The $924,000 sale will preserve the 23-million-year-old crater lake for environmental and scientific research purposes, the council said.
DCC chief executive Sandy Graham said Foulden Maar was considered by scientists to contain New Zealand’s richest trove of fossils.
"The council has been working since 2019 to protect the significance of Foulden Maar. We’re delighted to have reached this agreement, which will prevent any mining taking place and preserve this very special scientific and conservation site into the future," Ms Graham says.
Foulden Maar was to be mined by Plaman Resources, but the foreign-owned company went into receivership in 2019.
Plaman Resources purchased the site in 2015 and went into receivership in 2019.
As a condition of the sale, mining permits relating to the property have been surrendered.
RNZ reported it was believed the agreement relates only to the existing 42 hectare site of the mining permit, not the wider lake site, which sits under a neighbouring farm and which Plaman Resources was looking at buying.
