Round Hill, Southland District, Southland Region, New Zealandi
Regional Level Types | |
---|---|
Round Hill | Hill |
Southland District | District |
Southland Region | Region |
New Zealand | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
46° 18' 59'' South , 167° 45' 59'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Locality type:
KΓΆppen climate type:
47 kg platinum were produced by the Round Hill Mining Company near Orepuki between 1897 and 1907.
Alluvial gold mining scars, and ponds are found across an extensive area from 2 kilometres north of Orepuki, heading south-east to the locality of Round Hill, and a limited extent east towards Riverton, laterally covering about 12 kilometres. Most are hidden off the main highway, and many on private property.
Initially gold was mined from beach sands from around 1865. Further inland claims taken up by Europeans were abandoned, it is assumed due to the overburden, and/or fine nature of the gold, although the sources are not clear to the reason. Chinese miners moved in from the early 1870's with more success. A town was established at Round Hill called Canton, at its peak reaching 500 souls. This was the southern most Chinese settlement in the world. Nothing remains of the town, although a local farmer runs tours of old Chinese mine sites on his property, and has a small private museum. A public museum at Riverton also has some items, and a couple of walk trails in the hills behind Round Hill follows water races, tramways, and some stone walls can be seen.
In 1891, a company based in Liverpool England was floated, called the Round Hill Hydraulic Sluicing Company, which gradually purchased all the water rights, squeezing out small time miners. This company hydro sluiced and elevated areas in the district until 1953, being an extremely long lived enterprise.
The area contains basal diorite, with a sequence above of sandstones, siltstones, and poor quality lignite. The lignite seams are muddy, containing fine silt pockets, and woody tissue, appearing as almost brown-black clay. Some tree trunks and amber is also found in it. Above this is sand, clay and shingles containing gold.
Gold particles are very fine, described as toroidal shaped (think donuts with flat sides). The gold is recycled from older beach sediments. Most microscopically are encrusted with polymorphic clays, and bio-organic matter, and locally impregnated with fine grained authigenic (developed in-situ) gold. Some display delicate authigenic gold overgrowths.
Detrital platinum such as isoferroplatinum is also found in the gold deposits, and magnetite beach sands. This was discovered by the mine manager of the Round Hill Hydraulic Sluicing Company, noticing a silvery white mineral left behind after gold extraction. The platinum is found as minute thin scales, round or oval thin plates, or leaves.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsMineral List
5 valid minerals.
Rock Types Recorded
Note: data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!
Select Rock List Type
Alphabetical List Tree DiagramDetailed Mineral List:
β 'Amber' Reference: Craw, D., Kerr, G., Reith, F., Falconer, D. (2015) Pleistocene paleodrainage and placer gold redistribution western Southland New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 58:2, 137-153. |
β Braggite Formula: PdPt3S4 Reference: Railton, G.T., Watters, W.A. (1990) Minerals of New Zealand. New Zealand Geological Survey Bulletin 104, 89 pages. |
β Cooperite Formula: PtS Reference: Railton, G.T., Watters, W.A. (1990) Minerals of New Zealand. New Zealand Geological Survey Bulletin 104, 89 pages. |
β Gold Formula: Au Reference: Craw, D., Kerr, G., Reith, F., Falconer, D. (2015) Pleistocene paleodrainage and placer gold redistribution western Southland New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 58:2, 137-153. |
β Isoferroplatinum Formula: Pt3Fe Reference: Craw, D., Kerr, G., Reith, F., Falconer, D. (2015) Pleistocene paleodrainage and placer gold redistribution western Southland New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 58:2, 137-153. |
β Magnetite Formula: Fe2+Fe3+2O4 Reference: Craw, D., Kerr, G., Reith, F., Falconer, D. (2015) Pleistocene paleodrainage and placer gold redistribution western Southland New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 58:2, 137-153. |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
Group 1 - Elements | |||
---|---|---|---|
β | Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
β | Isoferroplatinum | 1.AG.35 | Pt3Fe |
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
β | Braggite | 2.CC.35a | PdPt3S4 |
β | Cooperite | 2.CC.35b | PtS |
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides | |||
β | Magnetite | 4.BB.05 | Fe2+Fe3+2O4 |
Unclassified Minerals, Rocks, etc. | |||
β | 'Amber' | - |
List of minerals for each chemical element
O | Oxygen | |
---|---|---|
O | β Magnetite | Fe2+Fe23+O4 |
S | Sulfur | |
S | β Braggite | PdPt3S4 |
S | β Cooperite | PtS |
Fe | Iron | |
Fe | β Isoferroplatinum | Pt3Fe |
Fe | β Magnetite | Fe2+Fe23+O4 |
Pd | Palladium | |
Pd | β Braggite | PdPt3S4 |
Pt | Platinum | |
Pt | β Braggite | PdPt3S4 |
Pt | β Cooperite | PtS |
Pt | β Isoferroplatinum | Pt3Fe |
Au | Gold | |
Au | β Gold | Au |
References
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Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A)Farquharson, R.A. (1910) ART XL11 The platinum gravels of Orepuki, Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Vol. 43.
Railton, G.T., Watters, W.A. (1990) Minerals of New Zealand. New Zealand Geological Survey Bulletin 104, 89 pages.
Higham, T. (1993) Southern Goldrush, New Zealand Geographic, issue 20, Oct-Dec 1993.
The Southland Times newspaper (2012) Landowner Leaving Place of Golden Opportunity, 23 April 2012.
Craw, D., Kerr, G., Reith, F., Falconer, D. (2015) Pleistocene paleodrainage and placer gold redistribution, western Southland, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 58:2, 137-153.
Otago Daily Times newspaper (2016) Golden Years of 'Canton', 10 February 2016.
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