Golden Link

Martha Exploration Project - 26 January 2012

Hauraki District Council, Waikato Regional Council and the Minister of Energy and Resources propose to vary the conditions of the Mining Licence.
Copies of the application, reports and recommendations are available on the Hauraki District Council website, from the HDC offices in Paeroa and Waihi or from the Waihi Library. Copies are also available at our Golden Link information office, Seddon Street, Waihi, next to the Waihi Memorial Hall (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 10.00am - 1.00pm)..

Objections may be submitted directly to the Environment Court by 27 February 2012. Forms and notes to assist filling in the forms are available from the places mentioned above. 

Correnso - queries answered January 2012

A meeting of the Waihi East Ratepayers Group (WERG) formulated some queries. They are posted here along with Newmont Waihi Gold's responses.

Golden Link - Consultation Progress December 2011

This document is a report on progress towards formulating a policy on property and community improvements (PCI) since receiving your feedback on "Golden Link: Your Views October 2011". We hope it will stimulate further comment and suggestions. Your feedback will help to produce our final PCI policy, which will be available in February 2012.

Golden Link: Your Views October 2011

This paper is a summary of the feedback that has been received by Newmont Waihi Gold on property and community improvement issues related to its ‘Golden Link’ project. At the end of the paper is a feedback form that we would like you to fill out by November 4 2011 with any new or additional suggestions you may have.

Updated Q&A October 2011

Newmont Waihi Gold has received a range of questions about the Golden Link proposals. Some of these have already been addressed in the Correnso and Martha Exploration Questions & Answers that were distributed to households when the proposals were originally announced. Included here are recent questions posed by community members, and our answers.

Correnso Blast Vibration Testing October 2011

Correnso blast vibration testing will take place on Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 October 2011

Correnso test blasting results: The trials were not as extensive as originally planned. Only two test blasts took place in October. We had originally planned to carry out ten test blasts. The maximum recorded levels of the blasts were 1.2mm/s (10.27am October 13) and 4.8mm/s (11.39am October 13). 

The test blasts were deliberately designed to produce vibration levels at the high end of the effects scale, close to the possible consent limit. However, of the nine monitors set up, three detected both blasts, two detected only the second blast, one detected only the first blast and three were not triggered by either blast. One of those not triggered by either blast did register 29 small events from other sources.

A full report and map of expected vibration effects will be published along with our consent application.

Announcement - August 23 2011

Media Release

Over the past few years we have carried out our exploration work in and around Waihi to identify areas that may contain gold and silver deposits with the aim of extending mining operations in Waihi beyond 2015. We have called this programme Golden Link.

Golden Link comprises two parts - The Martha Exploration Project and the Correnso Underground Proposal.

The Martha Exploration Project

Exploration drilling carried out in the Martha Mine open pit indicates the presence of promising deposits that warrant further investigation. To do this we propose to go underground.

The Martha Exploration Project is a small underground exploration located entirely within the existing Martha Mine licence area and within the boundaries of the pit rim. This project will not tunnel under any residential property. In terms of scale, less waste rock and ore will be moved in two years than is currently mined from the Martha open pit in a month.

We have produced a brochure to share information about the Martha Exploration Project. We have also compiled a Question and Answer document to address any initial queries you may have. View a brief video about the Martha Exploration Project

The Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE) for the Martha Exploration Project gives more detail.

The Correnso Underground Proposal

We are proposing to extend our underground operations beyond Favona and Trio into new ground. The ore body we have discovered is named Correnso. Parts of Correnso, including access to it, are at significant depth below some residential properties in Waihi East.

Correnso is a proposal. At this early stage there are still studies, trials and modelling we need to carry out and we are seeking community feedback before we lodge consent applications next year. As in the past, our commitment to the Waihi and wider community  is to keep you informed about our activities and plans and to listen to your views.

We have produced a brochure to share information about Correnso. We have also compiled a Question and Answer document to address any initial queries you may have. View a brief video about the Correnso proposal.

What’s in it for us? 

Does mining have any positive economic impact in Waihi? And what is the broader economic impact of mining in New Zealand? We discuss this and provide some economic facts and figures.

To find out more about Golden Link:

Over the next few weeks we will be visiting homes close to the Golden Link proposals.

Our Golden Link information office is in Seddon Street, next to the Waihi Memorial Hall. The office opening hours (January 2012) are:

• Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 10.00am to 1.00pm.

As well as this:

• We will be holding community briefings. If your organisation would like us to attend your next meeting, or if you would like to hold your group's next meeting in our Golden Link office, please give us a call.
• We will continue to publish our regular Updates in the local media
• We will post new information to this website as it becomes available
• We will broadcast updates and interviews on Waihi's 96.4 Gold FM
• Our community engagement line is 0800 NEWMONT (0800 639 6668)
• Email waihi.info@newmont.com
• Newmont Waihi Gold \ PO Box 190 \ Waihi 3641 \ Phone 07 863 8192