But Thames acquired a reputation for speculative holding of unworked ground despite regulations designed to check it, and some miners left for Queensland.
[3][4] In October 1852 Charles Ring who had been on the California goldfields and his brother Frederick found some gold flakes on the banks of Driving Creek.
His brother was responsible for the Hunt’s Duffer incident on the West Coast in 1866, when he escaped from a large crowd of miners who followed him to Bruce Bay.
[8] A contemporary description in 1868 said that the population of the Thames Gold Fields was at least 18,000, with 11,000 miner’s rights issued, “but many persons who hold shares do not reside upon the diggings”.
[9] The five leading companies in the 1870s were the Caledonian, Moanataiara, Alburnia, Kuranui (Barry’s Claim), Long Drive and Una Hill (Hape Creek); but there were scores of failures.
In most Thames and Coromandel mines the rich patches were interspersed among low-grade ore.[10] The Waiotahi Company was notable for being prudently managed by James Smith from 1873 to 1904 so not requiring "reconstruction".
[11] In 1889 the Crown Mine at Karangahake was the first in the world to use the McArthur-Forrest cyanide process developed in Scotland which increased recovery from low-grade ores and discarded tailings.