Australian mining stocks have endured a three-day hammering by fleeing investors and before yesterday's ASX close, four major stocks had shed a collective $A12 billion ($NZ15.1 billion) in market capitalisation.
Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton says the whole community is behind Oceana Gold's Macraes gold mine and its functions.
Peter and Cheryl Simpson might make the trip from Oamaru to Macraes every day but they never tire of the journey.
Mining in New Zealand is a male-dominated industry, so what is it like for women at Oceana Gold's mine at Macraes? Sally Rae talked to a nail-polish wearing grandmother who drives a 120-tonne truck.
Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee faced more questioning in Parliament today over mining proposals and Cabinet papers suggesting his initial recommendations for potential mining areas spread well beyond what was eventually presented to the public.
"Technology, eh." Metallurgist Geua Kivung beams as she describes how the oxidation process can be done in 60 minutes in the process plant at OceanaGold's Macraes site, rather than the traditional method which takes millions of years.
Politics will determine whether there is gold mining on the Coromandel Peninsula or around Reefton on the West Coast, as both areas are technically capable of being mined, senior research geologist Professor Dave Craw says.
OceanaGold Corp said results from drilling at its Frasers Underground mine in the Macraes Goldfield in Otago identified extensions to the area of gold mineralisation.
Gold exploration company Glass Earth Gold reported a 2009 loss of $C2.68 million ($NZ3.62m), with $C2.36m of capitalised exploration expenses written off in relation to relinquished ground that contained targets associated with those expenditures.
An estimated 50,000 marchers joined one of the biggest protests in Auckland for decades today, to give the Government a firm message to stay away from mining on conservation land.
The Government's proposed, contentious, changes to Schedule 4 in the Crown Minerals Act herald the most far-reaching legislative change to New Zealand's mining sector in decades. Is there $140 billion of inerals underground waiting to be plucked, or would the proposed changes damage a world-class tourism asset? Simon Hartley looks at what has come out of the ground in recent years.
Investment and jobs are key factors in any decision to allow mining of New Zealand's protected land areas. OceanaGold has been digging in our backyard at the Macraes site in East Otago for 20 years. Sally Rae and Craig Baxter went underground to meet the workers.
The Government is eyeing hidden mineral reserves in some national parks and wilderness areas. The proposal has ruffled a few feathers, but there are two sides to every story...
Gerry Brownlee's search for El Dorado in this country's supposedly mineral-ridden national parks has so far been more akin to King Midas in reverse.
Like the Stanley Burgers served at nearby Stanley's Hotel, everything about Macraes gold mine is big.
Conservation estate mining will not affect our nation's high land-protection status, the minister of Energy and Resources, Gerry Brownlee, says.
OceanaGold Corp, operator of the Macraes and Reefton gold mines, reported a bottom line profit of $US1.8 million ($NZ2.5m) in the three months to March 31, down from $US9.05m in the same quarter last year.
The head of the world's largest environmental conservation authority has taken an "almost unprecedented step" of criticising the New Zealand Government for its stance on mining the conservation estate.
There is not enough information available to decide on whether mining should be allowed in some currently protected areas, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright says.
The Government has rejected a claim by Forest and Bird that there are plans to open more conservation land for mining.