Page 61 - 00 Volume 5 The Mine

River at Huntly was the biggest load ever moved in of coal is among the highest in the country. In some
New Zealand, according to Mr W Sunde, transport places the overburden is 220 feet thick on top of the
manager for Dale's Freightways Ltd, of Auckland. 25 to 30-foot thick seam, but this does not prevent
Dales moves the dredge in a week- Kimihia from being an economic proposition.
long operation, ending with a four-hour, The coal, although well buried, is
three mile journey early last Sunday extremely clean and compares favourably with
morning. any other household coal in the country.
Combined weight of truck, The mine started production about 20 years ago
trailers, pushing units and load totalled (1944) and a million tons of coal came out of the
more than 200 tons, and measured 156 tunnels before it was changed to opencast. The
feet long, 32 feet wide and 24 feet high. removal of ten million tons of overburden produced
1,200,000 tons of coal before the mine ceased

The chain of vehicles, headed by the giant production in January 1962.
Scammell Contractor, had a total of more than 100 It is estimated that another 1,750,000 tons of coal
wheels on the ground. remain to be won by opencast methods and this will
still leave a substantial quantity which, although
"There wasn't a crane in the country that could too deep to be mined by opencast, could be won by
lift the load," Mr Sunde said.
"So we had to jack it up manually. When we'd conventional tunnel methods.
jacked it up 8 feet the trailers were backed in Stripping and other work has carried on at the
underneath and the dredge lowered on to them. mine site since production temporarily ceased.
"All the trailer units were self-levelling, to ensure The old bins have been demolished and a modern
that all wheels carried an equal load whatever the coal treatment plant built in their place. This
level of the road surface." plant screens, crushes and classifies the coal
The dredge is to be overhauled by its new owners, from the mine into coarse, nuts and slack grades.
Dredging and Reclamation Ltd, of Christchurch, Belt conveyor
for work on the Waikato River or for resale. A belt conveyor system transports the coal from
A coal mine with an unusual, even unique, history the face to the bins, and thence away in railway
will resume production within the next fortnight after wagons, with a minimum of handling.
being idle for more than two years. It is the Kimihia Stripping of the overburden from the Kimihia
opencast, about three miles north-east of Huntly, seam started in 1941-42 and is likely to go on
from which the staggering total of 10 million cubic indefinitely. The spoil will be dumped in the areas
yards of overburden has been removed and from from which the coal is removed.
which a similar amount has still to be taken before In 1969 the production of coal was between
the mine closes for good. 110­150,000 tons a year with an estimated
1,350,000 tons in reserve. The average weekly
Perhaps the most unusual feature of the Kimihia output of 2,500 tons was used mainly for factories
mine is the fact that it is taking a new lease of life. In and hospitals in the Waikato.
these days of oil and electric power there are more In 1970 it was planned that 6,000,000
mines closing than opening in the coalmining yards of overburden was to be stripped at the rate
industry but an increased demand for the good of 500,000 yards a year. Part of the old lake bed
type of housecoal which the mine produces has which was not to be stripped was under
rejuvenated Kimihia.
consideration for use as an airstrip.
About 600 tons of coal will be hauled from the In these years Mr B Phillips of Downer & Co
mine daily, with, of course, coal for the Waikato and managed both the Kimihia and the Weaver's
Auckland districts, "nuts" for dairy factories and slack Crossing opencast mines.

for the steam power station at Meremere. Early in 1969 Mr Bill Scurr retired after 52
If Kimihia's future is as bright as its past is years in the mines. He was born in Kaitangata in
interesting, then all will be well. The seam 1902 and started work at 13. He worked at
originally lay under a lake about 600 acres in area Rotowaro in 1919 and during World War 2 he
which has now dwindled to about one third of its worked at the old Holland's Mine, now the site of
size, much of it having been filled with the the Kimihia Open Cast.
overburden from the opencast stripping work. In 1972 Winstones took over the now-vacant
The mine is one of the few in New Zealand school paddock and the surrounding farm and
to have started its life as an underground recovered the underlying clay for its brick-works
working and to have been converted to opencast, operation in Huntly.
with its hitherto black maze of tunnels and galleries In 1978 the opencast mine closed and
laid open to the sun. reverted to underground workings with new
technology.
Coal is clean
The ratio of ten yards of overburden to one ton