$8m fund largely for surveys

Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said about $6.4 million was for new aeromagnetic and specific geotechnical studies. Photo / NZME

Most of $8 million the Government is putting into mineral and oil and gas geotechnical studies will be spent on aerial aeromagnetic surveys.

In the last Budget, the Government set aside $8 million over four years for studies around the country.

Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said about $6.4 million was for new aeromagnetic and specific geotechnical studies.

The findings go into a New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals database which international exploration companies can access, to encourage them to apply for exploration permits.

Combined with previous aerial surveys - the biggest of which was around Otago - the new surveys would lift coverage to about 30 per cent of New Zealand's total land area.

"The data collected will have a wide range of applications in fields such as geological mapping and geological hazard assessment, as well as potential mineral exploration," Bridges said.

The country's largest gold exploration company, former Glass Earth Gold (now Antipodes Gold), and the Otago Regional Council conducted a $4 million aeromagnetic survey of Otago in 2007, covering 1.3 million ha.

Glass Earth spent more than $40 million prospecting mainly around Otago, but sold its boutique alluvial operations in Central Otago in the middle of last year, switched its focus to central North Island tenements, then rebranded the company as Antipodes.

The Government had since surveyed Northland and the West Coast.

The next aerial programme would focus on Nelson-Marlborough, Southland and further parts of Otago, Bridges said.