In 1890, the Waihi Gold Mining Company of London bought the Martha Mine. The firm pioneered the use of cyanide to extract gold from the quartz rock and, suddenly, uneconomic seams of rock became, well, goldmines.

More than 100 years later, events on the far side of the world are again reverberating in the Coromandel township. This time, US President George W. Bush can take the bow.

His adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, coupled with the profligate spending of the US consumer, have left the world's largest economy short by US$2 billion a day.

As a result, the greenback has gone into a tail-spin.

This fall, coupled with the fears for world security, have sent gold prices soaring to as high as US$458.70 ($644.80) an ounce in December.

It has since eased as the US Federal Reserve lifted interest rates and was, last night, quoted at US$417.80 an ounce. Nevertheless, it means boom time for New Zealand's gold miners.

A surge of cash is flooding in from overseas to bankroll exploration and development from the top of the North Island to the deep south.

Peter Atkinson, managing director of Heritage Gold, one of the few survivors of the gold sector hit by the 1987 sharemarket crash, is enjoying the reversal of fortunes.

"Certainly, the appetite's there now and it's global. I mean they're raising money in Canada, in London - several Australian stocks have gone to London.

"It's funny how the wheels turn full circle, here we are looking at Waihi and Karangahake and, in the 1880s and 1890s, all the development capital for those two projects came from London - both projects were run by firms with listings on the London stock exchange. "Raising money in English pounds and spending it here in New Zealand; 120 years on we're doing the same thing."

Heritage Gold has been one of the main beneficiaries. Just after Christmas, it raised $1.22 million from Australian investors to develop its big project - the Karangahake underground mine just out of Waihi.

It has research showing that for an initial $24 million investment, it may be able to extract 50,000oz of gold from 150,000 tonnes of ore for a profit of about $12 million based on December's gold price. Heritage is aiming for production within two years.

In New Zealand, there are two other miners quoted on the stock exchange. The small Australia-based explorer, Aurora Minerals, floated in June, raising A$4 million, and then achieved a dual listing in September.

So far, it only has permits for geological mapping, geochemical sampling and aerial surveys of its four prospecting areas in New Zealand. As yet it can't even drill, let alone start mining if it does find gold. It is prospecting in Otago and Kerikeri.

Australia's Oceana Gold, bought Oceana Gold New Zealand, formerly GRD McCraes, in December of 2003. It is mining deposits at the Macraes mine in central Otago, as well as deposit in Reefton and Sam's Creek near Nelson.