[2007]
[2007]
Gold Mine
Gloucester Visitor Information Centre, PO Box 11, 27 Denison Street, Gloucester NSW 2422, Tel: +61-2-6558-1408, Fax: +61-2-6558-9808.
| Location: | Copeland Tops State Conservation Area near Gloucester |
| Open: |
closed. [2007] |
| Fee: |
closed. [2007] |
| Classification: |
Gold Mine
|
| Light: | electric |
| Dimension: | |
| Guided tours: | |
| Bibliography: | |
| Address: |
NPWS Barrington Tops Area Office, Juanita McCarthy, 59 Church Street, Gloucester NSW 2422, Tel: +61-2-6538-5302.
Gloucester Visitor Information Centre, PO Box 11, 27 Denison Street, Gloucester NSW 2422, Tel: +61-2-6558-1408, Fax: +61-2-6558-9808. |
| Last update: | $Date: 2008/07/01 20:16:05 $ |
| JUL-1876 | first gold discovered by start of gold mining. | |
| OCT-1876 | Mountain Maid Reef discovered. | |
| 1979 | end of gold mining. | |
| 2003 | managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). |
The gold was first found in alluvial deposits along both branches of Back Creek. But the bed of the creek was narrow, and the gold content low, the deposits were soon worked out. The gold was often attached to water-worn fragments of quartz. The miners looked for the quartz veins and discovered auriferous reef in the surrounding hills. Gold bearing reefs were found between the Barrington River through Copeland to the Bowman River in an some 8km long strip.
The Mountain Maid Reef runs eastnortheast to westsouthwest with an average width of 15cm.
The historic Mountain Maid Mine is managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as part of Copeland Tops State Conservation Area. It is one mine of the Copeland Goldfield, which was discovered in 1876 and produced about 11 tons of gold, which equals about AUD 400 Million. The very fist gold at Copeland was discovered by the cedar getter Mr Saxby in July 1876, at Back Creek close to the later site of the township of Copeland. The population increased rapidly to 1,100, of which 800 were miners. During the last 25 years of the 19th century there were about 70 mines around the mining town Copeland. Then the number slowly decreased until 1930 when most of the mines were closed. The town Copeland vanished, and today only few remains of the town exist.
Mountain Maid Mine is the last remaining mine of once 70. It is located in lush rainforest in the valley of the Copeland Creek. There is an exhibition of mining memorabilia and tools. From the machinery the stamper battery with the steam engines, which powered the stamper once, both still exist. The stamper battery works today and is demostrated on the tour, but it is now powered by a modern electric motor. Other machinery are the ore crusher, conveying equipment, railway with wagons, and a turntable.
The tour also includes an underground part, where the gold mine is entered and the gold bearing quartz vein can be seen. A wooden walkway extends hundreds of metres into the mountain. The mine extends some 395m into the hillside and to a depth of 180m.
The Mountain Maid Reef was discovered in October 1876 by Doust, Gill and Irwin. They opened Mountain Maid Mine the same year and yielded 417kg of gold during the first ten years. The mine was once the richest of the Copeland mines.
Some years ago Mountain Maid Gold Mine was the central part of the award winning, heritage listed Gold Town theme park. The mine was called a working mine, probably because some gold bearing quartz was removed for the on site gold washing for the visitors. Then the mine was closed and since 2003 it is managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). They are at the moment renovation the site and look for exhibits. The plan is to reopen the tourist mine in the near future.
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