Coromandel eyes underwater gold

By ANNE BESTON

Millions of dollars worth of gold could be lying in the mudflats of Coromandel Harbour and some townsfolk know just what to do with it.

A scheme about to be put to ratepayers involves sucking out silt containing mining waste, extracting the gold and using it to pay for floodworks and a 10ha reclamation of the seafront, complete with a new wharf.

A regular ferry service between the town and Auckland, overnight yacht berths and better services for nearby mussel farmers were just some options, said Thames Coromandel District councillor Tony Brljevich.

"We need to make the most of a bad situation. We have to put the fill from the floodworks somewhere and the logical place for a new harbour facility just happens to be sitting on top of old mine tailings."

The tailings washed into the sea when early miners extracted the gold from cliffs round the harbour during the mining peak in the 1880s.

Rock was crushed into dust and an amalgam used to extract the gold, but the technology was primitive and some estimates put the amount of gold washed into the harbour at more than 50 per cent.

Assay testing of one sample showed gold present at 24gm a tonne - eight times richer than Waihi's Martha Mine.

That meant up to $30 million of gold could be sitting in the harbour, Mr Brljevich said. More testing was needed.

The sediment also contained mercury, lead and arsenic, but these would be removed when it was sent to Waihi for processing.

Local businessman and economic development board member Dennis Irwin said ratepayers would decide whether the project went ahead, but if they rejected it, someone else might extract the tailings.

"This is an opportunity for the community if they want it."

Coromandel town's wharf barely earns the name. Sedimentation means boats can dock only at high tide and heavy vehicles cannot drive down it.

New floodworks for the town will cost $11.5 million and involve removing hundreds of tonnes of rock and earth. Roadworks on the Kennedy Bay road will create 25,000 tonnes of fill.

Mr Brljevich said that fill could be packed behind a bund wall once the mine tailings were gone, with a u-shaped wharf area stretching out to deep water.

Carparking and a children's play area could also be built.

Money from the gold would be placed in a community trust to pay not only for the wharf and reclamation but for the town's future needs, he said.

"I can't see any minuses."

Thames Coromandel District Mayor Chris Lux is also enthusiastic.

"It's a practical way of rectifying flooding issues and I think it's a fantastic idea."