Hi, Waipori was on one of the routes between Dunedin and...

Hi, Waipori was on one of the routes between Dunedin and **riel's Gully May 1861 (Lawrence) and Gold was found there in Dec 1861.
This is a great report on the Waipori area, but does not give an answer to why mining stopped.
The reason was that by the turn of the centenary 1900, at Waipori, the main mining was Dredging and Sluicing, yields were dropping, the Dunedin City Council (DCC) had in 1904 brought an electricity business downstream at Waipori Falls, a narrow gorge with 750 feet drop in 2½ miles for the city and for their electric trams. By the end of WW1, the DCC had brought all the sluicing claims, increased the height of the dam, flooding the township of Waipori and many of the mine workings. It became Lake Mahinerangi, named after the Dunedin Mayor's daughter.
A govt. bill in the 1920's prohibited the discharge of waste water into the Waipori River watershed. Currently thre are some hobby miners using suction dredges in the creeks.