Otago Fish and Game this week tipped a new "gold rush" in the Nevis Valley as it was considering two proposals to mine alluvial gold in the area.
When approached by the Otago Daily Times yesterday and asked whether numbers of mining-related resource consents had increased lately, Central Otago District Council planning manager Louise van der Voort said she had expected an increase, but it had not happened yet.
"With the gold prices the way they are, we've been expecting and hearing that we might get a rush of applications, but it hasn't happened at this stage."
The most common reason for an application to be filed was if the mining operation breached the council's earthworks rules by seeking to extract more than 2000sq m of earth.
"Apart from the occasional large operation, we don't really get a huge number of mining-related consent applications before us," Ms van der Voort said.
Otago Regional Council resource management director Selva Selvarajah said although the price of gold had improved, it was "not as easy as people believe" to extract the metal.
"Most mining operations have carried out a considerable amount of detailed research before they begin, " he said.
Consent from the regional council was required if the mining operation was based on a river bed or flood plain, if it needed water or if it might generate considerable amounts of dust.
"Certainly, mining is pretty alive in the region, with several big scale mining operations such as Oceana Gold in East Otago and L and M Mining [on the Earnscleugh flats]."
New Zealand Historic Places Trust Otago Southland manager Owen Graham said he expected increased mining activity to focus on the Nevis Valley in particular - "it would seem an obvious target."
"Gold-mining began there in the 1860s and continued on through into the 20th century, so the modern version is a continuation of the activity there has been in that valley," Mr Graham said.
The trust is applying for official recognition of the lower Nevis as a historic area, but that would not prevent it being mined, he said.
"There are restrictions under the Historic Places Act which control the activities of anyone who wanted to re-work some of the 19th century gold workings in that area.
"They would have to apply for an archaeological authority and we'd have a say on that."
Going for gold
Resource consent applications for gold-mining:
Otago Regional Council: 4 in the past 8 years, 1 pending
Central Otago District Council:
2009------------- 3
2008------------- 4
2007------------- 6
2006------------- 0
2005------------- 0
2004------------- 2
2003------------- 2
