The directors of Cold Gold Clutha who had their gold dredge consent declined in 2023 in the Upper Clutha have a new mining application underway in the area.

Awa Koura Mining - owned by Peter Hall and Daniel Walker, have submitted a resource consent application with the Central Otago District Council to extract gold from their land near Queensberry.

The company is hoping to extract the mineral using earthmoving machinery and processing through a floating screen/trommel plant.

They have asked for a three year consent before they convert the land to an eight-lot rural subdivision on their property.

Terramark planner Darryl Sycamore, who is representing the company, said the applicants are highly experienced miners with multiple projects around the South Island. 

“It is proposed mining will occur only during standard work hours, Monday to Friday, to limit effects on surrounding landowners. Excavation will only be two to three meters deep into alluvial gravels and will not require any chemicals as part of the processing activity.

“There is no risk of chemical contamination to land or water, dust or legacy issues which is often highlighted by opponents of hard-rock mining projects.”

Darryl said the lifestyle subdivision on their land already has consent, and the mining will be no closer than 40m from the upper extent of the riverbank.

The application is publicly notified solely because landscape effects on some landowners was deemed to be more than minor albeit for a short period, he said.

The gold dredge that is currently in operation already on the lower Clutha River. Image: file

Other mining equipment used will consist of a floating gold processing screen plant, five excavators, two dump trucks, a bulldozer, pumps and ancillary equipment. 

Up to 2,520m3 of water per day is proposed to be used to run the processing plant, based on a flow rate of 70L/s over a 10 hour working day. 

A report to the CODC said the water will primarily come from groundwater brought to the surface into ponds, and supplemented from the Mata-Au Clutha River. 

Overall, the proposed activity is likely to have adverse noise and landscape effects on the wider environment that are more than minor.

The report identified 16 affected parties - including Ngai Tahu, DOC, NZTA and Heritage NZ that should be served notice of the application.

The company has been gold dredging in the Clutha River from the Beaumont area north for several years, but when an application was made to move the operation into the Upper Clutha, it came up against many opposing submitters.

Concerns were raised at a hearing in Cromwell in 2023 about environmental impacts on the river, from both the exhaust emissions, the disposal of effluent onboard, as well as lack of cultural considerations.

Submissions for the new application close on Thursday March 19 and a hearing will follow.

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