Just putting out there in the off chance, does anyone have coordinates for the talisman #5 level
adit in the Karangahake Gorge |Mountain area, near Waihi,have the area pinpointed we think but cant locate it,cheers tom
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What is your interest in the Number 5 level?? You do know that there is a mining permit on the Talisman Mine. Owners/operators are New Talisman Gold Mines Limited. So you probably shouldn’t be going in there anyway. I don’t know the coordinates but do know where the No/ 5 level is. I used to live in Waihi & have been all over Mt Karangahake & in the tunnels. Found some nice samples of ore & have some that I have diamond cut & shows gold freely. Here is a level plan of the No/ 8 & 5a levels.
Some pics from inside the no/ 8 level.
Ore chute.
ore sampling cuts
JW 
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Last time my mate was in there was 16 years ago,as to why we know the general area,yes we know about oceana,and the warnings about entering old tunnels,we have probably walked past it a dozen times,but it keeps alluding us,As one of my interests I like to find ,locate, photograph, and record and if safe to explore a little,any chance of a topomap and approximate location.
Pretty sure it’s still getting mined, why don’t you contact new talisman mines direct. I know they have had a heap of trouble with the local hippy frog lovers and won’t take to kindly to anyone wandering.
Gav
To do the right thing we did ask for permission,as we expected we got a " no" to any mine shaft entry as dangerous and not recommended ,although they said we can do recreational panning in the gorge. Talking to a local who lives in the area,he has had very little mining traffic past his place in the last few years, up to the no 8 level portal, where New Talisman started mining again a few years back,he didnt know why they have stopped.He also didnt know where #5 was??
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Photos of the level 8 compound and portal
My research over time has come up with 4 no/5 levels. Three of those are to do with the old Crown Mine on the Crown Reef & the Welcome Reef. And a no/5 level on the Maria Reef of the Talisman Mine, which is the one I am picking you are looking for. One piece of information I have come across stated a No/5 level of the Crown Mine being at the Waitawheta River level & being the main entrance, which doesn’t make sense as on the sectional plan of the Crown Mine workings the levels are numbered Ib, 2b etc as they go below the main entrance. And labeled 1a, 2a etc as they go above the main entrance. You will notice that 5a level of the Crown Mine is on the same level as the No/8 level of the Talisman mine. As per that pic I put up of Heritage Golds 8 & 5a Level Plan. 5a level is accessible by what looks like an old ore cart track. Pretty overgrown when I followed it. It goes from the No/8 level area & goes around towards the Waitawheta River. Pretty steep drop off country. The drive was deep in water so I didn’t venture into it. Heritage Gold were responsible for driving the Keillors Crosscut in the 1980’s for ventilation as Level 5a also exited the mountain. In the process they cut through what they discovered & called the Mystery Vain. You may find this an interesting read. NTL will be New Talisman Gold Mines Limited.
Mystery Vein
The Mystery Vein is a high priority target for development and will be tested
as part of the bulk sampling phase.
It was discovered in the late 1980’s when Keillors Crosscut was driven to
connect the Talisman 8 Level with the Crown Mine 5A Level to provide
ventilation flow. The previous mine owners drove on the Mystery Vein 30m
north and 20m south of Keillors Crosscut.
NTL have channel sampled and drilled 3 diamond holes. There is currently a
small resource of 10,300 oz Au and 17,100 oz Ag. The vein lies between the
Maria and Welcome/Crown Veins approximately 200m east of the Maria Vein. Its
orientation, width and character are consistent with the two main veins mined
historically.
Examination of surface and underground geochemical sampling results from the
newly acquired historic data shows the possibility that the Roderick Dhu
veins that occur around 600m north of the Mystery vein may well be the same
vein system.
NTL has long speculated that this might be the case and analysis of the new
data supports this. The grades recorded in the historical data set from 39
surface outcrop and underground channel samples range from below detection to
84.0 g/t gold with an average of 11.89 g/t Au and 107.4 g/t Ag. Sample widths
range from around 10cm to 1.8m and average 0.4m.
Crown Mine above 5A Level
The Crown mine which historically extracted gold from two main veins the
Welcome and the Crown has JORC 2004 compliant measured, indicated and
inferred resources of 29,500 oz gold and 59,400 oz silver delineated.
This was based on channel sampling carried out by NTL in 2004 on the 5A level
which runs parallel to the Talisman mine 300m to the west. The 5A Level has a
known length of over 500m. Most historic mining occurred below the 5A level
with limited prospecting drives on the surface. NTL have seen the
continuation of the Crown Vein between this level and the surface
approximately 180m above as an exploration target that if results warranted
could be accelerated into production.
Examination of the historic data from 123 surface or near surface samples of
the Crown Vein show that what appear to be mainly channel samples, to be
averaging 10.47 g/t gold, 19.0 g/t silver with an average sample width of
0.86 metres. Sample widths ranged from 0.1m to 3.0m, while gold grades range
from 0.05 g/t to 147.5 g/t.
Sutro Workings
The Sutro workings lie approximately 100m east of the Crown Mines surface
outcrop. These appear to be a southward extension of the north east trending
Imperial veins. Their significance is now apparent from the historic data and
they require further work to develop the target but do demonstrate the
potential for the permit area.
Preliminary observations are that the veins in the Sutro workings from which
39 channel samples were taken range in gold values.
HISTORIC DATA SHOWS INCREASED DUBBO POTENTIAL AND ENHANCED TARGET AREAS AT
TALISMAN
Talisman Exploration Potential
The Company sees a significant upside to the whole Talisman project from
increased exploration potential based on further analysis of its own
exploration data and incorporating historic data now available to it. This
follows acquisition a large amount of historic data in 2015 that was not
previously available. Analysis is ongoing but preliminary results are
extremely encouraging.
Work over the last several years has focused on obtaining the necessary
consents and permits for the staged development of the Talisman Mine. Now
that this is well advanced it is timely to look to the future to increase
mine life and future production.
Once its development targets are reached the company plans to use surplus
funds to expand its exploration to increase gold resources within the
Talisman Permit area which is part of the 4km by 3km epithermal gold system
that the Talisman and Rahu gold projects lie within.
Exploration attention will be directed in the immediate future to those areas
that are likely to be more accessible from within areas slated for early
development. These are:
o Extensions to the Dubbo Zone, mainly at depth
o The Mystery Vein and its possible northward extensions in the Roderick Dhu
workings around 600m north.
o The Sutro workings to the east of the
o The Crown Mine above 5A Level
o Crown Mine
A number of other exploration targets exist namely, Talisman Depth
Extensions, Talisman South, Taukani Hill, Crown-Welcome Depth Extensions, the
Comstock workings, Dominion Knoll.
Reference in the following text to targets, exploration targets,
mineralisation, extensions to resources, exploration potential are defined as
Exploration Targets in the 2012 JORC Code and that the potential quantity and
grade is conceptual in nature, that there has been insufficient exploration
to estimate a Mineral Resource and that it is uncertain if further
exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.
The historic data being cited here is based on examination of old mine plans,
drawings and digital data. Information on quality control procedures,
analytical methods, sampling methods are not known and have not been
verified.
Exploration Targets
Dubbo Zone
The Dubbo zone occurs on the Maria Vein some 800m inside the mine along No 8
Level and is the largest of the mines existing ore blocks containing some
145,000 oz gold of the mines 204,600 oz mineral resource at an average gold
grade of 10.1 g/t Au.
Of particular significance to immediate extensions to the current resource is
that the historic data acquired in 2015 includes plans showing data that
suggests potential depth extensions of the Dubbo Zone.
One such plan, thought to have been compiled circa 1919, is a long section of
the Talisman Mine showing the results and location of approximately 2142
channel samples that were taken up rises and winzes within the mine. As was
the convention of the day, the grade of these samples is presented as the
cash value of bullion (combined gold and silver) contained in a ton of ore
based on a gold price of ?4.25 per troy ounce.
From the records gold:silver ratios range generally from 1.4 to 1:6 with
considerable variation. Hence in analysing the data the prevailing gold price
at the time of ?4.25 per troy ounce has been used as the best method to
convert the cash values to equivalent gold ounces.
The data shows the results of 541 samples taken in raises from 10, 11, 12 and
13 Levels immediately below the occurrence of the Dubbo zone on No 8 Level.
Analysis of all these samples yields a mean of 13.26 g/t gold equivalent.
Using a 3.0 g/t Au lower cut off to these samples yields a mean of 28.61 g/t
Au equivalent within a sample range of 125.17 g/t. This lower cutoff is the
same as applied in the company’s ore reserve calculations.
This grade is significantly higher than the 10.1 g/t Au value in the
company’s mineral resource estimate for the Dubbo and demonstrates potential
upside for production planning. The extension of the Dubbo Zone lies
immediately below workings planned in the Five Year production plan and can
be readily accessed by extending the planned ramp system downwards at a very
small incremental capital cost.
While the quality control and assurance procedures in place at the time that
the samples were taken cannot be verified and the data cannot be used to
generate mineral resource or reserve estimates that will comply with the
requirements of the JORC code, the information certainly confirms the
company’s view that the Dubbo Zone extends further to depth and that this
zone will play an important role in the future operational plans of the mine.
Any way… Back to the No/5 levels. Here is a sectional of the Old Crown Mine workings & levels.
I believe the top one is on the Crown Reef & the lower more substantial workings are on the Welcome Reef.
This one is the final workings of the Talisman Mine after it amalgamated &/or incorporated neighbouring claims. Namely the Woodstock & Dubbo Mines on the Maria Reef/lode. The Welcome Lode at the top refers to the Crown mine in the above pic.
The No/ 5 level in the Talisman workings (old Woodstock workings) Does not come out on the access road/track going up & around the hill. There was a very faint track going up through the bush regrowth to its entrance back when I “found” it. There was at that time an old ore cart sitting at the entrance. I thought that was pretty cool. Hopefully I thought it may have been forgotten about or it was too difficult for anyone to pinch & get out of there. I didn’t get back there for quite a few years & on doing so the cart was no longer there. I was really pissed off. I was picking that Heritage Gold must have come across it when they were doing there shit up there exploring & sussing out the old workings. They would have a key to the locked gate at the bottom of the road/track & able to drive up to where the faint track left the road up to that level. Still would have been a bit of a mission to get the cart down to the road. That or DOC took it. Just hope it has gone to a museum where the public can view it & not some pricks garden ornament.
No/4 level I believe goes right through the hill from one side of the access road & comes out on the western side. The eastern side is not quite on the road but not far above it. From memory. You can feel the breeze blowing through it.
Hope that was a bit useful to you. Probably not. 
JW
Yep your absolutely right,there are numerous 5/5A levels around,the Crown 5A level at the #8 Talisman level,dosn’t coincide with the #5 we are looking for which we presume is off the #7 hauraki level walking track,above the #8 portal.(Ha numbered out now),but my mate is doing another sortie on his own,hes been there before like I said in another post 16 years ago,so hes adamant its there and hes frustrated he cant find it,so if he finds nada then I said to him we move on.But yes its the talisman level we were looking for.On the advise of a friend, I probably wont do any more sorties on Karangahake after this,due to the mining activity (or lack of) by New Talisman Gold Co.Thanks for the read, I have used that as part of my research and I always find it interesting reading.Thanks KiwiJW and Gavzilla for your in put.
I presume this follows the old rail lines around the mountain to where the ariel tramway was from level 8,around the cliff face and ends in a drive up there,would that be Crown 5A,maps dont do it justice.
Tom
I have always wished I did go inside that “drive” to confirm if it was the 5a level…or not. I clambered up through the bush to the left of the No/8 level entrance & came across an entrance of sorts. It didn’t appear to be a mine drive but it could have collapsed a bit. It was higher up than the No/8 level so most likely nothing to do with the 5a level. This was before I went inside the No/8 level. I also wished I had of gone down the Keillors Crosscut to the 5a level, but that was another 400 meters just to reach the 5a level. I should have walked out of the mine that way instead of going back down the 8 level. My main focus was to get to the BM37 crosscut, which wasn’t far from the end of the No/8 level nearly 1 k into the mountain. The BM37 crosscut was supposedly ore to the value of 30 ounces to the ton, but it had all been stripped out. The air wasn’t that good that deep in the mine & I didn’t want to hang around too long. Where the wooden ore chute is in that photo I showed was another rich pocket that Heritage Gold took out.
Things don’t sound too good for New Talisman gold mines either. Very disgruntled shareholders. The last few years has been all promise of gold getting produced but as yet nothing & very little to no activity. Just when gold prices are very good. Maybe they are playing miner at shareholders expense & pocketing it & paying their fat salaries. Reminds me of Glass Earth.
JW
Wow my mate will be interested in that info,yeah there shares have been crap for ages 0.007± not alot of movement for ages,so I dumped mine at a small loss haha,anyway thanks again
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hi KiwiJW
Any chance of a clearer photo of the first line map at the top of the page
Thanks
I didn’t realize how blured it was. I don’t even recall where I got the copy from as it was saved in my documents from back in Heritage Golds days. But here you go, try this link & see what bullshit they feed you. They have a good copy of that level 8 & 5A plan with added info & pics.
JW 
Thanks kiwijw,hahahaa i read that report last night again didnt realise it was that sketch cool thanks mate