Crown loans $10m to US company for garnet mining

Friday, 4 January 2019

New Zealand Institute of Minerals to Materials Research chief research officer Mack Saraswat says garnet has huge export potential. (Video first published January 19)

The Crown has given a US company a $10 million loan for garnet mining despite a report previously declaring it uneconomical.

A West Coast minerals prospector previously ruled out garnet mining because transportation costs off the West Coast were deemed uneconomical, and a 2010 GNS science report suggested the garnet was of little economic value as an abrasive because of its 'very fine grain size, well rounded grain shape, and common shattered nature'.

But the prospector – Duncan Hardie of Hardie Resources – has now entered into a partnership with Barton New Zealand, part of the US firm Barton Mines which has been garnet mining globally for 140 years.

It's hoping to kick start a garnet mining operation in Ruatapu, just south of Hokitika, with the help of a $10m interest-bearing loan from Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones' Provincial Growth Fund.

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Ian Robb is the NZ based director of a US company planning to garnet mine on the West Coast.

The loan is dependant on the company gaining resource consent and Overseas Investment Office approval, but Jones said the Ruatapu Garnet Project would create up to '50 high-paying jobs' and boost regional transport and trade industries.

Alluvial garnet is mainly used as an industrial abrasive – such as water jet cutting or in products like sandpaper. Garnet price and demand has risen in recent years as it's the only viable abrasive alternative to silica, which can cause silicosis or lung damage.

Hardie explored Ruatapu and found 'quite a concentration' of garnet about eight years ago but ruled out mining because of the transportation costs .

'We came to the conclusion it was not possible to mine garnet in economic quantities on the West Coast when we first looked at it. If it had been close to a port yes, it would have proceeded. Transportation costs killed it so I put it on the shelf,' he said.

Mining is tedious, with long days and early starts in a hostile environment - but it's a passion and a way of life for some West Coasters. (Video first published in July 2018)

A short time later he received a phone call from Barton Mines. He said Barton has taken over his exploration license, and they were exploring getting the garnet off the coast by road or rail.

Companies Office records show its directors are Barton Mines chairman Charles H Bracken, vice president Clifford Summers IV, and former Westland Milk Products chairman, West Coast farmer Ian Robb.

Robb said the company was preparing its Overseas Investment Office and resource consent applications for the mine which would have a life-span of 40 years. The company hoped to buy the land which would be returned to farmland after mining.

Robb said while West Coast sand garnet was different to American garnet found in rock, it was the right garnet for abrasives and cutting steel.

'They've done enough testing to know it's good garnet. They're pretty happy otherwise they wouldn't be doing it,' he said.