Directions

Turn off the highway 1.6 kms north of Waimangaroa onto O'Connor Road. Drive through the farm following occasional DOC markers. The pleasant car park and picnic area is located near Stony Stream. The track from here leads up the valley.

Britannia Track

Claim your own Gold!

If you’ve got gold fever you only have to walk in about 20 minutes to reach a signposted Gold Fossicking area; follow the wide and smoothly graded bullock track up an easy climb. A sign marks the gold fossicking area after 20 minutes.

However, the restored battery is impressive and well worth the rest of the walk. There are also cyanide tanks, and other fantastic heritage goldmining machinery all in good condition.

Continuing upvalley, several tracks lead off. The first drops down to the Republic Battery site. A few scattered remnants remain here. The main track becomes rougher and crosses a few hillside streams before turning off the bullock track and dropping down to the Britannia Battery site.

How they processed the Gold

The function of the 5-head stamper was, as its name suggests, to crush or stamp the gold-bearing quartz rock.  The development of the cyanide process for extracting gold and silver from crushed quartz revolutionised hard-rock gold mining in New Zealand in the 1890s. Before cyanide, a mercury amalgam was used to chemically recover gold and silver, but it was only half as effective. Cyanide allowed far more of the gold and silver to be recovered, making previously marginal mining operations profitable.

Alternate return route – scenic!

From the Republic Battery site there is an old and not well marked trail leading downstream.  It crosses and recrosses the stream.  An old miners' road soon leads back to the main track by the gold fossicking sign.

History

The Britannia Mining Company operated small stampers from 1896 to 1910.  But the impressive 5-head stamper battery you see today dates back to the 1920’s and 30’s when the mining started again.  It stopped in 1937.

How it got it’s Name

Britannia is a female figure which represents the British Empire, the era in which this mine was begun. She is often shown seated with a lion at her feet.  She was first invented by the Romans 2,000 years ago and is the godess of war and passion.