Tom's Gully - intersection of Gully Road and the Bannockburn Nevis Road. Situated in the northern face of the terrace on the south side of Tom's Gully. This site may well have been an early coal mine adit, maybe J Smith or W R Parcell. The site is now covered with topsoil and no early records of the workings have come to the authors notice at this time.

The quartz sand is from Manuherikia group sediments. It is loose, fine and fairly pure. There are sufficient impurities present in the form of fine-grained, rather weathered mica, and probably clay found as an extremely thin coating on some of the quartz grains. This rules out the sands as a raw material for optical glass or high quality glassware. However, it could still be used for ordinary glass manufacture, although a washing plant would be required to remove the clay or iron stained horizons.

Alexander (Sandy) Robertson worked the pit periodically between 1918 and 1950. Samples were sent to Benhar for trials in the glazing of earthernware. Unfortunately the sand was found to be unsuitable for glazing. The main use for the sand was found to be for sand soap and for foundary moulding. The sand was mined by hand and bagged in flour sacks, and transported to Cromwell railhead on Ted Lawrence's two ton Chev truck. The sand was railed to Dunedin where the McLeods Soap Factory used it in the manufacture of sand soap.