Miner confident of finding gold
The Southland Times, May 25, 2010 | by CRAYTON-BROWN Kimberley
A LARGE block of Southland land could soon be mined for gold if mineral prospecting yields good results.
Crown Minerals has granted a
prospecting permit to Alexandra's
Goldmines New Zealand, for a 151.4 square kilometre section of Southland from Colac Bay to Te Waewae Bay.
Company director
Bob Kilgour said he had been planning to prospect the area for three years, and was hopeful the area could again be mined for gold.
"There was still mining there in 1954. That's quite recent," he said.
Now that the permit had been granted, Mr Kilgour and a small team would investigate the area and meet the land owners. Mr Kilgour expected the prospecting would take less than a year to complete.
Once the prospecting had been completed, and as long as all restrictions and conditions of the permit had been met, an exploration permit would be applied for.
"We're not flying blind. It won't take long to select areas to explore," he said.
He said the price of gold would not "stay up there forever", and New Zealand should make the most of the minerals it had. Gold is currently NZ$1700 an ounce.
"Look across the Tasman, their business is booming," he said.
He compared the Queenstown Lakes District tourism profit last year to OceanaGold's. The mining company made more than three times the amount tourism did.
"Quite extraordinary, isn't it?"
He applauded the Government for its support of mining, and the stand that it had taken against anti-miners.
"Mining companies today clean up. We mine farmers' paddocks and restore them all and they are the same as when we started," he said.
"The only thing we've done is removed the gold and created wealth."
He said the wealth would circulate and benefit the whole country. It was small compared to farming in New Zealand, he said, but it would still add to the country's wealth.
kimberley.crayton-brown@stl.co.nz
Southland Times, Copyright of Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2009, All rights reserved.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.