Golden Point Reserve is a DOC historical reserve north of Macraes. Take Golden Point Road from Macraes Road to the east of the town and follow past the Oceana Gold processing facility to the reserve access road. On the way, take note of the unusual “land sculpture”, a series of terraces on the side of Golden Point Road north of the reserve entrance. The reserve is one of the better-preserved South Island gold mining sites, with several buildings and remnant equipment from the period and an accessible mine tunnel.
The history of Golden Point Reserve is rooted in the gold rush era. Gold was first discovered around Macraes in 1862, attracting over 500 miners to the area by 1865. The initial focus was on alluvial mining near the town, which evolved into hard rock underground reef mines by the 1870s. The area also saw the discovery and mining of scheelite, a mineral from which tungsten is extracted.
Golden Point came a bit later and opened in 1889. Several companies operated in the area, and the Golden Point Mining Company battery remained in operation until the 1950s. The Maritana Company battery processed scheelite from 1911 for use in building armour plating and heavy guns during WWI and WWII.
The goal of the hard rock mining at Golden Point was to extract quartz, which houses gold. The resulting ore was crushed in water to a fine slurry in the stamping batteries. The slurry was then dissolved in mercury or cyanide, releasing the gold particles. The surviving equipment includes the Maritana Company stamping battery.
