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PIONEER CO
11 HUGGINS ROAD DURHAM LEAD, GOLDEN PLAINS SHIRE
PIONEER CO
11 HUGGINS ROAD DURHAM LEAD, GOLDEN PLAINS SHIRE
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Victorian Heritage Inventory
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PIONEER CO - History
Contextual History:History of Place:
Heritage Inventory History of Site:
PIONEER GOLD MINING Co., Durham Lead,
03.1857: company registered
09.1857: work begun
02.1860: tunnel extended toward the Leigh River; expect to reach the gutter soon; break in machinery causing a delay
03.1860: work recommenced
04.1860: still driving on the reef, no immediate prospects of breaking into the gutter.
06.1860: found deep ground; a bore was put in at the face and broke through.
09.1860: not yet into the gutter, proved the existence of deep ground by boring; a quartz vein 20 feet wide has been found in the face of the drive, it appears to be auriferous.
11.1860: reached the gutter after 4 years of hard driving.
02.1861: lack of air has slowed progress; erecting air machines for ventilation; average yield 5 dwt per load.
04.1861: proved the gutter to be 70 feet wide; yield about 4 dwt per load.
05.1861: erecting puddling machine and portable engine to work it.
06.1861: erected 2 puddling machines and made other important additions and alterations to the plant; during this work the water has risen in the mine and it will take 8 or 10 days to drain.
08.1861: returns for the month have been 200 ounces per week.
09.1861: last weeks yield was 120 ounces; drives are being prepared to allow the use of horses underground.
10.1861: putting in inclined drive to their workings from the main tunnel and arranging for underground working of horses; returns: 120 ounces per week.
11.1861: broken through with their incline drive; horses now employed in bringing wash-dirt from the face to the foot of the tunnel; monthly return of 210 ounces.
12.1861: monthly return was 220 ounces.
11.1862: worked with an underlie shaft at 1 in 5 for the first 200 feet; shaft, 12 feet by 6 feet; baling with iron tanks, 6 feet by 2 feet 6 inches; using a small steam winding engine; erecting a 20.25 inch by 48 inch steam engine for winding, using a boiler: 35 feet by 7 feet, a 14 inch by 42 inch steam engine for puddling with a boiler: 26 feet by 6 feet 6 inches, and 2 puddling machines; erecting another puddling machine; to erect a new machine, the invention of the company's engineer, to replace the sluice; to replace tanks with 8 inch pumps, plunger to 260 feet, drawlift for remainder (385 feet)
2 circular wire ropes imported from England at a cost of 87 pounds 10 shillings, ex Geelong, 1.5 inches diameter, 650 feet long, 6 strands; the first ropes of this type introduced on Ballarat, will use two 12 foot cast iron pulleys; 5 horses working underground
02.1863: large steam engine for pumping and winding nearly completed; pumps on the ground awaiting fixing; engine house constructed; using Cooper's patent washing machine to sluice dirt after puddling
23.03.1863: attracting considerable attention at this time and several new companies have commenced operating on a large scale; the Pioneer has just completed the erection of a new engine one of the most powerful in the district, and a new set of pumps.
05.1863: another wire rope ordered from Morton and Company, Leeds, 900 feet long; 52 shillings 6 pence per hundredweight, ex. Geelong
02.1864: new wire rope obtained; puddling machine covered in
Mid 1864: installed pumps to replace the antiquated system of hauling water up an underlie shaft, and the mine became profitable; produced 12,000 ounces of gold and employed 63 men.
09.1864: a reef 3 feet wide has been struck in the workings in the gutter at a depth of over 200 feet, a quartz claim has been obtained.
09.1857 to 08.1865: recorded production of 12,088 ozs 10 dwt (or 376.003 kg).
09.1865: obtaining sufficient gold to pay expenses.
12.1865: driving for a tributary tending from westward.
1867/8: idle when reported on by Etheridge and Murray.Heritage Inventory Description
PIONEER CO - Heritage Inventory Description
All material has been removed from the Pioneer mine site leaving only a scatter of quartz and mullock among the grass and the weeds.
Heritage Inventory Signficance: Not relevant
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