mountain rise up through it for most of the way
@@StevenAverage no worries man I'm a science geek and love to support local creators. Keep up the adventures !
@@laurakeightley9882 Ill try and science it up a bit more with geology and stuff : )
Be interested to know why the blue water pipe was there. Was it taking water back into the mine (ie toxic water that has flowed out of the mine, putting it back in.) Or is is used to extract clean water for ?? Since there are not any farms around there from memory.
@@zestoslife Ive been told the blue pipe is used to pump lime in to the mines to neutralise acid. They have created concrete dams and weirs inside some of the tunnels and stopes and they hold a lot of water in them, I believe the pipes all lead into those areas
@@StevenAverage that would make sense. I haven't been back since they did the remedial work, so not familiar with current setup. Never did get into the mine drives themselves much to my annoyance in retrospect.
Is this Wairongamai side? or the north side of the mountain. I recall the mining when I lived in the town what were they mining for.
@@MerleDoughty-yw6cl thanks for watching. This is the north side, part of the Tui mine...up above the golf course. I think it was mainly lead being mined in the end but I think it started out as a gold mine.
@@StevenAverage thanks I seem to recall going up to where the mine was of course it was all fenced off. I did explore the old workings on the other side, how much of the old tram is still left on that side. My grandfather was a blacksmith back in the day, my gran told me he would go out and pan for gold at the bottom of that old workings, he would get enough to go to the pub for a few drinks. A mate and I went fossicking there one cold day with a pan, got nothing but cold feet
@@MerleDoughty-yw6cl Ive also had a bit of a fossick around the tui mine and got nothing but cold feet. Ive seen what looks like likely streams to try, deep in the Coromandel but I just dont think the geology is old enough to be worthwhile
My great grandfather mined these areas we even owned what is now Whanganui Island and was named after him before returning the island to it's Maori name . He was awarded a clock I have today in 1896 for his service and his idea of a battery , for crushing quartz .
Would the red liquid be left over mercury? Just asking
@@bowhunter69 thats some really cool history to have in your family. I often think about the guys working these places in the old days. I also thought the red colouring could be from mercury or rather cinnabar. It could also just be rusting iron. Hard to say without testing it
@StevenAverage yeah the sight of seeing in these tunnels is crazy to think he was possibly in these very places . Personally I'm way to claustrophobic 🤣
@@bowhunter69 it definitely takes some willpower to climb into some of these old mines
Mercury
@@nickblokland4680 that would make sense. I know mercury was one of the issues there. The blue pvc pipes running through these mines carry lime to try and control some of the acidity in the water as well
There are a lot of shafts in the Coromandel.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 I intend to slowly move my way out the Coromandel Peninsula as time goes on
@@StevenAverage If you get to Thames, you could do a video tour of the Mining museum.
If you walk out of that museum car park heading north up the road, and walk along under the hillside, there is a walking track leads up the hill from the roadside within about 100, 180 mtrs.
It climbs steeply up the hillside, and one on the right of the track and then one on the left, about 500 Mtrs up it, there are ( or were when I was a kid ) two substantial shafts leading into the hillside.
And about a kilometer further on along the track, you will hear a small waterfall, off the right of the track. The stream is only as wide as you can step most of the way up there, but that tiny waterfall has dug out a pool, and every time I looked in the pool, there were kōura sitting there on the sand, waiting for titbits to drop down into the pool I thought.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 actually heading out to thames in the next day or 2. One of my friends is taking me to some mines that sound in a very similar area
@@StevenAverage They are like, 500, maybe 700 mtrs from the edge of town.
I didn't have a torch with me, but went a little way into one, they were quite firm and maybe were exploratory only?.
@@uncletiggermclaren7592 I will have a look and find out :)
At 9:17 behind the post is that ......Gold?😂
I put a short on my channel from your video.
Just so you can see it.
Hope thats ok.
Will take it down ASAP if you ask
@@bobkoroua hard to say, im not 100% sure what youre looking at. It seems unlikely but I would love to see a nice seam of gold in one of these mines. All good about using my footage, its not like im making money out of it : )
@@StevenAverage
I found some the other day 🤫
I showed someone here and she thinks it's just speckled rock reflecting the yellow back .
@@bobkoroua ive found rock up there with what looks like metal in it and probably a tiny amount is gold. Not worth mining though, too many other metals and minerals to separate it from. If you happen to venture into this mine, be extremely careful, among other dangers is a box of dynamite left lying inside
@@StevenAverage
Thank you for the warning but you can relax, just sitting here watching you clumping happily around with thousands of tons of rock balanced precariously overhead raises my blood pressure to dangerous levels.
I'm seriously claustrophobic and squish avoidant.
@@bobkoroua my parents feel the same way as you about it. Thanks for watching : )
I wonder what the blue alkathene pipe is for ?
It's definitely newer than the mine.
@@JohnTaylor-gy2ps Ive been told its to pump lime into the water as a neutralising agent for acids that are leaching out. This mine was the most contaminated in New Zealand and theyve spent millions on rehabilitation of the area
@@StevenAverage Interesting. Naturally occurring acids,or things left behind by miners, do you think?
@@waynoswaynos I think they are naturally formed acids caused by sulphides oxidising in water and air
Interesting
Thanks. Im glad you think so too
Is this part of the old Tui mine ? Cheers from Grant.
@@grantgoodare6693 you are correct. There are a bunch of mine adits for the Tui mine along the north side of Mount Te Aroha
Ore Shoot city overkill? Whats up above?
I know, right. Ive never seen anything like it before. Its a big stope up above. Ive since learned that this arrangements of ore chutes below a stope is called shrinkage stope mining, or cave and block mining
Is that Mt Te Aroha near Matamata Waikato??
@@andyjota8906 yep, up the North side of Te Aroha
@@StevenAverage lived in Matamata and went to school there in the 1970s they took us up Mt TeAroha to visit the TV broadcasting station up there it was a great experience I particularly remember the bus struggling up that steep road. In Ireland now.
@@andyjota8906 Ive walked up through the bush to the tv tower at the top a couple of times. Ive always thought it would be cool to ride a bike down the road from the top. The mine was probably still operating when you went up in the 70s
@@StevenAverage Yes i remember some one going on about a gold mine but I just assumed it closed down along with the gum digs when the Gum diggers left. I used to live in Gladstone Rd off the Waharoa Rd that was when all the big dairy factories where operating and Waharoa had a big dairy factory!
@@andyjota8906 I didnt know gum diggers worked around Te Aroha, I thought that was just up around dargaville. I should find out if there is a local museum and visit it
The Black colour must be manganese
I think you are right. I feel a bit silly for not picking that myself