St. Hippo Mine (Hippo; Waitekauri Extended), Waitekauri, Hauraki District, Waikato Region, North Island, New Zealand

Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	37° 19' 43'' South , 175° 46' 54'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	-37.32870,175.78187
Köppen climate type:	Cfb : Temperate oceanic climate

The St. Hippo quartz vein is just north of the former Golden Cross open pit near the Waitekauri-Maratoto valley saddle at the top of the range.

Around 1895-1898, the Waitekauri Extended Company took over the mine. This was a London concern. Much money was spent on a 40 stamp battery and a 2 kilometre long aerial ropeway, before the company ran out of money in 1901. To this time the mine had produced 6017 tonnes of ore for 6044 ounces of gold.

A number of adits were dug. The first tunnel reached 250 feet, the second was 55 feet below the first and reached 500 feet long, and the third was below No. 2, and driven for 1120 feet, and extended north and south along the reef.

The company was reconstructed as the New Waitekauri Extended Mines Limited in 1901, and they sank a shaft to 76 feet deep, and worked existing stopes, with operations ceasing in 1904. The company moved to tin mining interests in Siberia, until the Russian Revolution. In 1906, the New Maratoto Company Limited purchased the battery.

The mine was worked for a time between 1914 to 1930 by the Ohinemuri Gold and Silver Mines Company, along with several nearby deposits, but operations ceased due to low silver prices.

The St. Hippo vein is 365 metres long, averaging 9.7 metres wide, and dips east by 85 degrees.

Mineral List

2 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

Quaternary 0 - 2.588 Ma ID: 3187411	Cenozoic volcanic rocks Age: Pleistocene (0 - 2.588 Ma) Lithology: Ignimbrite(s); felsic volcanic rocks; rhyolite 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]
Messinian - Tortonian 5.333 - 11.62 Ma ID: 1314885	Waiwawa Subgroup andesite and dacite (Coromandel Group) of Coromandel Volcanic Zone Age: Miocene (5.333 - 11.62 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Waiwawa Subgroup Description: Andesite, dacite and rhyodacite flows and domes with intercalated tuff, tuff breccia and volcaniclastic sediments. Local, non--welded, dacitic, pumice-rich ignimbrite. Comments: Neogene igneous rocks. Age based on K-Ar Lithology: Major:: {andesite},Minor:: {dacite, rhyodacite, tuff, breccia} Reference: Heron, D.W. . Geology Map of New Zealand 1:250 000. GNS Science Geological Map 1. [13]
Miocene 5.333 - 23.03 Ma ID: 1308094	Coromandel Group Miocene andesite and basaltic andesite lava Age: Miocene (5.333 - 23.03 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Coromandel Group Description: Andesite and basaltic andesite lava, tuff and tuff breccia, agglomerate and pyroclastic flow deposits; andesite, diorite and dacite dikes and subvolcanic intusions. Comments: Zealandia Megasequence Extrusive and Intrusive Rocks (Neogene) Lithology: Andesite, tuffite, tuff-breccia, agglomerate, pyroclastic material, andesite, diorite, dacite 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

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