Oceana Gold

At Waihī/Wharekirauponga:

Over the past few years, Oceana Gold has signaled a range of proposals which have culminated in an application to fasttrack a major expansion in Waihi and the Southern Coromandel Forest Range Conservation land using the governments controversial Fasttrack Approvals Act 2025. This proposal includes:

• • a new toxic dam,
  • a new rock storage facility (another toxic dump),
  • a new open pit, a new underground mine under the old (collapsing) pit, 
  • the kicker – a mine underneath significant conservation land – to be reached via a 6.8km tunnel through hard rock with high toxic mineral presence and a high water table;
  • a tunnel (6km+)that would go under streams in this ecosystem, necessitating the need to remove huge amounts of water from the system.

Beyond Waihī:

Kuaotunu and Whenuakite locals were horrified recently when OceanaGold was granted resource consent to drill at Owera Road, the head of the Whangapoua Harbour, and on farm land at Whenuakite, at the head of the Whitianga Harbour. Local groups, supported by Coromandel Watchdog and people from around the Peninsula showed out in force to peacefully protest this activity at both locations, leaving the company in no doubt that they are not wanted in the area..

The company has an exploration permit over a number of other areas including the Golden Cross Mine, a gold mine in conservation land that was abandoned after it became apparent that it was highly unstable – including it’s toxic waste ponds!

Rua Gold (Maratoto)

In 2024 newcomers to Aotearoa, Rug Gold (formerly First Uranium Resources, a Canadian Company) took over the prospect that Oceana had held at Wentworth Valley. They have significantly expanded the permit area and it now covers nearly 15,000 hectares from Wentworth across the range to Maratoto… mainly covering a vast area of public conservation land. They are an aggressive explorer, and leveraging off Oceana’s find at Wharekirauponga, are ‘identifying’ drill holes to advance their exploration.

New Talisman (Karangahake)

New Talisman Gold Ltd, who have spent the last several years (unsuccessfully) trying to reopen the Talisman mine in the beautiful Mt Karangahake,  have recently renewed their access etc with DOC and are increasingly claiming to be about to go into production; Although they have a long history of mining their own shareholders. We are continuing to monitor them closely.

Mineralogy

In May 2023 the unpopular Australian mining giant Clive Palmer applied for some 17 exploration permits in Aotearoa, including two huge areas of land covering more than 30,000ha in Te Tara o te Ika a Māui the Coromandel. One permit to the South of Whitianga and a second that ironically encompasses both Schedule 4 land around Tairua and land South of that protective line – all the way to the Wentworth! In 2025 they surrendered all but 1 of the NZ permits that they had, unfortunately retaining the Whangamatā-Tairua one.