User:Schwede66/Tools/Golden Bay Cement Works

The Golden Bay Cement Works was a New Zealand cement manufacturing plant based in Golden Bay / Mohua's Tarakohe where Portland cement was produced.

History
Geological surveys by European colonists identified the presence of the raw materials needed for hydraulic cement in Golden Bay / Mohua. In 1882, a cement works was established in Ferntown, a locality just north of Collingwood. This was done by the company that operated the coal mine at Mount Burnett. In the following year, the company imported machinery for the large-scale production of Portland cement but soon afterwards, it ran out of capital and the cement production was stopped.

A cement works was established at Picton in 1904. Whilst far from Golden Bay, the limestone for this works came from the southern Tata Islands just offshore from Tarakohe; a journey of about 100 nmi. The works closed down after three years as the sea transport of the limestone was too costly. The venture may have been shut down by the local council as the Tata Islands provide the only safe anchorage in a storm and there were concerns about the decreasing size of the southern island that was thus losing its protection for ships from severe weather.

Andrew Gordon French, a mining engineer and metallurgist originally from Lanarkshire in Scotland, was the next to manufacture cement. Funded by Auckland investors, French was in charge of a coal mine in Motupipi. There was an abundance of limestone on the company's land and above the coal seam was a layer of clay; everything that is needed for cement production. French started manufacturing cement in 1906. After two years, machinery and buildings were put up for sale..

Captain Charles McArthur noticed the large limestone deposits at Tarakohe, which at the time was known as Limestone Bay. He passed this knowledge to a group of Nelson businessmen who, in 1908, formed a company they named The Golden Bay Cement Works. The initial capital was NZ£25,000.