Gold was first discovered in 1852 but it was its discovery in the [?] Island that caused prospective miners to flock to the region, resulting in a gold [?].

The first type of gold mined was [?] gold which had been eroded from and transported by [?]. It was not until the discovery of the [?] process in 1889 that gold could be extracted from [?] in hard rock.

The first mines were generally [?] such as at Waihi. This type of mining was very primitive, using [?] and shovels to hew the gold and [?] to pull the wagons containing the ore to the [?]. It was then pulled to the surface by ropes where huge [?] crushed the ore ready for processing. This type of mining continued until the 1950s, when the of gold dropped.

However by the 1980s the price increased again. Also new users such as in the [?] industry increased [?]. New mines were established which tended to be [?] taking advantage of new [?]