Gold Mine Tours

This is a tour not to be scoffed at!

You may be thinking that it’s a cushy ride in a custom built 4x4 tour bus, but on this tour you get so much more than a peek into the world of mining through a glass window.

• Get kitted up and be a miner for the afternoon.
• See the mine in operation and learn about modern gold mining methods.
• See big haul trucks move massive volumes of rock.
• Take in the view out to the pit and over to the Paparoa and Victoria Ranges.
• Drive to the pits edge for a view 100m down into the earths crust.
• Learn about the history of Globe Hill.
• Learn about the environment and sustainable mining.
• See the final product- a gold bearing black sand - before it goes to MacRaes Flat Mine.
• And best of all… see what it feels like to literally walk on gold.

Kit-up and come with us up to New Zealand's newest hardrock gold mine. Currently being mined by Oceana Gold, it's at the Globe just south of Reefton in the middle of Victoria Conservation Park.

It's easy to arrange your tour

                     you can book at any NZ i-site or contact us direct... tours operate:

Tours outside these scheduled times are often possible, just get in touch and we'll see if we can provide. Minimum per tour is $110.00 or two adults. Group bookings are welcomed.

Yep, looks good to me, how do I make a reservation?

Unique tours like this are fairly rare in New Zealand, and as a result we can be pretty popular.
We recommend that you give us a quick call to reserve your place just in case we fill the bus before you arrive.

Ring Ronnie or Paul on 0274 424 777 or email us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

 "From the big haul truck lovers to the greenies, mining enthusiasts and history lovers, our tours have something for everyone”

The Reefton Gold Experience

Reefton is known as 'The Town of Light' and owes its origins to the discovery of rich quartz gold reefs. In 1888, at the height of the gold rush, Reefton turned on electric street lighting before any other town in the Southern Hemisphere. Gold is part of the town's future as well as its past, after re-opening one of its Gold Mines in 2006.

Ronnie and I have set out to offer a trip through Reefton's golden past. Where well over a century ago prospectors, miners and families flocked to strike gold, and coincidentally helped to shape the nation of New Zealand with many pioneering firsts, wealth and values. There are many passionate historians in Reefton who put in hours of voluntary time and finance to record and display over 150 years of history in the region. If you didn't know already, in August 1888 Reefton became the first place in New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere to have a public supply of electricity, even before the fashionable suburbs of London and New York. So as part of tour we can pop in to the local museum and historic sites to show you an extensive collection of memorabilia including the first street electric street light in the Southern Hemisphere, a working stamper battery used to crush rock and extract gold and a sizable boulder with a quartz seam - laden with gold inside - just as nature left it

We feel that the history of the region's mining is an important start to the tour, it helps set the scene and also highlights how far we have come with today's mining technology and practices. 

"We can give you a quick glimpse of the history at the beginning of our trip up to the mine, however if you want the real deal we recommend you go on our Reefton heritage tour first. We purposely run these tours in the morning, so you can have lunch and then jump aboard the bus for the afternoon’s excursion up to the mine." Ronnie

Lots of access and action

Because of the relationship that the couple have with OceanaGolds management and the certifications and health and safety plans, you can actually get out of the bus and walk around with your guide - something quite rare within a gold mine.

Our guides will drive you round to the edge of the open pit, where you can get out and see enormous machinery, trucks, and if you are lucky the odd blowing up rock to excavate the land. Essentially an entire hill is being relocated to reach a gold seam deep under ground. This type of mining is no mean feat, so as you can imagine the view is pretty spectacular and the process is very interesting.

At the top of the Globe Gold mine you can see the rugged Paparoa and Victoria Ranges. Your guide will explain the environmental management of the mine and the conservation park. Then we take you to the processing plant and explain how all that rock is crushed and filtered so the gold can be extracted. The result is a pile of heavy sparkly black dust, which is then sent down to OceanaGold's second mine in Macraes Flat, Central Otago, to be processed and poured into billions of dollars worth of gold bars.

The dust is pretty valuable so no, you can't fill your pockets, however if you are nice... we might let you walk on the gold instead!.

We have invested in a specially customised 20 seater bus. With comfy seats, seat belts, big windows and air conditioning, our 4x4 beast can access most areas of the mine.

We can pick you up from The Broadway Tearooms & Bakery and after a drive through Reefton we travel the 20mins it takes to take you 'up the hill' and up to OceanaGold's mine. The drive itself is an adventure, climbing 200metres in xxkm with great views of the Inangahua valley. This is a private road and we have been granted special access, so no, you cannot just drive up in your car yourself!

We can easily accommodate larger groups and this can be in our bus and accompanying van, or a mixture of your bus up to the mine carpark and our transport within the mine. The road up to the mine is a good gravelled road, albiet a little steep, so one option for larger groups is to take your own bus up to the gold mine carpark and we'll transport you from there, or to split the group into two with half enjoying a look at historic Reefton while the other half travels up to the mine. We've had many 40+ groups on site.

At the tours end we will deliver you safely back to The Broadway Tearooms & Bakery where you can enjoy a complimentary coffee and watch a DVD as we wind down and debrief.

Fitness and access

Don't worry about your fitness or how physically able you are, as we will try our best to accommodate your needs while on tour.

Health & Safety

And now for the serious bit... There is a strict dress code whilst visiting the mine and so to comply with the health and safety protocol, we need you to wear sturdy enclosed walking shoes, long pants to the ankle, and long sleeved tops right down to the wrist.

We will provide the hard hats, safety glasses and hi vis vests. We have your best interests in mind and lets face it - as well as being safe you get to look like a miner for the tours duration. Learn more about the Health and Safety

Photography

You are welcome to snap away while on the tour, so your camera is welcome. We just ask that you look after it, as having a camera on the tour is at your own risk.

Rates

Adults $55, children $30 (school age), families $120, school and group discounts can be made available on request.  Our company, Tourism Horizons and OceanaGold have a special sponsorship package for school groups, so please do enquire to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Souvenirs

We have a fact sheet that you can take home with you, and for an extra five bucks you can also take home the OceanaGold DVD.  At the same time, you're supporting our community as the five dollars goes straight as a donation to our local movie theatre.

Itinerary

• Hear About Reefton’s social history with a drive through Reefton on the way up to the mine.
• Visit OceanaGold's open pit gold mine.
• Drive through the mine and to the pit edge.
• Climb up and through the processing plant.
• See the gold concentrate being floated off.
• Meet the team
• Learn the technical aspects of the operation

Schedule

Tours outside these scheduled times are often possible, just get in touch and we'll see if we can provide. Minimum per tour is $110.00 or two adults. Group bookings are welcomed.

Ring Ronnie or Paul on 0274 424 777 or email us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

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