A rose was placed above a photograph taken on Thursday of truck captain Bruce Newland, who had parked up during the nationwide two minutes' silence at 2pm as a mark of respect.
"We're just doing our little bit," Annie Fitzgerald, from Oceana Gold, said.
Donations were taken for the Pike River appeal fund.
More than 2000 people flocked to the tiny township of Macraes for Saturday's free public open day, which celebrated 20 years of the gold mine's operation.
People had to register to get free tickets, and the response was "brilliant". Some people were turned away, which was unfortunate, she said.
People travelled from as far as Christchurch, Te Anau and Invercargill.
Mosgiel couple Les and Bev Laing, whose son-in-law works at the mine, were impressed.
They had not been there since the early days of the mine and the changes during the subsequent two decades had been massive.
While the Macraes gold-mining operation was vastly different from Pike River, the West Coast tragedy had been on their minds during their visit, they said.
Buses took the public on tours to three locations within the operational mine site, including the trout hatchery, a joint venture with Otago Fish and Game.
In the Macraes township, there was a carnival-like atmosphere.
Along with access to information tents, people could help themselves to ore samples, view digger and truck simulators, stand in an excavator bucket with a 40-tonne capacity, or take a short helicopter flight over the mine site.
