Work already carried out on two blocks near Roxburgh and Lawrence has prompted Australian-listed New Age Exploration (NAE) to apply for prospecting permits covering about 480sq km.
From the University of Otago, Dr Doug MacKenzie and Prof Dave Craw are hoping if the permits are awarded, they will have a couple of years of low-impact geological work ahead, with NAE having set aside about $150,000 for the project.
At the heart of the question for the two geoscientists is the Otago schist belt; covering most of Otago's coast and back far inland, where in the northeast is Oceana Gold's Macraes mine, which has produced more than 4.5 million ounces of gold during the past 26 years.
Both Dr MacKenzie and Prof Craw believe there could be similar gold mineralisation on the southeastern side of the schist belt as is found at Macraes.
Dr MacKenzie told delegates at the annual conference of the New Zealand branch of the Australian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (AusIMM) in Wellington he was looking for a ''mirror image'', of what was at Macraes, but said geological information on the area was ''rudimentary at best at present''.
While the famous Gabriel's Gully and its more than 500,000oz production borders the block, quite how that gold got there and where it came from, is another question.
''Using geophysical images, we'll be building up a picture of the area,'' Dr MacKenzie said.
''What's known now is there is a more complex structure in this block than was previously recognised,'' he said.
Prof Craw said the ''obvious next step'' was investigating the creeks in the area, to see what had been eroded and what placer [alluvial/loose] gold there was.
Prof Craw has been studying and comparing minute gold flakes and small nuggets from Macraes with those recovered in the southern zones. He is looking for similarities in where they are from and how they were transported and broken down by different forces of erosion.
''Is the process symmetrical [between the northern and southern end of the schist belt]?'' Prof Craw asked the delegates.
Even further southwest, there are gold operations in the Waikaia valley and Waimumu, in Southland, which were also supplying gold samples for scrutiny, Prof Craw said.
Simon Hartley's attendance at the conference is sponsored by AusIMM.
