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Reefton revival - small town sniffs gold fever
13 minutes to read The rock face is a dripping mask of greywacke and argillite, illuminated by the lights of the jumbo , as the rock drilling machine is known in mining jargon. The diamond drills extend toward the tunnel s end, manipulated by twin booms. Once the drilling is complete, explosives finish the job and the tunnel advances at a rate of about 8 metres a day.
The drills are silent for the moment but despite the damp, the air is dusty. And the tunnel is filled with the thrum of the ventilation system and the low rumble of a huge front-end loader. Back and forth it travels between the rubble in the tunnel s depths and the surface, a length of some 300m.
The Reddale coal mine, near Reefton, employs some of 353 West Coast coal mine workers.
New Zealanders have been told they need to stop using fossil fuels to meet the Government’s target of being carbon neutral by 2050, but where does that leave traditional coal-mining communities like the West Coast? Joanne Naish reports. Coal was first extracted from the depths of the West Coast in 1864 after the discovery of gold in the area and was used to fuel the steam ships trading the precious metal all over the world. Coal has historically kept the West Coast booming, but the industry is dependent on fluctuating international prices and suffered the loss of more than 1000 jobs after the Pike River disaster in 2010 and the subsequent collapse of state-owned coal company Solid Energy.