Location #378 - The Carrick Battery Smiths Creek right bank, approx 1.2 km from Carrick Road turn off on Quartzville Road.
The table below shows the groups of people that had an interest in this property, either as owners, residents, tenants or shareholders. Clicking on the 'Details' link will display a list of the individuals in the group along with any known historical information about them.
Group | Date | Description | |
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1 | 1911 - 1914 | The Carrick Gold Mining Company | Details |
2 | 1917 - 1921 | The Otago Central Consolidated Gold Mining Company | Details |
The table below shows any historical notes about the location.
Note | Date | Short Description | Note Text |
---|---|---|---|
3273 | 1911 | Battery location | On the right bank of Smith's Creek, approx 1.2 km from the Carrick Town road turnoff on the Quartzville road. |
3274 | 1911 | Mine personnel | The mine manager was Edward James Iles. The battery was erected under the supervision of a Mr Aitken (who was a carpenter) This may have been Thomas Aitken, cousin of Adam Aitken of dwelling #137. |
3275 | 1911 | Formation of the company. | On Feb 21 1911, the Carrick Gold Mining Company was registered with a capital of £30,000 subscribed to £28,000 of which cash subscriptions amounted to £13,000. There were 195 shareholders, from mainly in and around Wanganui. |
3276 | 1911 | General notes. | In June 1911 work had started on a crushing battery to process the stone from the Caledonian mine where the company had thirty men employed. Among those employed were a Mr Hamer (carpenter) and Mr Aitken (who erected the battery tables). The company purchased the old Loch Lomond dredge for its heavy timbers, boiler and machinery. The crushing machinery consisted of a battery of ten heads of revolving stamps weighing 950 lb each, working in a coffer or mortar boxes of the homestake pattern. The stamper boxes were fed by Hoscur self-feeders. The gold saving applicances consisted of electroplated copper plates, 6ft by 12ft. In front of the mortar boxes, inside amalgamation was dispensed with. After passing over the plates, the pulp passed into a conical separater 10ft depp by 6ft diameter. This cone had a jet of water entering at the bottom to aid good separation. From the cone, the sand passed to the cyanide tanks. There were 4 leaching vats, 6ft high and 25ft in diameter, two sumps and one solution tank, 3ft high and 25 ft in diameter. These tanks were all made of mild steel, the bottoms of 1/4 inch thick plate and the sides of 3/16 inch thick plate which were stiffened by 2 1/2 inch equal angle irons of 3/8 thickness. From the leaching vats, the tailings passed through two precipitation boxes then over two tables with amalgamating plates before dropping into the creek. The battery was driven by the main steam engine and boiler from the Loch Lomond while a smaller vertical steam engine drove the three pumps for the gold saving appliances. It is unclear where the components of this plant came from. The old Royal Standard Battery (location #196) was a ten head stamper and had been quite close. It may have still been standing in 1911 and acquired by the company to be modified and upgraded to become the Carrick Battery. The battery was fed by a tramway of approx 800m from the mine and a self acting incline. |
3277 | 1911 | General notes | On Nov 20 the Carrick Battery was officially opened with great ceremony and a bottle of wine. This was followed by a luncheon in the Bannockburn Jubilee Hall (Location #120) |
3278 | 1912 | General notes. | A few hundred tons of old tips and sulphide from the Caledonian mine along with about 70 tons of sulphide ore from the White Horse reef was crushed, but returns were not great. |
3279 | 1914 | Company went into liquidation. | The battery was worked from time to time to process ore, but returns were not really payable. In April 1914 the company went into liquidation. A new company was formed and took over the assets, the Otago Central Consolidated Gold Mining Company. |
3280 | 1917 | New company purchased the assets of the Carrick Gold Mining Company. | The new company (The Otago Central Consolidated Gold Mining Company) took over the assets of the Carrick Gold Mining Company when it went into liquidation, which included the Carrick Battery. |
3281 | 1918 | General notes. | The company did some prospecting and opened up a new low level adit in the new Royal Standard No 2 and connected it with a similar adit in the Crown and Cross. Despite this work, no payable ore was recovered. |
3282 | 1921 | The battery was dismantled. | In January, the Carrick Battery was dismantled and sent away for scrap - by rail from Cromwell. |
3283 | 1922 | The remaining assets of the company were sold. | In July, the Otago Central Consolidated Gold Mining Company sold up its remaining assets. |
The table below shows a list of images related to the location. Click on 'View Image' to display more details about the image, and to view the image.
Image Id | Source | Date | Short Description | |
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157 | Heart of the Desert - J P Parcell | 1911 | Carrick Battery, Smith's Gully, Carrick Range. | View Image |
436 | Heart of the Desert - J C Parcell | 1911 | Location #378 - Carrick Battery, Quartzville | View Image |
437 | Paul Crump - Bannockburn | 1999 | Location #378 - Remains of the Carrick Battery | View Image |
438 | Paul Crump - Bannockburn | 1999 | Location #378 - Remains of the Carrick Battery | View Image |
440 | Paul Crump - Bannockburn | 1999 | Smiths Gully - Right Bank - looking north. | View Image |
732 | Mr F McNulty - Cromwell | 1911 | Carrick Battery, Quartzville | View Image |
1311 | Paul Crump - Bannockburn | 2007 | Part of the Carrick Battery - location #378 | View Image |
2355 | Cromwell Argus | 21 Aug 1911 | Original Correspondence - A reply to 'Carrick' to the editor. | View Image |
2385 | Appendicies of Journals - House of Representatives | 1898/1911 | Improved apparatus for the treatment of slimes and tailings | View Image |
2388 | Paul Crump - Bannockburn | 1911 / 2007 | Precipitating / Settling Vat - location #475. | View Image |