Prohibition Mine at Waiuta Historic Reserve: 13 November 2021

Deepest mine shaft in New Zealand...Prohibition Mine

The last thing I did before leaving Waiuta was drive up to the Prohibition Mine shaft atop a hill close to Wauita. You get to the mine along Prohibition Road which starts next to the Waiuta information kiosk on Top Road. Prohibition Mine features the deepest mine shaft in New Zealand at 879 meters and the third deepest in the Southern hemisphere...

Prohibition Road runs past the Waiuta Information Kiosk

Map: Historic Waiuta including Prohibition Mine

Prohibition Road is a gravel road and it winds up the side of the hills to the start of the Big River Track and to the carpark at the Prohibition Mine site. It is a lot rougher than the main roads around Waiuta but the Silver Surfer made it up there so most cars should be good to go. Be careful driving up the road as it is winding, narrow and has a deep ditch either side of the road bed. 

Prohibition Road running up to Prohibition Mine

Start of the Big River Track at Waiuta

There is a sizeable carpark at the top of Prohibition Road where you can leave your car and go exploring amongst the ruins. Prohibition Mine was dug in the mid 1930's to access the top parts of the quartz reef at Waiuta. There was a mine shaft here, an aerial cableway to transport quartz down the hills and later a mill which crushed the rock and recovered the gold. 

Silver Surfer parked at the Prohibition Mine shaft, Waiuta

There are great views from up near the mine north to Victoria Forest Park and the Paparoas but much of it was covered with low cloud on the day I was visiting. There was intermittent rain the whole time I was on site and I had to stand under the trees a couple of times as showers went past. I would probably have spent more time at the mine if it was not so wet. 

View north from the Prohibition Mine site, Waiuta

Prohibition Mine shaft was the deepest in New Zealand and reached down for 879 meters. The last 300 meters of the shaft were below sea level which gives you an idea of just how deep it really was. The massive quartz vein ran down from the top of the hill to deep underground and when the mine closed in 1951 it still had 40% of its reserves left to mine. 

Old mining equipment at the Prohibition Mine, Waiuta

The main buildings near the old shaft top were the electricity generating room, offices and a set of worker showers for when the miners came out of the shaft at days end. The mine workers could use a truck service to get the 1.8 kilometers back down to Waiuta or they could walk back down to the town on a track specifically built for the purpose. 

Prohibition Mine information panel...

Prohibition Mine shaft is now encased in a meters thick concrete cap over the portal for the mine as there was some thought of eventually re opening the mine sometime. There used to be a 25 meter high poppet head over the shaft but this along with many of the old buildings have been removed over the years. Prohibition shaft is still there as it was the nearby Blackwater shaft used for ventilation and pumping water which collapse suddenly in mid 1951. 

The Prohibition Mine shaft is under this concrete cap...

There is some kind of underground fluid level room here the use of which I could not really understand but the signs next to the buildings explain it all. Basically they increased or decreased the fluid level in this space to change the electrical charge of the generators. 

The mine was quite a sophisticated enterprise and would have required engineers, metalsmiths, carpenters, boiler makers and fitters and turners to keep it in operation. 

Inside the pumping room at the old Prohibition Mine, Waiuta

...hydraulic fluid was pumped into the mill from here...

The upper parts of the many buildings at Prohibition Mine have been removed but there is still a lot of old mine relics left to explore including some of the flywheels from the elevator system, boilers, mine buckets and sections of the old aerial cableway down to Waiuta. 

Spindle wheels from the mine winding gear at Prohibition Mine, Waiuta

You also have the foundations of the buildings to give you an idea of the scale and complexity of the infrastructure need to run a mine even in the 1930's. There are a series of very informative panels near the poppet head...have a read of them as they give a lot of context to the ruins you are walking about. 

Overview of the Prohibition Mine, Waiuta

Map of the underground quartz reef at Waiuta

Prohibition Mine information panel, Waiuta

Next to the shaft buildings is the old site office where the mine manager and his various clerks and foremen worked. The building is gone...all that remains are the old chimney foundations, some stairs, building piles and an old lock room where the extracted gold and wage money was stored. 

The old Prohibition Mine office foundations

Chimney from the old office at Prohibition Mine, Waiuta

The old office safe at the Prohibition Mine

From the Prohibition Mine shaft you can walk over to the old site of the quartz crushing mill built in 1938 to replace the outdated Snowy River Stamper Battery.

Looking down on Prohibition Mill from the track

 The mill used state of the art technology to separate the gold from the quartz using a series of methods including crushing, heating, filtration and chemical suspension. What was left was a highly toxic amalgam of zinc/arsenic/gold which was heated and turned into gold ingots. 

Site of the Prohibition Mill at Waiuta

Prohibition Mill: the foundations remain.....

This whole process could be controlled by as little as four men making it infinitely more productive and far less expensive. The mill never ran at full capacity as by the time it was built the amount of gold in the quartz had started to diminish. When the mine closed in 1951 all this equipment was sold, dismantled and taken to new gold mines in the North Island. 

The Prohibition Mill was a large enterprise...

There is a fenced off chemical dump near Prohibition Mill, Waiuta

When the Prohibition shaft was first dug the quartz ore was brought to the surface and transported by aerial cableway down the hills to the Snowy Battery where it was crushed and processed to recover the gold. Eventually when the mine was deep enough a horizontal tunnel was dug so the ore could go direct to the crusher plant. 

Parts of the aerial cableway still exist around the site and the path cut through the forest is very evident even 85 years later...

Looking down on Wauita Lodge from the Prohibition Mill

There was an aerial cableway from Prohibition Mill to Waiuta

In 1951 the Blackwater shaft unexpectedly collapsed and as it was used for ventilation and to clear flood water the whole mine quickly became unusable. The mine might have closed anyway as the yield from the quartz ore had started to diminish but there was an expectation at the time that the mine still had 5-10 years of life. It must have been a real shock to those who called Waiuta home...

Looking south from near Prohibition Mill

From the Prohibition Mill I headed back around to the car and started my journey home. I stopped on the way out of town at the kiosk at the entrance to Waiuta.  This is the place where the old aerial cableway once crossed the valley enroute to the Snowy River Stamper Battery. It is a fascinating site and well worth the time if you ever find yourself at Waiuta.

Prohibition Mill was on the hill center right...

If you have never visited Waiuta then you should put it on your to do list...you can easily spent 1-2 days just in the town walking the many tracks. For the more adventurous walk into Big River Hut and then spend a day at Waiuta exploring the area. Stay a night in Waiuta Lodge in between...it is a great base of operations.

I hope to return to Waiuta Lodge in the near future...

That is the last of my posts about Waiuta...next week I am walking the Heaphy Track so look out for some posts about that trip...

Access: From Reefton head south for 21 kilometers along SH 7 towards Greymouth. Turn onto Waiuta Road at Hukarere and follow Waiuta Road to the lodge. Prohibition Mine shaft is at the top of the winding gravel Prohibition Road 

Hut Details: Waiuta Lodge: Serviced, 24 bunks, wood burner, electric lights/heating/cooking, water from aquifer, wood shed, toilet/shower block

Miscellaneous: On the DOC hut booking system, must be booked for overnight visit. Close to the historic mining town of Waiuta. The Waiuta Road is a winding, narrow gravel road take care at all times. 

Waiuta Historic Gold Mining Town, 12 November 2021

 A visit to the historic mining town of Waiuta...

I was booked to stay for two non consecutive nights at Waiuta and one night at the Big River Hut but as I alluded to in my last post the very heavy rain I encountered here meant I was unable to complete my plan. Instead I spent two nights at Waiuta Lodge and visited the old town while I was there. 

On the gravel Waiuta Road for six kilometers....

The road into Waiuta is long, narrow and winding gravel but it was nowhere as bad as I thought it was going to be. The actual gravel section of the road is only six kilometers long and although care is needed it would be accessible to most vehicles including caravans and campers. Just drive slowly and keep your wits about you...keep your lights on as a warning to oncoming traffic!!!

An old 1920's water trough on Waiuta Road

I spent two nights at Waiuta Lodge which is a DOC backcountry hut with lots of modern conveniences like hot water, power and showers. It is about 700 meters away from the remaining buildings at Waiuta and makes an excellent base of operations for visits to the nearby historic town and track network. 

Waiuta Lodge is close to the old mining town of Waiuta

The area around Waiuta is a series of low rolling hills, ridges and flats that was once home to the most profitable gold mine in New Zealand. The town had over 600 permanent residents at its peak and was a fully self contained community with stores, banks, churches, a Police station, bars and other support services. There were several streets of houses both around the mine itself and down along Bottom Road. 

There are only six original buildings left here but there are a multitude of old mining relics, mine equipment and sites to explore including mine shafts, mine tunnels, mining buildings and such things as an old aerial bucket system. 

Looking across to the Blackwater Mine from Waiuta Lodge

On my first day at Waiuta I spent the afternoon walking around the old town precincts and looking at the historic remains that exist there. Lets go have a look around the town...

On the Waiuta town walk:

I set out on my walk around the town of Waiuta from the Waiuta Lodge...I parked my car there and after some lunch set out to explore the town. It takes around 45 minutes return to walk from the Lodge to the information kiosk and back along the circuit Bottom Road-Top Road-New Road...

Waiuta in a photo from the 1940's...Blackwater Mine to center...

Map: Waiuta road network...

The ground is most flat as the old town was built on the flatter sections of land in the area. The first building you pass is Gills Cottage next to the Lodge...it is maintained by the Friends of Waiuta. It was the private residence of the Gill Family and has served as an out of the way holiday bach until quite recently. It has now been fully restored by the Friends of Waiuta...

Gills Cottage is next to the Waiuta Lodge

From there you continue along Bottom Road to the entrance to Waiuta and a small information kiosk located on Top Road. It has a map of the environs of the old town and some information about the area but the main information kiosk is located closer to the Blackwater Mine shaft. 

DOC information kiosk at the entrance to Waiuta

From the kiosk at the entrance to Waiuta I walked down the Top Road to the old workings around the Blackwater Mine shaft. This was the first of two shafts sunk down to the quartz deposits that underlay the whole Waiuta area. 

The quartz was raised to the surface and crushed to recover the gold within it at the Snowy river crushing plant just to the south of Waiuta.

Underground map of the Blackwater Mine at Waiuta

There is an old miners bathing shed at the mine shaft and the foundation of the old power house that provided power for the elevator in the shaft. There is still a tall chimney stack and the huge boiler in the building where the hot water was stored before use. 

Old bathing facilities at the Blackwater shaft head, Waiuta

The foundation of the powerhouse at Blackwater mine at Waiuta

Next to the bathing building is the actual Blackwater Mine shaft...it is nearly 600 meters deep (1850 feet) and was the first and main shaft for the mine. The area is fenced off as DOC do not want people falling in as it is not covered over like the nearby Prohibition Mine shaft is.

 The Blackwater and Prohibition shafts were the two deepest in New Zealand with the Prohibition shaft reaching nearly 900 meters deep of which 300 meters was below sea level...

The Blackwater mine shaft was nearly 2000 feet deep

You can still see the shaft from right around the perimeter of the fenced area.  At one time there was a tall winding tower above the shaft but this has been removed in the 1950's. It was recycled to some mine workings outside Reefton which is where a lot of the ex residents of Waiuta moved to when the mine closed...

Closer view of the Blackwater Mine shaft at Waiuta

Next to the Blackwater Shaft was an office and the bowling pavilion. The residents of the time took some effort and care to flatten out the slag heap next to the mine shaft and turned it into a bowls green. It is just one of the many sporting facilities the townspeople had available...

The Bowling Pavilion and clubrooms at Waiuta

The old School House information kiosk at Waiuta

I walked along the edge of the huge pile of mine spoil (...called Molloch by the miners...I don't know why...I saw a sign at the mine site...) which surrounds the mine shaft. They shifted a lot of rock here as the spoil pile is huge...later a horizontal tunnel was cut to the Snowy Battery site and the mine spoil was taken out that way. 

Waiuta Lodge from the slag heap at Blackwater Mine

All this is waste rock from the Blackwater Mine at Waiuta

From the Blackwater Mine shaft I walked over to the main information kiosk via the Gold Discovery Loop Walk which I will cover in a separate post. It is a short 10 minute walk around this track to the old swimming pool and the fenced off entrance to the original mine tunnel built when they were exploring the potential of the mine in the 1920's-1930's. 

The area around Reefton is full of historic mining relics....

The old School house was demolished some time after the mine closed in 1951 but the foundations were used by DOC in the 1980's as a location to build a new information kiosk at. There are some photos of the old buildings which once occupied this section including a BNZ bank and the school. 

The information kiosk in Waiuta on the old school foundations...

The covered structure has a number of interesting photos of the town as well as a wealth of information about the history, people and environment around Waiuta. There are also a couple of covered benches located here so you can sit out of the weather when you visit. 

Waiuta information kiosk: lots of panels....

Waiuta information kiosk: Blackwater Mine...

Waiuta information kiosk: photos of Waiuta in the 1930's

Directly opposite the School house information kiosk is the last house that was occupied at Waiuta. The house was once the resident Policeman's house and later belonged to Tim White. White was born in Waiuta in 1921 and used the cottage as a bach for most of his life. Many of the photographs of the town in the 1950's were taken by him and adorn the many information panels about the town. He passed away in 2011....

One of the six existent buildings at Waiuta...Tim Whites house

From here you walk back to the Waiuta Lodge down New Road and Bottom Road passing a couple of old buildings along the way. One is Rimu Cottage that the Friends of Waiuta are currently in the process of clearing and restoring. The other is the fully restored historic Barbershop about 40 meters further down the road. 

The historic Rimu Cottage at Waiuta...under restoration!!

The old Barbershop at Waiuta township...restored

There is a track near here which goes down to the Snowy Battery site which is a 2-3 hour return loop track to the old quartz crushing plant. I didn't manage to get down there but it is on my plan for my next visit to Waiuta...

I also passed the old rugby field between Waiuta Lodge and the Blackwater Mine site. According to the information panels the Waiuta rugby team was quite competitive and often played games against other teams from the surrounding area. With over 600 people living here at its peak they probably had plenty of players to choose from.

Waiuta had several sports facilities...including a rugby field

Photo of the old rugby clubrooms at Waiuta in the 1950's

As you would have seen in my last post I spent two nights staying at the Waiuta Lodge. Waiuta Lodge is a DOC owned 24 bunk hut but it is set up like a base camp facility so it has a lot of amenities as it is often used by school groups, tours and large tramping parties.

Waiuta Lodge was the old hospital site for the town of Waiuta

 I have written a separate post about the hut but it was a great place to stay and I'm sure I will return here at some time in the future. 

Interior of the Waiuta Lodge is warm and accommodating.

Waiuta is an interesting place to visit and even though it is a bit out of the way there is a very acceptable place to stay at the bookable Waiuta Lodge. There is a wealth of history here and I still have a number of tracks to visit in the area so I am sure you will see me back some time over the next couple of years. 

Access: From Reefton head south for 21 kilometers along SH 7 towards Greymouth. Turn onto Waiuta Road at Hukarere and follow Waiuta Road to the lodge. 

Hut Details: Waiuta Lodge: Serviced, 24 bunks, wood burner, electric lights/heating/cooking, water from aquifer, wood shed, toilet/shower block

Miscellaneous: On the DOC hut booking system, must be booked for overnight visit. Close to the historic mining town of Waiuta. The Waiuta Road is a winding, narrow gravel road take care at all times.