Gold » Industry News
The Blackadder prospect is sited in the hills of the Maruia Valley, northwest of Springs Junction.
New chapter looms for Blackadder Jo Bailey Private company Main Divide Gold Limited has been granted a permit for the Blackadder prospect, which could prove to be one of the richest undeveloped alluvial gold fields in New Zealand. Main Divide Gold’s principal Chris Humphreys says when the prospect was discovered in the Maruia Valley in 1981 by brothers Afton and William Blackadder, it had “unusually high grades” of gold compared to existing alluvial mining operations. “Their initial testing of 29 cubic metres of gravel returned 8 ounces of gold - a yield of over 8.6 grams per cubic metre,” sasy Humphreys. “Other alluvial gold mines typically achieve grades of between 0.1 and 0.3 grams per cubic metre.” The 153-hectare permit area was put into a Newly Available Acreage competitive tender process by New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals after the
previous exploration permit over the goldfield, held by Canterbury miner Bill Gardner, expired at the end of 2012. Gardner had endured a long, unsuccessful battle with the Department of Conservation to access and mine the land, which is a few kilometres northwest of Springs Junction near the Lewis Pass. Humphreys says there are several reasons why he believes Main Divide Gold won the recent competitive tender process for the Blackadder permit. In 2010 Four Rivers Gold (a subsidiary of Main Divide Gold) successfully applied for a 222sqkm prospecting permit over the northern half of the Maruia Valley. He says while this ground is “prospective in its own right” with several old alluvial mines and a hard rock gold discovery in the eastern part of the permit where Four Rivers has since entered into a confidential exploration joint venture; it was also valuable in winning the Blackadder permit.
Main Divide Gold is still in the “very early stages” of the exploration cycle within the permit.
.... the current environment the National government has created for mineral exploration makes it considerably easier to progress a project like Blackadder....” “The prospecting permit neighbours the Blackadder permit on three sides, and gave Four Rivers Gold a strategic advantage in the Blackadder application process. “Because they neighbour, we were able to promote the exploration of both permits in unison so that the extent of the Blackadder goldfield both within the exploration permit and any extensions into the prospecting permit could be established at the same time.” “By the time the Blackadder permit was put out to competitive tender, Four Rivers Gold had also received permission from the Department of Conservation to undertake low impact exploration activities within the prospecting permit. “This allowed us to undertake field activities within the prospecting permit which demonstrated we could successfully undertake the exploration activities required within the Blackadder permit area despite the historical access constraints.” Humphreys says Main Divide Gold is still in the “very early stages” of the exploration cycle within the permit. He is currently involved in setting up a new early-stage growth investment company, Punakaiki Fund with entrepreneur and consultant Lance Wiggs. He says Punakaiki Fund intends to make an offering of shares to the public in August. “After this process is complete I will be able to apply more time to progressing exploration in the Blackadder permit.” Main Divide Gold now holds interests in five permits on the West Coast, covering a total of around 70,000 hectares across the Buller and Grey districts. “I originally sought to create a portfolio of permits which would form the core assets of an
exploration company with the intention of raising external exploration finance. “What eventuated was more interest in individual permits rather than the whole portfolio.” He says this has led Main Divide Gold to change its strategy. It has attracted joint venture partners into three of its permits and is already talking to several parties who have expressed an interest in the Blackadder permit. “I would be keen to hear from other interested parties and are open to a wide range of potential arrangements.” Humphreys says that the company is also looking to dispose of what it now considers to be a non-core prospecting permit situated in the Grey Valley. He believes both central and local government will be supportive of the Blackadder project given its potential to create much-needed jobs on the West Coast. “I think it’s fair to say that the current environment the National government has created for mineral exploration makes it considerably easier to progress a project like Blackadder compared to say ten years ago, when Bill Gardner held the permit.” Humphreys says he is “very excited” by the prospect. “While previous exploration work has been extremely localised within the permit area and no one knows how much gold there is, it certainly has a high potential. “Some news reports from ten years ago estimate the permit contains 200,000 ounces of alluvial gold. “At today’s prices, this has a potential value of around $300 million.”
Winter 2013 » Mining NZ 15