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In-Ground Ore-Roasting Kilns on the Hauraki Goldfield, Coromandel

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In-Ground Ore-Roasting Kilns on the Hauraki Goldfield, Coromandel . _STRALASIAN FIISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOCY 16, 1998 rdon. In-Ground Ore-RoastingKilns on the Hauraki Goldfield, .4nAtlas . niversity CoromandelPeninsula. New Zealand taphy of , \ational P.R.MOORE' and N.A.RITCHIE2 This paper presents the results of a study of the in-ground gold ore-roasting kilns on the Hauraki gold ,tgs,1842. field, Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand. Ore-roasting was restricted to this goldfield in New ietransfer Zealand. The study involved a review of the ore-roastingprocess, examination of historical accounts of the lia in the kilns and their operation, and recording, mapping and assessmentof all known kiln-sites. The history of ore- naeologt, roasting at each of theprincipal sites is related to the survivingfield remairc. Thepaper also incorporates an analysis of the kilns' design and operation. Some comparisow are made with similar gold ore treatmentsand ineteenth technolog,,on the Australian goldfields,partly to ascertainwhy someNew Zealand mining companiesadopted ;aeologt, ore-roasting at s time (1889-1898) long after it had largely been discontinued in Australia, where the heyday of ore-roasting was in the I860s. .c.&H. *:: :::lns of roasting(also called calcining,and occasionally the sameis in a raw or imperfectlyroasted condition. It is also .1History -r,:--:: ) as a metallurgicaltechnique are uncertain but it has a obvious that grinding machinery of every kind will perform its iin'Press, 1 a -'s:or) . For exampleit was reportedby DiodorusSiculus office more efficiently and perfectly', : :: :rptian-occupied Ethiopiasome 2000 yearsago: 'The Lock and more recently Gojak and Aller (1997:26)have : Wewsof - :-:€aiing earthwhich is hardest[quartz in this instance],they undertakenexperiments with quenching roasted quartz. Their i1-dney. ::-* : -- uith a hot fire, and when they have crumbledit this resultsshowed that it cangreatly increase friability andtherefore ,, r :i. conthuethe working of it by hand...'(Yorurg1970:65, appearsto be beneficial,but we havefound no reportsor evidence , ':: -i: {'16pbrey et al. 1998, 184). ofquenchingroasted auriferous quartz at Aushalasiankiln sites. -:: 3.-.mans(and possibly earlier civilisations) developed In fact, unlessit was donein a very controlledmanner, quenching ;:. " -,:'c-fuedbrick and masonrykilns for roastingmetallic is likely to havebeen counterproductive, given that the objective -: 1-.r :alcrning limestone. From their frst appearance,at of roastingwas to producea well dried andmore friable product - :::-- ' r :ousand yearsago, the constructionof kilns andtheir readyfor furth€rtreatments. : :": :,- :: operationhave changed little. Regularreferences to Facedwith hardrefractory ores giving poor retumsin relation rlications, -:: :---3ss as 'calcining' suggestthat both the technique to assayvalues, mining companiesin manyparts of the western ' !*:a a:rd the technology(roasting kilns) are adaptations world turnedto ore-roastinglast cenhrry. In theAmerican West, : : -:. :uch longer establishedpractice of burning lime in prior i Station', to the adoptionof reverbatoryfumaces, they seemto have ,:r.s- !:-i.tures.3 The adventof roastingkilns enabledmuch initially relied on the simple 'bonfre' (open heap)method for rnal and -r::- , -.-res to be processedand large ones were able to be roastingrefractory ores, but in Australasia(and possibly only in a ' -t i'l r-ilialll' continuously. Aushalasia),some companies constructed substantial roasting :.n of the - :-. :arual Gold: Its Occutence and Extraction,Lock kilns to alter the ore in desiredways and maximisethe returns , - niversity : . :1 , citedfwo benefitsgained from roastinggoldbearing from eachton of oreprocessed.T Obviously they had concluded -: '.:. ::: :rushing. The fust was to makeit morefriable so that the benefits of roasting (less wear and tear on crushing ' machinery and better recovery rates)outweighedany ..4rmidale :- " : -.i crushmore readily; the secondwas to achievethe ::' :: cf sulphides which hinder separationand disadvantagesassociated with the method.E ceedings, rl: * ;::-::r:r of gold particles. The extra friability of quartz Quartzroasting was widely canied out on the goldfieldsin r:-:::.: :', roastingwas mentioned as the reason why toll mills Victoria, Australia during the 1850s,but by the 1860s i Political - -' : :=::ries) in Bendigo,Victoria, Australia (in 1854) improvementsin crushingtechnology were begiruringto discredit 's and its * ::*:: :::J benveenroasted and unroastedquartz in their the process(Davey 1986). An inventoryof some2500 mining *' ;. & W.B. : . -- a :::s. chargingabout one pound per ton lessfor roasted sitesin Victoriahas documented only 23 'quartzroasting sites'.e . --5:: :.:::-se it lessenedthe wear on theircrushing machinery In the absenceofantecedents elsewhere, it would appearthat . '- :- :':a -<J).5Roasting is alsosaid to coagulatevery minute the useof 'lime-burningtype' kilns for roastingrefractory gold .r : : i1 :.-s,' floatgold') which tendto float on thewater during oresin Australasiawas pioneeredon the Victorian goldfields. :*- i.-:: amalgamationand be dischargedalong with the Threegeneralised types of wood fuelled kilns designedfor " -:i :":l -.::: theSe pIOCeSSeS. roastinggold-bearing ores have been documented in Australasia: :-.: . :retallurgicalperspective, the roastingofrefractory l. free-standing,above-ground masonry structures. '.:'i '.i:s r : htended to producedesired chemical changes 2. kilns formedby excavatinginto a hillside or mound a* ::: : :.lch higherproportion of the fme gold particlesso ' and completingthe sffucture,where necessary, with l;' - - r :e recoveredby fi,utherffeatrnents. However, roasting masonry(typically by creatinga front wall). :r : .' :'.i:.] s beneficial.Experiments by Lock revealedthat 3. subsurfacein-ground kilns (unlined or brick-lined). :-r:,:': j:: :: ercessiveroasting Of refractoryquartz in kilns - - --:::. :n rmperviousslag which impededthe actionof Twenty five gold ore-roastingkiln sites have been (23 :.s-, -:- ..-.:elvused for amalgamatinggold). A contemporary documentedin Australia in Victoria,2 in N.S.W.).Of the li -.-;:- --:::g engineerreached similar conclusions.6The total,the sole Type 3 is representedby a pair of kilns at Fentemans * :--, : '..-. :o obtainslow combustionof the wood,so asto Reefin Victoria.ro - : -:::-': heat and smeltingof the ore, which were In New Zealand,ore-roasting kilns are found only on the . - : -::: ::;live. However,despite these operational Hauraki field, a direct responseto the refractoryores therein.rr - i - (1882:1056)concluded that 'the benefitsto They areall ofthe in-groundtype (Type3), which wereemptied - -: -.'ck -'' ::- : : : : :r the friability of quutz aftercalcination are very via chutesaccessed by servicetunnels. Surprisinglyfew ofthe '' -.r- - -:---.rshter stamos will sufficeto reduceit thanwhen obsolescentkiln-pits have been filled in; most appearto have 45 just beenabandoned, while new plant was establishedelsewhere before going through the mill, thus saving a large amormt on the sites. ofmoney, the costof cutting, splitting etc., and conveying Probablybecause of their limited use,the establishmentof to the battery has been a costly matter. But the greatest roasting kilns by a handful of mining companieson the Hauraki advantageit claims is that, whilst by dry-crushing one helds barely rated a mention in contemporary newspaper ton of oreper diem canbe crushedby eachstamp, by the accounJs,although advocacy of 'pre-roasting ore,, its gradual new processdouble the result can be obtained.r? adoption by a few compnnies,and its evenfual discontinuation By 1899-1901,the overall benefits of wet-crushingwere is chronicled intermittently in official rcports and records,most recognised. Most of the mining companiesconverted their notably in the Aanual Mining Reports nthe Appendicesto the batteries to wet-crushing (in conjunction with the cyanide Journals of the House of Representallues(AJHR). process),thus negatingthe needfor ore-roasting. THE HAURAKI IilLNS: HISTORICAL AND FIELD SURVEY METHODS TECHNOLOGICAL BACKGROUNI) Our study involved an inspection of all known kiln-sites on the From the outset of goldmining in the Ohinemuri district (the Hauraki goldfield. Somehad beenbriefly describedin the course southempart of the Hawaki goldfield) in the early 1870s,the of previous surveysor are mentionedin local histories.rs miners experiencedgreat difficulty in recovering even 40% of Measurementswere madeof all the extant kilns, and plans made the assayvalue of the auriferous quartz. Dwing the next two by tape and compassof the more sipifrcant sites. Elevations decades,despite all kinds of 'fancy methods, being tried weredetennined by usinga 1.5m long Jacobsstaff Slopesand (including the La Monte smelting process,tle Railey reduction angleswere measuredby clinometer. Access into the 8 m-plus process,and the Parkesprocess), and further discoveriesofrich deepkilns was achievedby using multi-section aluminium fiee- orebodies, there was a generalsense of pessimism,particularly climbing ladders. Kiln widths were determined at the grouud at Karangahake. Entrepreneurswere reluctant to invest in the surface and, where possible, at a known depth (usually at the Karangahakemines because the low gradegold"/silver ores could level of infilling). The depth of each kiln was measuredby not be teated profitably.'2 Many methodsof heatnent were tried suspendinga nylon tape from the midpoint of a line stetched with indifferentresults 'due to the fine stateof the gold'.'3 acrossthe top. Becauseof debris
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