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Martha Mine (Waihi Mine), Waihi, Hauraki District, Waikato Region, New Zealandi
Regional Level Types
Martha Mine (Waihi Mine)Mine
WaihiTown
Hauraki DistrictDistrict
Waikato RegionRegion
New ZealandCountry

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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
37° 23' 20'' South , 175° 50' 30'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
KΓΆppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
PlacePopulationDistance
Waihi4,619 (2011)1.0km
Waihi Beach2,014 (2011)8.2km
Athenree563 (2011)10.9km
Paeroa3,994 (2011)15.7km
Katikati3,232 (2011)19.1km
Mindat Locality ID:
15677
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:15677:3
GUID (UUID V4):
9b01409e-b2e0-40e6-92e3-294db9e58f94
Other/historical names associated with this locality:
Waihi gold mine


An operating gold mine, in the centre of the town of Waihi, located at the foot of the Coromandel Peninsula.

Named after the Martha Lode which is an epithermal gold-silver orebody which is giant by world standards. This reef system is at least 1.6km long, 600m deep and up to 30m wide. This and other reefs and veins were extensively mined by the Martha Mine’s underground operation between the 1880s and 1952.

However, many smaller veins stayed untouched and have been mined by open-pit methods since 1987. Rock with as little as one gram of gold per tonne can be mined economically using open pit modern technology. Similar reef systems are being mined at Favona and at Trio as underground operations. In 2014 it was announced that underground mining would begin on the Correnso deposit (so named for the presence of corrensite in the ore).

In 1878, John McCombie and Robert Lee discovered gold at Pukewa (Martha Hill). The following year, William Nichol pegged the 5 acre claim over the prospector workings, named it Martha after one of his family members, and began underground mining. The first stamp battery was erected in 1882, near the No. 4 shaft and Junction Road. In 1890, the Waihi Gold Mining Company was formed in London to take over the mine. The Victoria battery was built by the company in 1897 at nearby Waikino, and a hydro electric power station was built at Horahora in 1913 to supply it and the mine with power. The Cornish pumphouse now seen next to the open pit was built in 1904, and moved to its present site in 2006.

The Waihi Gold Mining Company continued to mine the deposit until 1952, employing on average 600 men, producing across this time 5.6 million ounces of gold, and 38.4 million ounces of silver, from 11 932 000 tonnes of ore. The underground workings extended to a depth of 600 metres. The mine closed in 1952, then subsequently some ground subsided on Martha Hill above the old Royal workings in 1961, 1999, and 2001.

In 1976, the Waihi Mining and Development Ltd entered a joint venture with Amax Exploration New Zealand Inc to explore the deposit further. They were joined in 1985 by Goodman Mining, and United Gold Mines, and two years later these companies formed a new Waihi Gold Mining Company, and began an open pit development to access near surface ore.

Newmont Mining Corporation took over the company and mine in 2002, and a name change occurred to the Newmont Waihi Gold Ltd in 2004. With the pit having a limited lifespan, the Favona underground portal was opened also in 2004, while the Trio deposit started in 2012, and the Golden Links/Correnso deposit started production in 2014. The company and mine was purchased by Oceanagold in 2015. Part of the northern side of the pit wall collapsed in 2015 and 2016.

A short walk from the car park on Seddon Street in central Waihi leads to the Cornish pumphouse, interpretative signs, and view points over the open pit. Across the road is the Waihi Gold Discovery Centre, a high tech museum explaining the history of the area, and how gold is mined. Tours also go from the discovery centre visiting the new mine portal to the south-east, the processing plant, conveyor belt, and tailings area (no access is available to the pit due to its unstable nature).

Gold-silver was formed during a Miocene volcanic period, where earthquakes formed fractures, as a conduit for geothermal fluids precipitating metals, and hydrothermal alteration of the host rocks producing a variety of other species. The host rocks are andesite, rhyolite and dacite, overlain by post mineralisation volcanic andesite and rhyolite volcanics, and sediments like ignimbrite, tephras, and lacustrine sediments.

Mineralisation is controlled by the major north-east trending Waihi Fault, and Golden Valley Fault. There are four main quartz veins at Martha named Martha, Welcome, Empire and Royal, and two cross cutting veins called Edward and Albert. The main veins are enveloped by a stock work of subsidiary veins. Mineralisation extends 1600 metres along strike, up to 500 metres wide, and mined to a depth of 600 metres.

The Martha deposit is a low sulphidation adularia-sericite epithermal quartz vein system, associated with north-east trending faults. The main Au-Ag ore is electrum, and associated with pervasive pyrite, and more minor sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite. Silver is also found in acanthite, which is associated with pyrite and galena. Electrum is found as inclusions within the base metal sulphides. Gold is rarely visible. Base metal sulphides tend to increase with depth. The quartz veins range from chalcedonic to coarsely crystalline crustiform banded. Most ore is found in crustiform banded quartz, the veins also locally containing calcite, chlorite, rhodochrosite, and adularia.

The andesite has been hydrothermally altered near the veins to quartz, albite, adularia, carbonate, pyrite, and smectite, chlorite, illite clays. Pyrite has broken down into limonite near surface.

Subsidiary veins are found to the south-east by up to 3 kilometres distance, and has been the focus of more recent underground mining. Some of this is under houses of the Waihi town site. The north-south Correnso vein, has three west south-west extensions at its southern end called Union, Trio, and Amaranth. The northern section of the Correnso vein is cut by a barren structure, and gold values are lower, having been flooded by post mineralisation bands and lobes of low value quartz-calcite. Further east is the north north-east trending Favona vein, also being brought into production.

Select Mineral List Type

Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical Elements

Mineral List


24 valid minerals.

Detailed Mineral List:

β“˜ Acanthite
Formula: Ag2S
β“˜ Aguilarite
Formula: Ag4SeS
β“˜ Alabandite
Formula: MnS
References:
β“˜ Albite
Formula: Na(AlSi3O8)
Description: Associated with adularia, replaces lava plagioclase.
β“˜ 'Apatite'
Formula: Ca5(PO4)3(Cl/F/OH)
Description: Apatite overgrowth on lava primary apatite.
β“˜ Arsenopyrite
Formula: FeAsS
β“˜ Calcite
Formula: CaCO3
Description: Calcite + illite replace adularia.
β“˜ Chalcopyrite
Formula: CuFeS2
β“˜ 'Chlorite Group'
β“˜ Corrensite
Formula: (Mg,Fe)9((Si,Al)8O20)(OH)10 · nH2O
β“˜ Epidote
Formula: (CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH)
β“˜ Galena
Formula: PbS
β“˜ Gold
Formula: Au
β“˜ Gold var. Electrum
Formula: (Au,Ag)
β“˜ Inesite
Formula: Ca2(Mn,Fe)7Si10O28(OH)2 · 5H2O
Description: Associated with amethyst in quartz-sulfides bands.
β“˜ Kaolinite
Formula: Al2(Si2O5)(OH)4
Description: Supergene acidic sulfate alteration.
β“˜ 'K Feldspar'
β“˜ 'K Feldspar var. Adularia'
Formula: KAlSi3O8
β“˜ Marcasite
Formula: FeS2
β“˜ Mckinstryite
Formula: Ag5-xCu3+xS4
β“˜ Molybdenite
Formula: MoS2
Description: In quartz-adularia-pyrite veins.
β“˜ Muscovite
Formula: KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2
β“˜ Muscovite var. Illite
Formula: K0.65Al2.0[Al0.65Si3.35O10](OH)2
β“˜ Naumannite
Formula: Ag2Se
β“˜ 'Psilomelane'
β“˜ Pyrite
Formula: FeS2
β“˜ Pyrrhotite
Formula: Fe1-xS
β“˜ Quartz
Formula: SiO2
Description: - Microcrystalline quartz asoociated with adularia - Quartz pseudomorphs after calcite
β“˜ Quartz var. Amethyst
Formula: SiO2
β“˜ 'Smectite Group'
Formula: A0.3D2-3[T4O10]Z2 · nH2O
Description: - Smectite replacing lava glass - Mixed layer illite/smectite
β“˜ Sphalerite
Formula: ZnS
β“˜ Stromeyerite
Formula: AgCuS
β“˜ 'Tennantite-Tetrahedrite Series'
β“˜ Titanite
Formula: CaTi(SiO4)O
Description: Associated with pyrite, replaces lava magnetite.
β“˜ 'Wad'

Gallery:

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification

Group 1 - Elements
β“˜Gold1.AA.05Au
β“˜var. Electrum1.AA.05(Au,Ag)
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts
β“˜Acanthite2.BA.35Ag2S
β“˜Stromeyerite2.BA.40AgCuS
β“˜Mckinstryite2.BA.40Ag5-xCu3+xS4
β“˜Aguilarite2.BA.55Ag4SeS
β“˜Naumannite2.BA.55Ag2Se
β“˜Sphalerite2.CB.05aZnS
β“˜Chalcopyrite2.CB.10aCuFeS2
β“˜Pyrrhotite2.CC.10Fe1-xS
β“˜Alabandite2.CD.10MnS
β“˜Galena2.CD.10PbS
β“˜Molybdenite2.EA.30MoS2
β“˜Pyrite2.EB.05aFeS2
β“˜Marcasite2.EB.10aFeS2
β“˜Arsenopyrite2.EB.20FeAsS
Group 4 - Oxides and Hydroxides
β“˜Quartz
var. Amethyst
4.DA.05SiO2
β“˜4.DA.05SiO2
Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates
β“˜Calcite5.AB.05CaCO3
Group 9 - Silicates
β“˜Titanite9.AG.15CaTi(SiO4)O
β“˜Epidote9.BG.05a(CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH)
β“˜Inesite9.DL.05Ca2(Mn,Fe)7Si10O28(OH)2 Β· 5H2O
β“˜Muscovite9.EC.15KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2
β“˜var. Illite9.EC.15K0.65Al2.0[Al0.65Si3.35O10](OH)2
β“˜Corrensite9.EC.60(Mg,Fe)9((Si,Al)8O20)(OH)10 Β· nH2O
β“˜Kaolinite9.ED.05Al2(Si2O5)(OH)4
β“˜Albite9.FA.35Na(AlSi3O8)
Unclassified
β“˜'Psilomelane'-
β“˜'K Feldspar
var. Adularia'
-KAlSi3O8
β“˜'Tennantite-Tetrahedrite Series'-
β“˜'Chlorite Group'-
β“˜'Wad'-
β“˜'K Feldspar'-
β“˜'Smectite Group'-A0.3D2-3[T4O10]Z2 Β· nH2O
β“˜'Apatite'-Ca5(PO4)3(Cl/F/OH)

List of minerals for each chemical element

HHydrogen
Hβ“˜ Corrensite(Mg,Fe)9((Si,Al)8O20)(OH)10 · nH2O
Hβ“˜ Epidote(CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH)
Hβ“˜ Muscovite var. IlliteK0.65Al2.0[Al0.65Si3.35O10](OH)2
Hβ“˜ InesiteCa2(Mn,Fe)7Si10O28(OH)2 · 5H2O
Hβ“˜ KaoliniteAl2(Si2O5)(OH)4
Hβ“˜ MuscoviteKAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2
Hβ“˜ Smectite GroupA0.3D2-3[T4O10]Z2 · nH2O
Hβ“˜ ApatiteCa5(PO4)3(Cl/F/OH)
CCarbon
Cβ“˜ CalciteCaCO3
OOxygen
Oβ“˜ K Feldspar var. AdulariaKAlSi3O8
Oβ“˜ AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
Oβ“˜ Quartz var. AmethystSiO2
Oβ“˜ CalciteCaCO3
Oβ“˜ Corrensite(Mg,Fe)9((Si,Al)8O20)(OH)10 · nH2O
Oβ“˜ Epidote(CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH)
Oβ“˜ Muscovite var. IlliteK0.65Al2.0[Al0.65Si3.35O10](OH)2
Oβ“˜ InesiteCa2(Mn,Fe)7Si10O28(OH)2 · 5H2O
Oβ“˜ KaoliniteAl2(Si2O5)(OH)4
Oβ“˜ MuscoviteKAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2
Oβ“˜ QuartzSiO2
Oβ“˜ TitaniteCaTi(SiO4)O
Oβ“˜ Smectite GroupA0.3D2-3[T4O10]Z2 · nH2O
Oβ“˜ ApatiteCa5(PO4)3(Cl/F/OH)
FFluorine
Fβ“˜ ApatiteCa5(PO4)3(Cl/F/OH)
NaSodium
Naβ“˜ AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
MgMagnesium
Mgβ“˜ Corrensite(Mg,Fe)9((Si,Al)8O20)(OH)10 · nH2O
AlAluminium
Alβ“˜ K Feldspar var. AdulariaKAlSi3O8
Alβ“˜ AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
Alβ“˜ Corrensite(Mg,Fe)9((Si,Al)8O20)(OH)10 · nH2O
Alβ“˜ Epidote(CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH)
Alβ“˜ Muscovite var. IlliteK0.65Al2.0[Al0.65Si3.35O10](OH)2
Alβ“˜ KaoliniteAl2(Si2O5)(OH)4
Alβ“˜ MuscoviteKAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2
SiSilicon
Siβ“˜ K Feldspar var. AdulariaKAlSi3O8
Siβ“˜ AlbiteNa(AlSi3O8)
Siβ“˜ Quartz var. AmethystSiO2
Siβ“˜ Corrensite(Mg,Fe)9((Si,Al)8O20)(OH)10 · nH2O
Siβ“˜ Epidote(CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH)
Siβ“˜ Muscovite var. IlliteK0.65Al2.0[Al0.65Si3.35O10](OH)2
Siβ“˜ InesiteCa2(Mn,Fe)7Si10O28(OH)2 · 5H2O
Siβ“˜ KaoliniteAl2(Si2O5)(OH)4
Siβ“˜ MuscoviteKAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2
Siβ“˜ QuartzSiO2
Siβ“˜ TitaniteCaTi(SiO4)O
PPhosphorus
Pβ“˜ ApatiteCa5(PO4)3(Cl/F/OH)
SSulfur
Sβ“˜ AcanthiteAg2S
Sβ“˜ AguilariteAg4SeS
Sβ“˜ AlabanditeMnS
Sβ“˜ ArsenopyriteFeAsS
Sβ“˜ ChalcopyriteCuFeS2
Sβ“˜ GalenaPbS
Sβ“˜ MarcasiteFeS2
Sβ“˜ MckinstryiteAg5-xCu3+xS4
Sβ“˜ MolybdeniteMoS2
Sβ“˜ PyriteFeS2
Sβ“˜ PyrrhotiteFe1-xS
Sβ“˜ SphaleriteZnS
Sβ“˜ StromeyeriteAgCuS
ClChlorine
Clβ“˜ ApatiteCa5(PO4)3(Cl/F/OH)
KPotassium
Kβ“˜ K Feldspar var. AdulariaKAlSi3O8
Kβ“˜ Muscovite var. IlliteK0.65Al2.0[Al0.65Si3.35O10](OH)2
Kβ“˜ MuscoviteKAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2
CaCalcium
Caβ“˜ CalciteCaCO3
Caβ“˜ Epidote(CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH)
Caβ“˜ InesiteCa2(Mn,Fe)7Si10O28(OH)2 · 5H2O
Caβ“˜ TitaniteCaTi(SiO4)O
Caβ“˜ ApatiteCa5(PO4)3(Cl/F/OH)
TiTitanium
Tiβ“˜ TitaniteCaTi(SiO4)O
MnManganese
Mnβ“˜ AlabanditeMnS
Mnβ“˜ InesiteCa2(Mn,Fe)7Si10O28(OH)2 · 5H2O
FeIron
Feβ“˜ ArsenopyriteFeAsS
Feβ“˜ ChalcopyriteCuFeS2
Feβ“˜ Corrensite(Mg,Fe)9((Si,Al)8O20)(OH)10 · nH2O
Feβ“˜ Epidote(CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH)
Feβ“˜ InesiteCa2(Mn,Fe)7Si10O28(OH)2 · 5H2O
Feβ“˜ MarcasiteFeS2
Feβ“˜ PyriteFeS2
Feβ“˜ PyrrhotiteFe1-xS
CuCopper
Cuβ“˜ ChalcopyriteCuFeS2
Cuβ“˜ MckinstryiteAg5-xCu3+xS4
Cuβ“˜ StromeyeriteAgCuS
ZnZinc
Znβ“˜ SphaleriteZnS
AsArsenic
Asβ“˜ ArsenopyriteFeAsS
SeSelenium
Seβ“˜ AguilariteAg4SeS
Seβ“˜ NaumanniteAg2Se
MoMolybdenum
Moβ“˜ MolybdeniteMoS2
AgSilver
Agβ“˜ AcanthiteAg2S
Agβ“˜ AguilariteAg4SeS
Agβ“˜ Gold var. Electrum(Au,Ag)
Agβ“˜ MckinstryiteAg5-xCu3+xS4
Agβ“˜ NaumanniteAg2Se
Agβ“˜ StromeyeriteAgCuS
AuGold
Auβ“˜ Gold var. Electrum(Au,Ag)
Auβ“˜ GoldAu
PbLead
Pbβ“˜ GalenaPbS

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

Australian PlateTectonic Plate
New Zealand

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References

 
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