Community Input

People often raise questions or comments about whether community input counts. There are several reasons why NWG is seeking feedback from the community:

  • It helps us to gauge the level of support or opposition for the proposals
  • It creates greater awareness of the effects of the operation on our neighbours
  • It provides important information that can be included in project design to help to manage or mitigate effects
  • It highlights ideas that can be incorporated into final rehabilitation plans
  • It maximises the delivery of potential benefits to the community

We are keen to receive your feedback.

  • Phone our freephone
    0800 NEWMONT
    (0800 639 6668)
  • Visit the Golden Legacy Centre weekdays 10.00am to 2.00pm
  • Email a message to company liaison officer Donna Fisher
  • Attend one of our information sessions
  • Contact us here at our website contact page




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


0800 NEWMONT (0800 639 6668)

Martha East / West Layback Proposals

Decision Soon on West Layback Feasibility

Layback Proposal Boundaries

More Information Available

The Golden Legacy Centre on the corner of Moresby Avenue and Savage Road (next to Newmont Waihi Gold Education Centre) is open every week day from 10.00am to 2.00pm. As further information about the Martha layback proposals comes to hand it is made available in the Golden Legacy Centre and through this web site. NWG has received some consultants' reports in draft form and will provide summaries of these ahead of the final full reports being available.

Summaries for the following reports will be ready by the end of this week:

  • Visual Impact
  • Roading and traffic
  • Noise
  • Dust
  • Vibration
  • Property Valuation (up to mid-2007)

A DVD showing an overview of the proposed layback works and animations of rehabilitation concepts is also available. Please call in and pick up a complimentary copy.

Information Sessions Well Attended

Right through January and February information sessions have been held every Wednesday at 11.00am, 12.30pm and 5.30pm.

The sessions are open to anyone who wishes to attend, but each week the focus has been on a different neighbourhood around the open pit. The sessions have been well attended - 46% of those invited - and all feedback received is recorded and analysed. NWG has also been visiting community groups to provide layback information sessions and receive further feedback.

This is what you are telling us

Issues raised so far during community meetings and Golden Legacy Centre information sessions have covered a wide spectrum - not always directly related to the layback proposals. The issues broadly fall into about 40 categories.

Issue No. of Responses (%)
Property sales, property value 9%
Continuation of mining beyond expected closure dates 7%
Consultation process, lake, noise, rehabilitation, Moresby Ave, dust and vibration 4-6% each
All other issues (30 in total) Less than 4% each

Information Sessions Coming Up

During March information sessions will continue. With more information to offer about the proposals the same neighbourhoods are invited back and residents outside these areas are urged to come along as well if they are interested.

Wednesday 5 March 11.00am 12.30pm 5.30pm
For residents in blocks including Moresby Avenue, Kensington Road, Elliot Street, Hobson Street, Savage Road, Islington Terrace, Cambridge Road, Bulltown Road

Wednesday 12 March 11.00am 12.30pm 5.30pm
For residents and businesses in blocks including Moresby Avenue, Martha Street, Haszard Street, Martin Road, Russell Street, Pickett Place, Kensington Road

Wednesday 19 March 11.00am 12.30pm 5.30pm
For residents in blocks including Walker Street, Mackay Street, Featon Road and residents neighbouring the Mangatoetoe Stream

Wednesday 26 March 11.00am 12.30pm 5.30pm
For residents in blocks including Roycroft Street, Dobson Street, Grey Street, Boundary Road and residents neighbouring the conveyor and waste rock embankments


The sessions are open to anyone who wishes to attend, but each week the focus has been on a different neighbourhood around the open pit.

Newmont Waihi Gold expects to make a decision within the next few weeks about whether to apply for consents to lay back the Martha open pit to the west.

Analyses of the exploration drilling programme and resource modelling indicate that the area of the western layback contains fewer ounces of gold and silver than expected. Further investigation and internal review is required to confirm the recent results. If the model is confirmed, NWG expects to be able to make a decision quickly. If the review identifies more ounces, then no decision will be made until the financial modelling is complete, which means the decision will not be available until April.

It is too early to say whether the layback to the east is a feasible proposal. The drilling programme there has suffered delays and is not yet complete. A drill rig on its way to Waihi from the South Island last month met with an accident near Blenheim, causing damage to the rig and a replacement took some time to arrive in Waihi. The drilling has also been slowed by the broken ground around the historic underground workings and safety precautions associated with nearby mining activity on the south wall stability cutback. Results are not expected for the eastern drilling programme and resource modelling until at least the end of March.

Newmont Waihi Gold is aware that a level of uncertainty has been created by announcing its proposals before all information had been gathered. Feedback from public consultation meetings has indicated this to be an issue particularly for those living close to the proposed western layback. While the company acknowledges the uncertainty its announcements have created, it has made a commitment to the people of Waihi to openly communicate its intentions as soon as it can. The announcements on the layback proposals in September 2007 - and this recent update on the preliminary model - honour that commitment. NWG stands by its decision to communicate openly with the community as and when information is available and has received support for this process during the consultation meetings, even from those who are opposed to the laybacks.