The 150 invited guests who attended the opening at the mine site south of Waikaia township were addressed by mine officials and Deputy Prime Minister and local member of Parliament Bill English.
The mine's gold plant was officially named after gold mining pioneer and innovator Alexander McGeorge and blessed with a Champagne launch by his great-granddaughter Amelia McGeorge, of Queenstown.
Waikaia Gold Ltd managing director Warren Batt, who is based in Auckland, said the opening of the mine had been five years in the making.
''Any mine was the culmination of the efforts of many people and the combination of circumstances, often over a long period of time,'' Mr Batt said.
Following pioneers' efforts in prospecting for gold with pans and cradles, the Minister of Works referred to more than one million ounces of gold being mined from the district by 1908, Mr Batt said.
Mr English said Waikaia Gold Ltd's project was an example of working to get the balance right between entrepreneurialism and creating jobs and managing the environment within the RMA.
''It is simply not our job to say ''no'' to everything,'' he said.
He acknowledged the local community had made some environmental sacrifices in having the mine operating, but said it would also benefit from it, along with the the rest of New Zealand.
Past mining operations, such as at Nokomai, had shown a high standard of land restoration could be achieved, he said.
The mine was expected to produce between 15,000oz and 20,000oz of gold annually, during its life span of about seven years.
- Russell Frederic
