Story: Coal and coal mining

Huge coal seam, Mōkihinui

Huge coal seam, Mōkihinui

This coal seam – labelled ‘35 feet seam’ – in the Mokihinui Coal Company mine in the Buller area north of Westport was mined in the 1880s. The British miners who came to work on West Coast coalfields must have been impressed by the size of the seams, as they were used to working seams no more than 2 or 3 metres thick. Further south in the Paparoa and Brunner fields, seams up to 20 metres thick were found.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-035123; F
Photograph by Henry Thomas Lock

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Alan Sherwood and Jock Phillips, 'Coal and coal mining - Coal resources', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/7420/huge-coal-seam-mokihinui (accessed 19 March 2024)

Story by Alan Sherwood and Jock Phillips, published 12 Jun 2006, reviewed & revised 14 Apr 2021