Location 378
Location #378 - The Carrick Battery
Map 0
Address

Area

Smith's Creek

Description

Location #378 - The Carrick Battery Smiths Creek right bank, approx 1.2 km from Carrick Road turn off on Quartzville Road.


Still Standing

No



Construction Details


Location Type

Stamper Battery


View Location on Map

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Interested Parties

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
1 1911 - 1914 The Carrick Gold Mining Company Details
2 1917 - 1921 The Otago Central Consolidated Gold Mining Company Details
Notes

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.
Images

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
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