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Story: Gold and gold mining

Crushed quartz

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Crushed quartz

These dusty miners, pictured in 1952 at Waihī’s Martha mine, sit around a fully laden ore truck. It was the year the richest New Zealand gold mine closed. Between 1878 and 1952 the Martha mine produced more than twice as much gold as all of New Zealand’s other hard-rock gold mines put together.

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Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira

Reference: H109

Permission of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Gold and gold mining – Coromandel Peninsula, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/8602/crushed-quartz (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 2 March 2009.