Kōrero: Radioactive minerals

Dredge at work, Gillespies Beach

Dredge at work, Gillespies Beach

A small dredge worked the beach sands for gold on Gillespies Beach, South Westland, in the 1930s and 1940s. Significant levels of radioactivity were found in the dredge-sand concentrates. During the Second World War this seemed to be the best chance of finding uranium in New Zealand, but subsequent testing showed that the uranium content was too low to be of economic value.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Thelma Kent Collection (PAColl-3052)
Reference: 1/2-009157; F

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Rebecca Priestley, 'Radioactive minerals - Prospecting for uranium', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/photograph/4778/dredge-at-work-gillespies-beach (accessed 29 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Rebecca Priestley, i tāngia i te 12 Jun 2006