New Appointment

Kelvyn Eglinton

Kelvyn Eglinton is a keen sportsman as a participant and at management level.

Newmont Waihi Gold is looking forward to welcoming a new external affairs manager at the end of this month. Kelvyn Eglinton is currently Strategy Director for Auckland Regional Physical Activity and Sport Strategy (ARPASS), which is a joint initiative of several city and district councils and regional sports bodies in Auckland. He has experience in business strategy and project development and management and holds a bachelor of Recreation Management from Lincoln University.

Present EA Manager, Malcolm Lane will continue to provide assistance and support to NWG in projects he has been involved with for a number of years.





The Newmont Waihi Gold freephone is attended 24 hours a day, seven days a week.


0800 NEWMONT (0800 639 6668)

May Anniversaries ...
15 May 1988

Gold Pour

The first gold pour at the new Martha Mine, undertaken by then mill superintendent Kevin Reynolds. Dave Lusby coordinates the gold room these days and has been working at the mine for almost twenty years.

WCCC - Five Years On ...

The fifth anniversary of the first WCCC meeting will be a celebration of the huge progress made to date and an acknowledgement of the contributions made by all involved. Anyone who has had some input into the WCCC or WCV is urged to come along to the Salvation Army Hall at 7.00pm on Monday 19 May to mark the occasion.

It started out as the Waihi Community Consultative Committee (WCCC) on 19 May 2003. The inaugural meeting was attended by about 65 people - representatives of a large number of Waihi interest groups and the general public.

At that meeting 23 people representing 18 Waihi perspectives were established as the WCCC. The meeting resolved that the purpose of the WCCC was to:

"Liaise with and make recommendations to the mining company and the district and regional councils on historic and current issues and future planning, to ensure:

  • A healthy future for Waihi;
  • The gaining and maintaining of positive relationships community wide;
  • The environmental, cultural, economic and social viability and stability of the area; and
  • The preservation and enhancement of the heritage of Waihi."

Independently facilitated, the WCCC has met regularly and has achieved a great deal.

'Waihi's Golden Legacy - A 2020 Vision' document was produced in 2004 - a plan to develop a sustainable future for Waihi. In 2005 WCCC changed its name to Waihi Community Vision (WCV) to reflect its shift of focus that led to the formation of the Vision Waihi Trust (VWT) in February 2006.

The purpose of the Trust is to investigate project concepts within the 2020 Vision and other proposals and if viable find ways to turn these into a reality. A few of the key projects receiving VWT leadership and assistance include the town rebranding as Waihi - NZ's Heart of Gold, the new Waihi Visitor Centre and the Gold Discovery Centre. The trust also provides support to businesses, the tourism industry and sustainable development initiatives.

Four cluster groups have developed from the WCV process: Sport'n'Action, Creative Waihi, the Social Development Group and Waihi Heritage Vision are all working hard towards achieving their visions and plans for their specific sectors and areas of interest.


Western Layback Feasibility -
Why is this taking so long?

NWG made public announcements about the layback proposals early in response to expressed wishes of representatives of community organisations.

People have been telling us they would appreciate being aware of operational plans the mining company may be considering. They felt in some cases there may be synergies that could be acted upon to save time, avoid repetition of tasks or efforts, facilitate an organisation's planning or facilitate their personal planning.

A good example of synergy in action was the pumphouse relocation project. VWT, WCV, HDC, GO Waihi, Historic Places Trust, LINZ, NWG and relocation contractors met regularly. This enabled a coordinated approach to achieve the necessary permits, manage media interest, promote the project, plan the 'Welcome Home' event and, most importantly, keep all parties informed.

In response to suggestion from community groups NWG announced early its proposals to consider the feasibility of laying back the walls of the open pit to the east and west. This was in September 2007.

At that time the company had no specific knowledge about the extent of gold deposits in the areas of interest and had not yet commissioned specialists' reports.

Under past practices the company would have completed all the drilling, modelling and economic investigations and would have received all completed technical reports before taking the proposals to the community for feedback. The community would not have been aware of the timing and mechanisms behind preparing this background material.

The early announcement means that the community is involved at an earlier stage and is more aware of the inevitable and sometimes frustrating delays that seem to accompany these complex projects.

Thousands of Years of Accumulated Experience

Because May anniversaries are a hot topic here lately we started looking at staff lists to see who had been working here for a while and were not surprised with what we found. Here is an informal count-up and some observations:

  • Among Newmont staff about 42% (approximately 40 people) have been working at the site continuously for ten years or longer.
  • Almost 30% of Newmont employees have been here for 15 years or more.
  • Some people used to work for Newmont and then transferred to Macmahons, or vice versa.
  • There are more than twenty people employed by Newmont and Macmahons who have been here for twenty years or longer.
  • A number of employees have worked on site in the past, had a spell elsewhere and then returned.
  • Some current employees used to work in the mining industry in Waihi for former employers such as Radial Drilling, AMAX, Mineral Resources or ACM.
  • Among Macmahon staff about 10% (approximately 12 people) have been working at the site continuously for ten years or longer and about five people are veterans of 20 years or more.
  • An unknown, but significant number of contractors are long term (more than twenty years) indirect employees at Martha or Favona.
  • Although about 40% of Newmont employees have been working on site less than five years, almost three quarters of them are long-time Waihi residents or were born here.
  • The current Newmont staff turnover rate is between 2% - 3% per annum, which is a notably lower rate than is common in the mining and other industries.