Norpac Mining records.

Norpac Mining Ltd was incorporated as a private company on 7 December 1965, with a capital of $87,000.00. At the first meeting of directors held in Wellington on the 16th December 1965, Mr. F.J. Handcock was appointed General Manager, principal shareholders being Cable Price Downer Ltd., South Pacific Mines Ltd. and Benjamin H. Swig of California, U.S.A.

The operative office of the company was in Thames, later transferring to a site adjacent to the mill on Mt Te Aroha. Lead and zinc were mined at the Tui Mine on Mt Te Aroha and exported in concentrated form.

Early in 1973 the Government assisted with an advance of $102,000.00 while the Company investigated further markets for concentrates. Stemming from repercussions from the world energy crisis the prospects of continuing the trade with Japan looked bleak. Norpac’s contract with Mitsui Co. ended when the Japanese Government put an embargo on the use of concentrates contaminated with mercury.

A receiver/manager was appointed in July 1973, and the mine closed on 31 October 1973. Following a petition to the Supreme Court, Hamilton, the Company was wound up on 10 July 1975.

The records of the Company comprise chiefly correspondence, reflecting the daily operations of a mining venture which failed, the search for overseas export contracts, mine manager’s reports and annual reports data.

The arrangement is a simple format, mainly chronologically listed under several categories.

[Compiled by Ann Hiskens, for Northern Archives and Records Trust, September 1987.]