By NZPA
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Thursday 20th March 2003 |
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But environmentalists say any proposal to set up a mine in the area will be met with fierce resistance.
Perth-based GRD has been drilling for gold in the Sams Creek area near Upper Takaka since late last year.
The company, which carried out prospecting work in the area several years ago, has an exploration licence covering about 6350 hectares in a residual area of the Northwest Nelson Forest Park.
The Sams Creek area is on the border of Kahurangi National Park but was not included in the park because of prospecting activities that have taken place there over many years.
GRD chief operating officer Len Jubber said the work so far showed there was potential for a major gold field at Sams Creek.
"But it is early days and there is a lot of work to be done," he said.
An industry source said exploration drilling figures issued by GRD this week were "pretty impressive", with the potential for an even bigger gold find deep under the deposit already identified.
Drilling results so far suggested the potential for a mine as good as or more profitable than GRD Macraes' mine in eastern Otago, though it was still unclear exactly how big the Sams Creek deposit might be.
The east Otago mine has produced more than 1 million ounces of gold in the past decade worth about $617 million, based on gold prices this week.
But environmental group Forest and Bird said it would be "strongly opposed" to the development of a mine in steep beech forest land next to Kahurangi National Park.
Field officer Eugenie Sage said such a mine would be "very destructive", damaging the forest and potentially contaminating groundwater and underground aquifers.
Tailings would probably be dumped in limestone areas with underground drainage, she said.
Forest and Bird was also concerned about arsenic and cyanide leaching out of tailings dams into underground aquifers.
GRD said that even if further drilling confirmed the early promise, the Sams Creek project could take many years to develop. Its first priority was developing the $45 million Reefton gold mine on the West Coast. Construction work at Reefton has been delayed until next summer.
The company would need to get approval from the appropriate government agencies to carry out mining at Sams Creek. The Department of Conservation said this would include obtaining access to conservation land, which could be a lengthy process.
Factors such as why the land was designated as conservation land and what safeguards would be put in place to protect it would need to be taken into account, it said.
Under the company's existing exploration licence, it has approval to drill up to seven holes this summer. The 20m to 30m thick zone or dyke containing the gold is thought to go as deep as 900m.
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