Highlights 2008
A year of anniversaries and milestones...
In November this year we poured the two millionth ounce of gold since the operation began. Production for the 2008 calendar year is around 142,000 oz of gold and 560,000 oz of silver.
In May we marked the twentieth anniversary of the first gold pour 1988 - 2008. A community celebration was held in December to thank the community for twenty years of operation in Waihi. Hundreds of families enjoyed a relaxed fun night with bouncy castles, face painting, balloon sculptures, trampolining, dancing and fire poi displays. Stilt walkers and entertainers in awesome costumes added atmosphere to the occasion. The evening wound up with the showing of two iconic 1980s New Zealand movies on a giant outdoor screen.
In March we held the twenty-first Pre-1952 Miners' Reunion and celebrated with a special cake as well as a visit to the mine and lunch at the RSA. Seen here cutting the cake are Dick Leach and Bill Lawrence, with present underground miner Tipiwai Stainton in the centre.
The DotterelWatch partnership between Newmont Waihi Gold and the Department of Conservation continues and dotterel numbers continue to grow on Coromandel Peninsula beaches. This season at least three breeding pairs of this threatened species are nesting at the mine's waste rock embankments.
Early in 2009 NWG will hand over the management of public mine tours to Vision Waihi Trust to be run on a commercial basis. NWG will provide and maintain the tour minibus and VWT will employ tour guides and charge a fee for mine tours. All proceeds will go towards the work of VWT to promote Waihi as a tourist destination.
This marks the end of an era as public mine tours have been run by the company since before operations began in 1987. (Tours for school groups and Education Centre sessions will continue to be managed by Newmont Waihi Gold staff).
The eighth open day in the open pit was held in January, attracting around 10,000 visitors and raising thousands of dollars for Lions-sponsored charities.
Waihi's Gold Story is the mine interpretation centre downstairs at the Waihi Visitor Centre. It opened in December 2007 and has received around 30,000 visitors this year .
The Pit Rim Walkway was officially opened in October 2008. Four kilometres of tracks and thousands of trees and shrubs are now established. The final construction stage joins the Roycroft Street section to the Cornish Pumphouse and completes the entire circuit.
