Nineteenth-Century Gold Mine Found in New Zealand

WAIKAIA, NEW ZEALAND—The Southland Times reports that traces of a late nineteenth-century gold mine were found on New Zealand’s South Island by archaeology consultants engaged by the forestry company IFS Growth. The consultants first spotted the site, which is now covered over with heavy scrub, in historic aerial photographs. “To everyone’s surprise, we could see an extensive and largely intact gold mining complex consisting of water races, reservoirs, sluice workings, and sludge channels,” said Matthew Sole of Kopuwai Consulting. Miners’ huts were also part of the complex. Known as the Muddy Terraces site, the mine yielded as much as 42 ounces of gold during one five-week period, according to one newspaper account. Once the site’s boundaries have been determined, the forestry team will continue their harvest around it. To read about a discovery in Australia, go to “Death by Boomerang.”