Gold mining claim on Trade Me offers chance to strike it lucky
Michael Reedy says someone could take over his hobby claim and hit the jackpot. He’s one of nearly 300 operators still trying to uncover hidden riches on the West Coast. Joanne Naish reports.
The public sale of a West Coast gold mining claim could make someone’s dream of striking it rich a reality.
Gold miner Michael Reedy has turned to Trade Me to sell his permit for a gold dredging claim on 7km of the lower Grey River.
It is one of more than 800 active mining permits in New Zealand, including nearly 300 still searching for gold on the West Coast.
Reedy said he was selling the permit because he did not have time to work the area, despite it earning him up to $1500 a day.
‘‘I have worked some of it with a suction dredge, and I got probably a quarter (7g) or a half an ounce (14g) a day in some areas.
‘‘It’s a small mining permit ... I’m keeping the price down so a hobbyist can buy it.’’
The starting price is listed as $18,500.
Reedy said the permit would expire in December 2031. It has a right to renew, and covers 49ha of the river from Taylorville to just upstream of Greymouth’s town centre.
‘‘The area has a rich and colourful history of gold mining in the last 140 years, with old bucket dredges working the river for gold,’’ he said.
Reedy’s claim is about 10km downstream from the mighty 3500-tonne Grey River bucket dredge, which has mined 55,000 ounces (1.56 tonnes) of gold from 220ha of gold-bearing gravels since 1987.
He said his permit contained over 1 million cubic metres of goldbearing alluvial gravels, ‘‘which is a huge resource in itself and worth a lot of money’’.
Reedy said the area had been mined since the 1800s, but the river had changed course over the years, cutting into fresh gold-bearing alluvial gravels.
The price of gold was about $2200 per ounce on Tuesday. It recently reached more than $3000 an ounce.
Reedy said he had owned the claim for about 12 months, but it was a long way to travel from his home in Golden Bay.
The suction dredging process involves a floating dredge sucking up water and gravel as the miner works underwater with an air compressor. The gravel goes through a riffle box and back into the river, with the gold staying behind in the box.
Reedy said the best time to mine was after a big flood, which caused ‘‘more disturbance in the river than a guy with a small claim in a petrol
‘‘It’s a small mining permit . . . I’m keeping the price down so a hobbyist can buy it.’’
Michael Reedy, gold miner
powered suction dredge’’.
Meanwhile, concerned Forest & Bird members gathered late last month in Mt Richmond Forest Park, between Nelson and Blenheim, where an Australian mining company was recently granted a permit to prospect for gold over 500km2.
Forest & Bird’s top of the south conservation manager, Scott Burnett, said large open-cast gold mining removed big chunks of land, and was different to the ‘‘artisan, small-scale mining like we have around New Zealand, where people sift river sediment for gold flakes’’.
Petroleum and Minerals national manager Susan Baas said almost half of all active minerals permits in New Zealand were on the West Coast.
‘‘There are 821 active minerals permits and licences nationally, and 376 of these are for the West Coast Regional Council area. There are 44 coal permits on the West Coast, and 296 gold permits. Two of these permits are for both coal and gold.’’
According to WorkSafe, there are three mineral open-cast mines in New Zealand, which employ a total of 723 people, and 22 open-cast coal mines, employing 722 people.
Another 436 people are employed in six mineral underground mines, and 467 people are employed in 62 alluvial mines.
According to Infometrics, mining is the third-largest industry contributing to the West Coast’s GDP. In 2021, it accounted for $183.1 million, or 8.3% of the region’s GDP.
Minerals West Coast manager Patrick Phelps said New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals data indicated that alluvial gold mines produced 24,533 ounces (695kg) of gold worth almost $57.8m in 2020.
Most gold mines ranged in size from ‘‘one-man bands’’ to operations with up to 20 staff, he said.
Overall, the West Coast mining industry employs about 581 people.
West Coast coal miners produced 1.26 million tonnes of bituminous grade coal in 2021, the vast majority of which was exported to steel manufacturers in the Indo-Pacific for use as coking coal. A further 264,993 tonnes of sub-bituminous coal was produced for use in South Island food production and space heating.
‘‘Despite the conventional wisdom suggesting coal’s on its way out as a source of energy, 2021 was the highest year for West Coast production of sub-bituminous coal this century,’’ Phelps said.
In 2020, a miner’s median annual earnings were about $86,230.