The first quartz mine in Otago has been recognised with the highest category of heritage listing.
The Otago Pioneer Quartz Mine Complex at Waipori has been listed as a category 1 historic place by Heritage New Zealand.
HNZ Heritage adviser Heather Bauchop said the listing combined 10 individually listed archaeological sites to create a single historic place.
"Collectively, these archaeological sites form the Otago Quartz Mine Complex, the first quartz mine established in Otago and one of the longest-continually running quartz-mining endeavours in the region.''
Work at the complex began in 1862, after gold was discovered at Gabriel's Gully, near Lawrence.
The work at the mine continued until the early 20th century.
Archaeological artefacts remained on site and offered an insight to how the mine operated.
The miners used the latest technology of the time, she said.
Archaeological features remaining on site represented typical quartz-mining operations, such as battery sites, shafts, water races, mullock heaps and water wheels.
Descendants of the 19th-century miners were planning a reunion at the site this year to recognise their shared heritage, she said.
"A party of Shetland Islanders found the first gold-bearing quartz reef as early as March 1862, and a succession of companies and miners followed them over the years to try their luck in search of prosperity, including Chinese miners and the Canton Battery.
"The Otago Pioneer Quartz Mining and Crushing Company took over the reef from Shetland Islanders, who had been working by hand, and imported a stamper mill and water wheel. By 1912, some 70 companies had mined for quartz at Waipori.''
Once the gold-mining finished, the land reverted to farming and mining sites were marked by their water races and machinery remnants.
In 1987, the land associated with the complex became stewardship land under the Conservation Act, recognising its natural and historic values.
"The site is well worth a visit, even just to appreciate the windswept and often cold landscape the miners had to endure.''
