| Mines |
 |
Beehive Gold Mine site Triad Minerals NL operated the mine from 1988 to 1992. They constructed an efficient processing plant at Porcupine Flat to process the material from the mine and from 1,000,000 tonnes of ore they extracted about 55,000 ounces of gold. In 1994 Alliance Gold Mines was formed and from 1995 to 1997 mined from a decline which was driven from the base of the open cut mine. As mining proceeded to higher levels they experienced difficulties due to the highly weathered, unstable nature of the reef and this culminated in a major rock wall collapse. Alliance also found that previous unrecorded operations had removed much of the ore that they had hoped to access. In 1997 Alliance ceased underground operations but continued with retreatment of low grade waste dumps from the previous Triad operations. As this material was removed they carried out open cut mining of the underlying reefs. Despite improvements in the processing plant to lower operating costs, the waste stockpiles were too low-grade, producing only 1 gram per tonne, to process economically. The plant was placed on "care and maintenance" in 1998. In 1997, Alliance obtained approval for a new decline that started at Union Hill and would go south under Maldon. The plan turned out to be impractical as the decline would have been too steep to reach the required depth of 100 metres. One solution that was proposed to reduce the slope of the decline was to tunnel north from Union Hill and then do U-turn. Alliance did not have the funds for this plan and put the project up for sale. Attempts to sell the project have been unsuccessful and Alliance continues to own the site. |
|
|
Remains
of the New Beehive Company gold mine, one of the largest plants in the district
and one of Victoria's biggest gold producers. The mine yielded 210,000 ounces of
gold from a shaft that reached a depth of 396 metres. The 30 metre high chimney
designed by D R Drape, who also designed the Hospital, was built in 1863 and
served three boilers. The capping and top two metres of the chimney was lost in
1923 after a lightning strike. Adjacent to the chimney can be seen the remains
of the shaft, also the stone and brick substructures for the boilers, the
winding engine, compressor, pumping engine, battery engine and a twenty head
crushing battery.
The
State Government installed approximately sixty of these batteries to service the
smaller mining companies. This battery, installed in 1914, is one of the few
surviving batteries and it is still in working order, although it is no longer
used. The battery appears to have been the busiest of the State batteries,
processing 17,572 tons of material. The tailings that were the end product of
the crushing process form large dumps at the side of the battery.
This was the
largest and one of the most profitable mines in Maldon. It was the last major
mine of that era to close, and it closed down its operations in 1926. The
Parkins Reef area was initially mined by several companies, these were
consolidated into a single mining company, Parkins Reef Quartz Mining
Association, owned in partnership with Robert Dent Oswald. Oswald bought out the
Association in 1865 and renamed it the North British and Quartz Mining and
Crushing Company. The mine employed 120 men working in three shifts, the main
shaft of the mine went to a depth of 503 metres and yielded 203,307 ounces
of gold.