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UPDATE:
We continued our search for information on the Cherry Tree Gold Mines and the relics shown below. And according to The Clarence & Richmond Examiner, some of the equipment was purchased in England, Circa 1890
And when we spotted a bell shaped item exactly like the one we found while enjoying a NZ photography website, straightaway we sent an email,
Here’s their reply.
Hi Jack, I’m not an expert, but I understand the bowls had heavy grinding weights in them that further broke down quartz into a slurry after the stamping batteries had down their work. It’s a further refinement stage to extract more gold.
Cheers, Rob Suisted – Nature’s Pic Images
We sent another email, this time to Paul Mahoney, Dept of Conservation Historic Heritage
Here’s what he said.
Hi Jack – the one with the bevel gear is called a berdan. It was used for
grinding crushed quartz into a paste to extract the gold.
cheers, Paul Mahoney |
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BERDAN PAN – The bar on the right could have been the control, engaging a gear or dog clutch |
| Berdan Pans
A machine for crushing ore, patented in 1852. Consisted of a circular pan or bowl, set of an angle and rotated by a central shaft. Iron balls or blocks inside the pan crushed the ore by grinding it against the sides of the pan as it revolved. Lighter particles slopped over the side of the tilted pan. Usually used for the final regrinding of gold concentrates with mercury added to amalgamate released gold.
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| Jude discovering the bit |
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A Google search for Berdan Pan returned five sites, one showing another Cherry Tree relic, a Huntington Mill.
Here are the top and bottom halves of a Huntington Mill abandoned at Cherry Tree Creek |
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Huntington Mill
A machine for crushing ore in use from the 1890s. Operated as a centrifugal roller mill, with steel rollers rotating against the side of a cylindrical iron pan. Carried out the same functions as the stamper battery, and though by no means as common, is still found either complete or in pieces on some sites
For More information:
https://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/huntington-mill |
The action is that the mill is fed through a hopper with ore and water, the interior rotating rollers and scrapers throw the ore against the ring-die, where it is crushed by centrifugal force of the rollers. The pulverized ore and water is thrown through screens, and leaves the pulp in good condition for concentration. The rollers are so accurately fitted the concentration passes freely over the quicksilver and amalgam without further grinding. It is said that for wet crushing and gold saving to have no equal, while its cost is less than a stamp battery.
http://www.nelmes.fsnet.co.uk/paxman/pax1890s.htm |
| The remains of the smelter and some bits next to what could have been a house up near the creek mouth |
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| Taken from near the creek |
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| Square chambers for smelting the gold ? |
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| Cracks in the brickwork show the hillside will overcome this one day |
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The long tray has slots cast inside, probably to hold a screen and there are bits of cast wheels that ran on a track |
