By CATHY ARONSON
Waihi resident Hazel Reidy does not sleep easy after discovering her house was built on a 57m-deep mine shaft and could be swallowed up at any minute.
The 71-year-old bought the house in 1993 after the Hauraki District Council told her the land was clear of mine shafts, which are common in the old gold mining town.
She had been widowed twice and had just separated from her third husband and wanted to return to her hometown and start a new life by owning her first home.
But her dreams were shattered four weeks ago when the council told her the 3m-wide hole was right next to her front door step and underneath her veranda, buried two metres below her hydrangea plant.
The council discovered the mine shaft last November when it x-rayed the area after a neighbour, Alan Warburton, complained that his land was beginning to slip.
Mayor Basil Morrison said a 1991 civil engineer report incorrectly marked the mine shaft, locating it in the middle of the two driveways.
Mr Morrison said the engineer recommended property foundations be more than 15m away, a condition the council attached to the building consent.
But the engineer's report by Max Bosselmann, obtained by the Herald, also said: "I cannot be certain about the exact location of the shaft, or its size."
Mr Bosselmann said a local told him the mine shaft was abandoned before completion, about 100 years ago, because some one was killed while it was being excavated.
Mr Morrison said the council was negotiating with Ms Reidy and its insurers were assessing who was liable.
Ms Reidy wanted the council to compensate her for the property, house, stress and seven years of work on the house and grounds.
"I fought tooth and nail to get money for this house only to find out I have been paying rates for a hole in the ground.
"I can't sleep at night, and I find myself walking to the veranda at 3 in the morning to make sure the house isn't slipping. It's eerie and I am scared."
Neither neighbour blamed the Waihi Gold Mining Company, as mine superintendent Neville Bergin wrote to the council in 1992: "This is a totally inadequate and a potentially dangerous practice which poses a threat to public safety."
General manager John Mckinstry said it was dangerous because the shaft was probably lined and sealed with timber which could deteriorate and collapse. He would not comment on the mine shaft at the Reidy property.
Dream home with a 57m-deep cellar
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