Gold production peaked in 1866 at 22,870 kilograms, and came near this total again in 1871 (22,704 kilograms). The amount of gold that was recovered in the early gold-rush years has never been repeated. The year 1906 (17,536 kilograms) came the closest when the Coromandel Peninsula and West Coast hard-rock mines were operating, as were many gold dredges in Otago and on the West Coast. As silver only occurs on the Coromandel Peninsula, surges in its production represent hard-rock mining booms there. The recent surge in gold production can be traced back to the early 1970s, when the price of gold was floated on the open market.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Source: Annual production reports, Mines Department (later Ministry of Energy, then Crown Minerals, Ministry of Economic Development)
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