Tuateawa: BOUTIQUE GOLD MINING. THE LILLIS MINE.

Gold mining has been part of the Coromandel scene for over 150 years. Current events suggest that it might again be so in the future.

The Lillis Mine is on private land, rather than D.O.C. estate and it ceased production in the 1970's. ARGO ADVENTURES guides visits to the mine and this summer they took a party organised by M.E.G. as part of their summer programme.

Whangapoua

The Argo is an all terrain vehicle and provides an exciting ride to the top of the Whangapoua Hill. After that you are on foot and must walk down a bulldozed track for, maybe half an hour to reach the mine workings. The track is through regenerating bush, previously logged for rimu and totara. After 40years the track is much degraded, with a massive slip in one part. Negotiable by foot but too much for the intrepid Argo!

Mine entrances exist at various points. They bear the marks of excavation by pneumatic drill and all have slight upward slopes to drain them and assist with the removal of mined materials. The passage of years seems to have covered any signs of excavated spoil.

The Lillis seems to have been a fairly small scale operation. At a point below the mine workings a ramshackle structure of timber and old iron houses the machinery used to carry out the preliminary extraction of gold and silver from the ore. It would have been operated by one man. The motive power came from a diesel engine, which does still work. It seems that around a couple of wheel barrows of ore would have been processed at a time as the capacity is quite small. Ore concentrate was sent to Australia for the final refining stage.

On the return journey you retrace your steps and eventually reach the ridge and look down on Coromandel township. Along this ridge line are the plugged exploratory bore holes drilled in the early seventies. Further down the track, and quite close to town you reach other mine entrances. Should you venture here without a guide do take care.