Mining company finds high-grade gold and silver in hills north of Waihī
Friday, 23 June 2023
A mining company seeking resource consent to mine near Waihī has confirmed the presence of high-grade gold and silver mineralisation.
OceanaGold hopes to develop an underground mine, and dig a 6.8km tunnel, under conservation land at Wharekirauponga, north of the mining town.
According to its latest exploration update report, OceanaGold chief executive Gerard Bond said the company had made “good progress in converting mineralisation at Wharekirauponga, supporting our goal of creating value through near-mine exploration programs”.
“New drilling results confirm the presence of high-grade gold and silver mineralisation” and “drilling of Wharekirauponga remains a priority for us in 2023 as we work towards growing indicated resources to support a pre-feasibility study next year.”
In 2021, Hauraki District Council granted the company the right to occupy road reserve on Willows Rd, a paper road, for $1 per year, to allow for the construction of infrastructure.
However, anti-mining group, Ours Not Mines is in the process of having a High Court judge review the decision.
Another anti-mining group, Coromandel Watchdog, is calling on the Government to put protections on the southern-side of the Coromandel.
The Wharekirauponga Forest, in the Parakawai Valley, has a long association with gold mining going back to the 1890s but in the past had been deemed too difficult to mine.
OceanaGold began exploration drilling in 2005 and found gold and silver in the area and applied for a mining permit in May 2019.
Conservationists fear vibrations from the drilling will impact the reproduction of Archey’s frogs, one of the world's rarest and most endangered amphibians.
There were also concerns about the impact of tunnelling, and risks of subsidence.
A council spokesperson said resource consent applications to allow OceanaGold’s Waihī North Project to proceed had been lodged with it and Waikato Regional Council.
“Both councils have reviewed the respective resource consent applications and are now seeking further information from OceanaGold so the applications can be fully understood and assessed,” the spokesperson said.
OceanaGold has until July 31 to provide that information to both councils.
Bond said the company's 2023 Wharekirauponga drilling programme would see two drilling rigs take more exploratory core samples from the area and ”approvals to introduce a third drill rig … are in the final review stages”.
He said the project “has the potential to create significant socio-economic contributions for the communities in the Coromandel region and for New Zealand”.
Earlier in the process, OceanaGold senior community advisor Kit Wilson said the company believes it could mine gold in the area 'sensitively and respectfully using proven underground methods'.
'We know that the area is home to a number of important species, and we understand how important this ecosystem is,” Wilson said.