Like the Thames School of Mines it is a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 listed historic building.

[1] In the same year Professor James Gow Black from the University of Otago commenced lecturing there and an application was made to the government for a School of Mines building; land was granted in Shiel St.

[2][3] Other Schools of Mines were set up in Coromandel, Waikato, West Coast, Nelson and Otago.

The building was then used by the St John's Ambulance from 1972 to 1989 when the Reefton School of Mines Historic Reserve was created.

[2] Since 1990 the building has been registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I structure, with registration number 263.