Gorse clearing uncovers gold

The development of a gold find at the Junction Prospect near Collingwood is still years away even if it proves economic, prospector Aurora Minerals says.

The company's geologists have been investigating Junction Prospect in Golden Bay and discovered gold in bedrock after thick gorse was cleared and tracks cut.

"We've got visible gold in quartz on the surface of the land. It's nice to find it so quickly, but it's early days for us," company spokesman Ken Banks said.

The flat egg-shaped piece of gold was in a 3m to 4m wide quartz vein.

Aurora Minerals has a prospecting permit covering 148sq km near Collingwood, which encompasses the site of New Zealand's first officially proclaimed goldfield, Aorere Goldmine. Aorere was proclaimed in 1856.

Banks said more low-impact testing would be done to determine if the gold was part of a bigger system.

"We're years away from mining if, and it's a big if, this proves to be economic. It's exciting. It's leading us to believe that there's a good chance that what we've got is the start of something quite extraordinary."

The best-case scenario would be a start to mining in about five years.

Aurora believes ownership of all metals in the Aorere Goldfield and Junction Prospect areas is included in its prospecting permit.

Any drilling or mining would require resource consents, and the company would need to negotiate access rights with landowners in the area and the Department of Conservation, as part of the area is under DoC stewardship, and consult Maori.

The company believes its discovery indicates Junction Prospect could have been at least partly the source of coarse alluvial gold found in creeks in the area in the gold rush of the 1850s.

Large quantities of gold were reported at the time, but early prospectors never found a local source for it.

Collingwood resident Denny Gillooly's ancestor John James was one of the first people to find gold in the area, sparking the 1850s gold rush.

Gillooly said James was looking for cattle and stopped at a creek for a drink when he saw gold on the bottom.

By 1857, 4000 people lived in Collingwood and the Government had plans to build a "sizeable town" and make it the capital city. But by 1858 the easy gold had been found and discoveries on the West Coast led miners away.

He did not believe the recent discovery would fuel another gold rush.

"They might find it in small areas but I don't think they would get back to how it was, because there was some fairly big prospecting done in the 1970s by an overseas company there."

- NZPA