Nugget and Cornish Mine (The Nugget; Gallant Tipperary; Gallant Tip), Skippers, Queenstown-Lakes District, Otago Region, South Island, New Zealand

Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	44° 49' 32'' South , 168° 42' 59'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-44.82563,168.71648
Köppen climate type:	Cfc : Subpolar oceanic climate

The Nugget and Cornish gold mine, and Gallant Tipperary gold mines were two separate mines along the same reef, although the Gallant Tipperary later took over the Nugget and Cornish mine's lease. The Nugget and Cornish Mine was locally called 'The Nugget' at the time of operation, while the Gallant Tipperary Mine was locally called 'The Gallant Tip'.

The mines remain in the category of largely lost localities. They are not marked on maps, DOC information, or have workings/battery ruins which are well known and visited. The mines were written about extensively in newspaper articles of the time, however provide few clues on the location. The mines are one to two kilometres north of the Skippers town site, close to the western bank of the Shotover River. This places them in the Sandhill Cut/Cooks Terrace area. There are no access tracks, or any method to easily visit the area. Co-ordinates are very approximate.

In April 1866, while managing the Great Scandinavian Company at Skippers Creek, Thomas F. Roskruge explored to the east discovering the Nugget and Cornish Reef. Roskruge formed a new company, called the Nugget and Cornish Quartz Mining Company, merging with the Great Scandinavian Company, with Roskruge as mine manager. The merger dissolved due to dissension in the syndicate, with Roskruge, and M.J. Malaghan purchasing the company outright.

The British American Mine's battery was purchased and erected next to the Shotover River near the mine, in February 1871. The battery proved to be small and worn out. The battery was twelve stamps, in three sets of four stamps. Water for the battery is obtained by races from the Ballarat and Sandhill Creek, on the opposite side of the river, although it is not certain why water from the Shotover River could not be used.

The company was restructured in 1875, as the New Nugget and Cornish Quartz Mining Company. By this stage it has processed 1958 tonnes of ore for 3624.5 ounces of gold. Investors were mainly from Invercargill.

Thomas McCliment (32) is killed in a dynamite explosion underground in 1878.

There are three reefs on the lease, trending north-west, dipping south-west 70-80 degrees. The host schist contains mullocky reefs, showing veins and bunches of quartz, sometimes several feet thick. Gold is seen in the sugary stone as clusters of specks, the reefs up to 20 feet wide, with a well defined Hanging wall, and Footwall encased with clay. The gold is associated with abundant pyrite and arsenopyrite, or found free in the quartz.

The Nugget and Cornish Mine is sold at auction by the bailiff in 1876, purchased by the Bank of New Zealand, and a Mr Bastian of Invercargill for 2300 pounds. It is reported in 1879, Roskruge has taken up the position of station master at the Kingston railway terminus, at the southern end of Lake Wakatip.

The Gallant Tipperary Quartz Mining Company was in operation from around 1883, until it was liquidated in 1899. Shortly after forming it took over the lease of the old Nugget and Cornish party, in addition to its own neighbouring lease. Patrick Egan was killed underground in 1886, when a truck full of quartz came off the rails, and crushed him against the tunnel wall.

The Shotover Quartz Mining Company NL was formed in 1899, with the intention of extending the old low level adit at the abandoned Nugget and Cornish Mine. In 1906, the company amalgamates with the Ophir Mining Company, which controls an unimportant reef on the eastern side of the Shotover River, and one mile upstream. The intention is to release un-called capital in the Ophir Company to invest in both mines. The company is now called the Shotover Consolidated Mining Company Limited.

It is reported in 1909 the mine is on tribute. The company is voluntarily wound up in 1910, and purchased by the Dominion Gold Mining Company, who does little with the Shotover mine, and concentrates on its 200 acre holding at Karangahake.

Mineral List

4 valid minerals.

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

Toarcian - Olenekian 174.1 - 251.2 Ma ID: 1328591	Aspiring lithologic association TZIV pelitic schist (Rakaia Terrane) Age: Mesozoic (174.1 - 251.2 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Aspiring Lithologic Association Description: Very well segregated and laminated; abundant pelitic and subordinate psammitic greyschist; minor greenschist and metachert; TZIV. Comments: Basement (Eastern Province) metamorphic rocks. Age based on lithological inference, detrital zircon U-Pb dates elsewhere Lithology: Major:: {pelite},Minor:: {greenschist, schist, metachert, marble} 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]
Triassic - Permian 201.3 - 298.9 Ma ID: 1309452	Aspiring lithologic association Permian-Triassic TZIV schist Age: Phanerozoic (201.3 - 298.9 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Torlesse Supergroup Description: Pelitic and subordinate psammitic schist (TZIV); including areas and bands of greenschist or amphibolite, and minor marble, metachert and serpentinised ultramafics. Comments: Eastern Province (Rakaia Terrane) Rocks Lithology: Schist, greenschist, amphibolite, marble, metachert, ultramafic igneous rock 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]

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

References