Gold mining Prince of Wales gold mine The main gold mine in the area was the Prince of Wales gold mine. It was operated together with another mine known as the Sybil mine. Bought by a London syndicate,
Howell's Consolidated Gold Mines, in 1896, with the aim of a major expansion, by mid 1900, the mine was employing 350 men. From mid 1898 to around 1900, the manager of the mine was
George Henry Blakemore, who was also the General Manager of Howell's Consolidated Gold Mines. There were
stamper batteries, in total thirty stamper heads. Near the mine entrance were a
poppet head, 55 feet high, winding machinery, sawmill,
farrier's shop, the stamper batteries, and the manager's residence. to the higher of two dams. From there, any excess water overflowed into the lower dam. Water was pumped from the lower dam to another excavated dam that fed the stamper batteries. A fourth dam was reserved for the domestic water supply. The mine itself also needed pumping out to keep some levels dry enough for mining. In 1899, the main haulage shaft was 300 feet deep. From there, a separate shaft, with ladder access, descended to the 500 foot level. The mine was pumped out using a steam pump, at the bottom of the main shaft, where there was also a steam winch, used to lift from the 500 foot level to the 300 foot level. A well at the bottom of the main shaft, at 300 foot level, was used to capture seepage and to condense steam exhausted by the two steam engines. The well was the site of a horrendous death by scalding, in September 1899, when a platman accidentally stepped into an open lift compartment and fell a short distance, into the well of hot water. At around the same time, the mine installed a second-hand air compressor, to power
rock drills, and extended its main shaft to 500 feet in depth. In October 1900, the Prince of Wales mine was the scene of a remarkable survival. Samuel Lecount, on the day after he had been married, fell into the shaft, from the 300 foot level of the mine. After he had fallen around 80 feet, his leg became entangled in a knocker line tearing his
calf and exposing the bone in his leg, but saving his life. In 1921, he died in another fall, this time of 400 feet, down a shaft, at the
Mount Boppy mine, at
Canbelego. Reportedly, the
amalgamation gold recovery process that was used left a significant proportion (20% to 25%) of the gold in
tailings, and was inefficient compared to more modern methods, such as the
cyanide process. but mining by
tributers continued. An auction failed to attract any bids, but later negotiations for its sale took place The mine reopened in December 1904. At the time of reopening, there were reportedly 80,000 tons of tailings, with a significant gold content, which were sold off separately to the mine and its equipment. The renewed operation was brief; the company could not pay its debts, and its lease and assets were sold at auction in March 1906. In the meantime, the tailings had been treated, using the cyanide process, by a Mr Wilkinson, formerly of
Barmedman. By June 1911, the mine had been closed for six years and was once again in the hands of
tribute miners. In 1916, it was reported that the equipment of the 500
foot deep mine was still there, but the support timbers were rotting. Remnants of the machinery of the Prince of Wales gold mine still existed in 1982.
Long Tunnel mine There was another rich gold mine, the Long Tunnel Mine, at the southwestern end of the modern-day locality. Gold mining in that area dates from 1883, but reef mining operations began in October 1894. Originally known as the Long Flat mine, it was renamed the Long Tunnel mine, around 1897, after a 400
yard tunnel had been driven into the hillside to allow easier access quartz reef at the 180 foot level. During this period the mine was owned by George Rice, discoverer of the reef, and James Robinson, the owner of the land upon which the mine was situated, the Kimo estate. Some very rich patches of reef were found, including a
ton of quartz that yielded
£1,000 worth of gold. The mine closed around 1900, and the mining lease eventually lapsed. In 1910, it was reopened, by a syndicate, including James Robinson and some local Gundagai businessmen, but not George Rice. The two original partners had fallen out, after Robinson had planned to take out a new mining lease over the mine, on his own. Rice and some local businessmen became aware of that plan, formed a syndicate, and obtained the new lease first. However, circumstances later forced Rice to sell his share, and the highest bidder was none other than Robinson. By May 1911, miners were extracting rich gold-bearing quartz. Rice, already in poor health, died at the end of August 1912, a pauper, with his funeral being paid by the shareholders of the mine. An observer at the time noted that the mine had been "practically worthless" when Rice owned it, but "Now the gold is coming out of it in pieces so pure that
dynamite won't burst the quartz". The mine was sold to another syndicate, Long Tunnel Mining Company, in 1917. It closed again around 1925, and was in the possession of
receivers from January 1926. The mine last reopened, after it was bought by a local syndicate at the beginning of the 1930s. It continued to operate until around 1941, when its last manager, Harry Kenny, died. The final end of the mine came in November 1942, when its equipment and buildings were sold. The mine's name lives on in modern-day Long Tunnel Road,
Johnston's Hill A company, Mount Kimo Gold Mining, was floated in London, in 1897, to expand a gold mine at Johnston's Hill. The location of the mine was west of the Prince of Wales mine.
£160,000 was raised in the capital, and a significant processing plant was being established at the mine, together with a settlement of around 200 people. A road was constructed to Johnson's Hill, beginning at the crown of the hill leading to Reno. The now long-forgotten mine is noteworthy for the transport of its huge 21-ton 8-
cwt boiler. It had taken around seven weeks to move the boiler the eight or so miles from Gundagai to the mine, as its weight damaged bridges and ploughed roads along the route, delaying progress. Then, in 1901, the boiler was hauled, from the mine back to Gundagai, by a team of 32
bullocks, two horses and seven men, on a specially designed 'trolley', taking only eight days. Once in Gundagai, the boiler was sent by rail to the ironworks of
William Sandford at
Lithgow. A small but rich mine, at Johnston's Hill, was the Turn of the Tide mine. It was first owned by its discoverer, Roberts, and a Gundagai grocer, Corbett. In February 1897, 146
oz 17
dwt of gold was produced from 11 tons 8
cwt of ore. It was being mined by tributers, by the end of 1898, still producing 3 oz to the ton. It was still in production, from 1906 to at least 1915, being operated, by Collingridge.
Mining village of Reno A mining village, named Reno, was established near the Prince of Wales gold mine. The village was laid out in 1900, The village site was in a
saddle, and was on the northern side of the road to Gundagai. That road, modern-day Reno Road, where it passed through the village site was officially known as Prince Street. A school opened in April 1900, and had 90 pupils that year. As well as the hotel there were shops, including a general store, bakery, butcher, and chemist (pharmacy). The post office opened in August 1898, and the village had a telegraph connection, via a line to Gundagai post office, from late September 1899. There was a Catholic church, Sacred Heart, and a Catholic school. Predating the hotel was a venue known as 'the Kimo Workingmen's Club', which achieved some notoriety, apparently as a means to circumvent liquor licensing laws; its building was eventually replaced by a drapery shop in 1901. There was also another 'club' known as the 'Prince of Wales Workingmen's Club', which had similar aims. Reno had a two-room police station, from 1899, with one constable, whose first task was reported to have been "sorting out 'undesirables'." The images reveal that, while the mine buildings were typically robust industrial buildings for the time, the shops and dwellings of the village and its immediate surroundings were of primitive construction, being
slab huts with
corrugated iron or
tree bark roofing. The early end of large scale gold mining at the Prince of Wales mine, compounded by Reno's relatively close proximity to the larger town of Gundagai, resulted in the rapid decline and eventual complete disappearance of the village. The police station had closed by the end of 1905. The post office closed in April 1910. but the hotel building was being used as a private residence, when it was destroyed by fire in March 1911. By June 1911, all that remained of the village was the public school, one dwelling, a church, and the mine buildings. The school had only one teacher and around 16 children in 1917; it closed in October 1921. presumably for demolition or relocation. In August 1928, the Lands Board leased the, by then, nearly-deserted 40 acre village site, for use as a
poultry farm. The design of the village was cancelled in January 1931. It took until November 1967 to revoke the dedication of the school land, by which time "Reno" was no longer used to describe the locality; the old school name appeared in inverted commas in the notice. The former village's name once again became used for the locality only after 2016. == Present Day ==