Martha Mine

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Martha Mine

The Martha Mine is a gold mine owned by the Newmont Mining Corporation in the New Zealand town of Waihi.

History

William Nicholl marked out a 5 acres (20,000 m2) claim, calling it "Martha" after a family member.[1] Several smaller claims were later merged to form the Martha Company. By 1882 the first battery to break gold-bearing rock was in operation. The Martha Mine eventually grew into one of the world's most important gold and silver mines, after industrial cyanide processes made recovering gold from the low-grade ores easier. Waihi prospered with the mine, by 1908 being the fastest-growing town in the Auckland Province, three times the size of Hamilton.[1]

Production

Issues

Some environmental protests occurred during the 1987 consenting process for further mine operations. In 2001, subsidence in the area caused a collapse of a house, and the operating company has recently agreed to pay compensation to about 130 households for various negative effects due to noise, blast vibrations and dust.[2] However Newmont effect the whole town but only pay a relative few households. They are now allowed to mine beneath private properties and refuse to properly compensate anyone not sitting directly above the underground gold mine meaning those effected by underground tunnels are not up for the same compo as their immediate neighbours

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Gold Fever (from the 'History & Heritage' section of the 'Waihi.org' website)
  2. ↑ Martha mine may test goodwill, says report - The Dominion Post, Saturday 14 March 2009, Page C7

External links

Coordinates: 37°23′09″S 175°50′34″E / 37.385868°S 175.842705°E / -37.385868; 175.842705

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