On Thursday 14 May, Year 11 Geography students went on a day trip exploring the gold mine in Waihi.
It was an early start, leaving at 7.00am and after the long two-hour drive, we arrived at the education centre. Here, we kitted up in our safety gear and drove to the processing plant. We learnt about the upgrades they are carrying out on their equipment for the Waihi North project and the journey of extracting gold and silver. They also shared with us a story of how a young boy swallowed an ounce of gold (valued at $2,000), and they spent weeks trying to get it out of him.
After exploring the mine sites in person, we drove back to the education centre, where we went on a virtual tour of the underground mine and had an informative talk by Phil Salmon about the overall operation of the mine. Once we had finished our Waihi Gold Mine operation tour, we drove to the Karangahake Gorge to end our day with the Windows Walk.
The day was very informative, and we learnt a lot about the operation, which will help us in our assessment.
Jackson Barker – Year 11
