Abandoned Sulphur Mining Camp on White Island (Active Volcano)

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DarkPlace

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Jun 9, 2008
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Location
Manchester
Visited this in New Zealand, approx 30km north of Whakatane on the North Coast.

History of the place and other info can be found here and here.

This place was spectacular, cliffsides of the crater spewing thousands of cubic metres of steam, mist that stings your skin, churning mudpools with boiling liquid, an entire lake of sulphuric acid at PH-0.5, the list is endless. The hard hats were a hinderance, where as the gas masks were a necessity in parts.

The mining operation suffered multiple deaths, setbacks and accidents before the mining was discontinued in the 1930s.

Anchor from one of the transport ships
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Sulphur crystals
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Breathing is impossible without gas masks in parts
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Dramatic river
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The reason the miners were here
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One of the old buildings
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An old boiler used to extract the Suplhur. This method was used up until a boiler exploded killing a miner. They had not anticipated how corrosive the mixtures were.
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Another Boiler
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Machinery of some description
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The gases in the air cause metals to corrode extremely quickly. Watches and jewelery tarnished in the 2 hours we were on the island, below indicates the long term effects
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On the boat ride back we were treated a show from the local dolphins!
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Fantastic day out!
 
Crikey. I wouldn't dare get the camera out in that environment!

Looking at the metals lying round I can see how it was formed/processed. The boilers seem to be layered - possibly to allow expansion of sorts and also for strength. One of the splined shafts has been forged. I can tell because the metal has eroded at a different rate.


New Zealand is a place I soo want to visit. :cool:
 
Now THAT'S what I call an explore!!! :mrgreen:
Truly fantastic stuff, DarkPlace. Wow! :)
Btw, the 'machinery of some description' just has to be a stargate! ;)
 
I used to live on Ocean Road in Ohope beach, from my front room you could see 'White Island' on the horizon belching smoke out into the sky (I always called it cloudmaker island). I took a trip to 'Whale Island', the humpbacked one closer to Whakatane, which is a conservation area, so we did a bit of snorkling round it. Local folklaw said that Sylvester Stallone wanted to buld a casino on whale island, not sure how much truth there is in that though.

Great pics, I do miss it over there.
 
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