|
|
Post by RKC on Jul 21, 2010 11:59:46 GMT 12
G'day, Quote following (from www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/south-island/3938478/Coasters-lament-about-face ) Coasters lament about-face "Ross goldminer Evan Birchfield said New Zealand had "lost an opportunity" ."Thanks to those stupid Aucklanders, politicians and greenies, the gold is sitting there and we've got to suffer for it," he said."It's not valuable land. The Department of Conservation is a disgrace. They've got land with no conservation value tied up and they're doing nothing with it. "The gold price is so high we are now working land that five years ago would not have been worth it."------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mine, mines, mining pc.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-mines.htmlRegards, Rob (RKC) |
|
|
|
Post by powderburns on Jul 21, 2010 22:19:10 GMT 12
Gday Rob, Here’s a quote from the article you linked:
International research suggested communities that lived near mines did not gain economically. "There are more benefits from basing your economy on tourism," Martin said.
Ha. Macraes spends over NZ$200 Million per year. Approaching half of it goes on salaries. That money goes into families pockets who live and spend locally. Most of them will live within a 100km of Macraes or Reefton. A big slice of the other half goes to local contractors, and the contractors who supply them, etc. Ask any small businessman who lives within 50km of a big mine whether they have “gained economically”.
|
|
|
|
Post by aucn on Jul 21, 2010 22:30:11 GMT 12
i love these comments about international research and then the dumb reporter reporting it without any reference to the report and who done it.,
just take a trip to any mining town in aus and see if there is any economic benefit.. at least the workers get paid real wages not
the min. wage like most hospitality workers..
|
|
|
|
Post by powderburns on Jul 22, 2010 5:11:12 GMT 12
Good underground hardrock operators on $50 to $70 per hour.
|
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jul 22, 2010 10:30:28 GMT 12
G'day, Its starting to look like the government never actually had any intention of mining in places like Great Barrier Island, but that it has always been about widening the debate so that mining in areas like the West Coast could be generally more acceptable, and to put the whole mining debate into a more realistic and rational context. The problem still remains, that, for us as small-scale miners, companies like Glass Earth are blanketing the country with Exploration Permits. The one reform of the regulations that the small-scale miners need first and foremost before anything else is that we be allowed to place a Mining Permit (for eductor dredging) on a live river without having to get permission from the mining company that has an Exploration Permit covering the river of interest. The West Coast is starting to appear as if it might be the best province in New Zealand's South Island to dredge on a small scale. A number of professional dredgers have told me in the past that the West Coast regional authorities were difficult to deal with when establishing their claims (Mining Permits). And one dredger who had to deal with both the West Coast Regional Council and the Tasman Council, as his claim was in both areas, said that the Tasman Council was the best of the two to deal with .... which surprised me at the time. Hopefully the West Coast Regional Council might be better to deal with these days as they are probably now more well informed about the technical issues of eductor/suction dredging, and they are certainly talking up mining more these days. The Greymouth mayor was interviewed on National Radio yesterday morning and what he said was very encouraging. BTW: Recently I was looking at the current Permit maps to see what rivers in Otago have river Mining Permits covering them, and when looking at the Arrow I saw there are a couple of Permits in the Arrow, upstream from the Crown Minerals Fossicking Claim, that are held in the name of a trust. Does anyone know whats going on with these "trusts"? This section of the Arrow would be ideal for a recreational dredging Permit (if there was, or might be, such a thing) to permit dredging by hobbyists. I also noticed that the Crown Minerals fossicking Permit has been expanded and it looks as if it extends as far as the irrigation dam, upstream from Arrowtown (which is probably a good thing). West Coast poised to make mining billion-dollar industry www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/south-island/3943091/West-Coast-poised-to-make-mining-billion-dollar-industryRegards, Rob (RKC) |
|
|
|
Post by aucn on Jul 22, 2010 11:08:21 GMT 12
yes i would agree rob .. it has widened the debate, which i think was their main thrust when putting this on the table.. When one drives around the west coast the amount of land under DOC and Forestry that is covered in gorse etc one would have to wonder about not allowing mining of these areas ,
A fossicking hobby dredge permit on unclaimed rivers would be a good step,could be even be managed by regional council to issue permits for say a 3 months ,that way they could control the number of dredges in an area, bit like a hunting block system..
or even have designated fossicking areas for dredging as what operated in Victoria at one time..
ken
|
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jul 22, 2010 11:37:44 GMT 12
G'day aucn, Back in the 90s Crown Minerals decided to examine the whole issue of suction dredge mining in New Zealand and they appointed a women employee of Crown Minerals to scope the issue. The issue was then looked at, and after some consideration it was proposed to set up recreational Mining Permits system on specially selected rivers (such as the Arrow) to allow dredging for anyone (non-exclusive dredging they called it) with a person-specific licence, but there would be a restriction of the size of the dredges allowed. img.photobucket.com/albums/v172/Coochee/HOT%20LINKED%20PHOTOS/crownmineralsletterOK-1toEdit.jpg?t=1279763613 They were in effect attempting to reproduce the licence system that existed in Victoria during the 80s. It all looked good, and a goer, until they selected rivers and approached the landowners to allow access. All of the landowners approached refused point blank allow access. And thats where it ended. I had a meeting at Crown Minerals with the woman who was doing the scoping and she went through in detail for me the problems they had with the landowners. Unfortunately I did not record the talk. And I've now forgotten most of it. On the Arrow there were objections from the irrigation company (a private company comprising landowners served by the irrigation scheme) who claimed that the silt from the dredges would get into their pipes and cost them more in maintaince as the silt would wear out the pipes She then went on to look at other ways of providing for recreational dredging, such as a special dredging Mining Permit with reduced fees and charges. But that ran up against a brick wall. And then the gold price went down and people lost interest. During that time when the gold price was low Crown Minerals put an advertisement in the papers asking for submissions from dredgers on a suitable system to introduce to provide for recreational dredging. But the response was poor ... I missed seeing the add myself and therefore did not put in a submission. So ... they used the lack of interest from dredgers as an excuse to wrap up the scoping process. Regards, Rob (RKC) |
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jul 23, 2010 8:40:22 GMT 12
|
|
|
|
Post by aucn on Jul 23, 2010 9:43:36 GMT 12
good to see rob, around NZ there are a lot areas that could be mined underground.. deep leads and narrow vein , the problem being is we have lost the experience ,i hope in time it can come back, in some ways small operations give more benefit to the local economy than the large multinationals, wish the govt, was more pro small mining as it was in the early days..as we would definitely then have another gold rush.. must admit i am very bias to underground deep lead mining  ken |
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jul 23, 2010 13:52:21 GMT 12
G'day Ken, Last nights TV story got me thinking ... and here in New Zealand there is defiantly potential for more such mines to be run on a small scale (low impact). I believe there could even be the possibility of an underground mine in New Zealand that could equal the incredible events that occured at the 16 to 1 mine in America when a bonanza deposit was found with metal detectors. Its something I would like to do, and even here on The Coast there is tremendous potential for such small impact mines. And on The Coast there would be more of a chance of successfully completing the legal requirements than in the Coromandel. I once spoke to a guy who ran a small scale hardrock mine (the last) in the hills behind Thames town in the Coromandel Peninsular (the mine was probably operating in the 70s or maybe the early 80s) and he said his biggest problem was with vandalism. It got so bad they could not continue. I have been to the mine refered to in lasts nights story img.photobucket.com/albums/v521/NZGOLD/Underground%20mines/P1010011.jpg?t=1279848036and I always though it was only a hobby mine for a few guys to play around in at weekends. But it looks as it might actually be payable! There is tremendous scope for similar mines to be established in the hills behind Coromandel township. The last mine to be worked in those hills was worked as recently as the 1930s when a few unemployed men decided to try digging in an abandoned shaft. They only dug a short distance and uncovered a bonanza deposit. New Zealand should look more toward small scale mining rather than putting so much emphasis on wanting mining by multi-national mining companies. I'm starting to wonder what is going to happen this summer with all the people who are getting into fossicking because of the gold price rise and the worsening economic conditions. I was up at DoCs Moonlight fossicking claim this morning and even though its the coldest time of year there was a guy in the water throwing rocks about and as I was leaving another guy was arriving in his campervan. That is going to be a place to avoid this summer during the Christmas holiday period. Last summer was bad enough with camps filling the car park and this summer they will be tripping over each other ... as they carry their plastic sluice box's under their arms and eye each other suspiciously wondering if their spot is about to be taken  . Regards, Rob (RKC) |
|
|
|
Post by aucn on Jul 23, 2010 14:42:29 GMT 12
yes i looked at an underground outfit on the westcoast ..(small deep alluvial).. which has potential earlier this year, actually the owner is coming over in august to look at how we move dirt over here opal mining, the problem is ground, there are good areas which could be goers but with the permit system the ground gets locked up, ................ .. would be good if the minister would have a review of the permit system.. with the ability to address the issues to a panel.. etc.. and this does not help www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/117333/plea-keep-mine-sites-non-039historic039ken |
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jul 23, 2010 17:54:53 GMT 12
G'day Ken, When I thought through what would be involved in a small underground hard rock mine, I can see a problem arising with crushing the ore to extract the gold and silver. Setting up a modern crushing plant would present environmental problems that would require numerous additional consents, and there would be major additional expenses involved. There is a crusher at Reefton img.photobucket.com/albums/v521/NZGOLD/Gold%20batterys/d2f24d62.jpgimg.photobucket.com/albums/v521/NZGOLD/Gold%20batterys/afcd8826.jpgthat crushed a small amount of ore for a Coast miner some years ago, and they will crush ore for small scale miners. But that would only be practical for mines in the Reefton goldfield district. It would have to be rich ore to cover the expense of transporting it any great distance. I'ed really like to know where the mine in last nights TV program, gets its ore crushed. I don't know of anywhere close to Broken Hills with a crusher. There is a battery at Thames but I doubt they would do any crushing for miners. smg.photobucket.com/albums/v521/NZGOLD/Gold%20batterys/?action=view¤t=382a49d6.flvRegards, Rob (RKC) |
|
|
|
Post by powderburns on Jul 23, 2010 20:34:03 GMT 12
They toll treat at Waihi. You'd put a few rounds "on grass" and carry it over in one swoop.
The milling certainly is the messier part of underground mining. It is manageable though. A small mobile unit set up on a couple trucks would crush the small tonnages they're popping out.
I'm with you Ken. Anyone for a small mine in the hills upstream of Macetown? Based in Queenstown say. Just got to refind the old leads. Raise a few million. Get the consent. Rip into it.
Given enough time all Otago's old hardrock sites have all but vanished. As would happen with any small underground show with a manager with a conscience.
|
|
|
|
Post by RKC on Jul 25, 2010 9:09:36 GMT 12
|
|
|
|
Post by aucn on Jul 25, 2010 11:00:34 GMT 12
finally some rational reporting... i was starting to wonder,
powderburns do not need couple million to start mining a small deep lead , most of the leads in arrow area are known there are better areas in otago/westcoast but as usual tied up in permits.
Small two.. three man operation with modern gear
ie bogger, digger ,automatic hoist or haul winch that is all that is needed, even can drop the digger and use a jackhammer,
good source of props and caps.. etc...
good time winter the old brain works over time..
looking forward to dredging this summer..and checking few leads out....
cheers
ken
|
|
.