The Victoria Battery
In the earliest mining days, only a small percentage of gold and silver was extracted by the old pan amalgamation process.In 1896, the Victoria Battery began its ear-splitting work. With 200 stamps, it was the largest quartz crushing plant for gold extraction in Australasia, capable of crushing over 812 tonnes of ore each day to the consistency of sand.
The adoption of the cyanide process by the Waihi Gold Mining Company in 1894 was one of the crucial factors in the success of the Waihi mines. Prior to the cyanide process (pioneered in Karangahake), only a small percentage of gold and silver had been extracted by the old pan amalgamation process.
In 1952, it was closed most of the plant has been removed but the foundations now form a popular tourist attraction. You can wander through the quiet foundations and imagine the fearful, 24 hour pounding that could be heard from as far away as Waihi.
I was lucky to see at least the remains.
http://www.waihi.org.nz/about-us/history-and-heritage/the-victoria-battery/
I am linking my blog post for Heather, whose son was murdered. They are trying to get a bill to pass Cameron's law to make eye witnesses to be responsible.
http://annkitsuetchin.blogspot.co.nz/2014/01/support-bill-for-camerons-law.html
https://www.facebook.com/CameronsLaw/info
http://jennymatlock.blogspot.co.nz/
2 comments:
How interesting ! it must have been very hard to work in there !
The kiln is really neat... It must have been so loud when it was up and running!
My heart goes out to Heather and every family that has such an unfortunate tragedy in their lives...
It is hard to believe that there is not a law like this already...
You must be really proud of your daughter for writing Cameron's Law!
Thanks for linking to the letter "K".
A+
Post a Comment