Case studies

OceanaGold is moving closer to an underground mine at Wharekirauponga near Waihi. This is a story of low-impact gold exploration while conserving Archey’s frog, and of minimising the disturbance of ground by accessing the mineable resource from a portal outside forested conservation land.   Wharekirauponga is a gold deposit 10km north of Waihi, where exploration restarted in 1978, culminating in...

Wetland restoration, finding a use for waste rock, and a partnership with local iwi make for sustainable limestone quarrying at Ravensdown’s Supreme Lime operation in the Waikato. Ravensdown’s Supreme Lime quarry occupies rolling King Country grazing land near Waitomo, producing around 100,000 tonnes of mostly agricultural limestone annually to a central and lower North Island market. Crushed limestone promotes pasture...

On the banks of the Waikato River, Winstone Aggregates has taken quarrying to the next level in a partnership with local iwi, and nature conservation work. At Pukekawa quarry, the wetlands and other waterways are on the rebound.   Pukekawa quarry has been operating on the banks of the Waikato River since the 1920s, a hard rock basalt quarry, and...

OceanaGold has been mining at Macraes flat in East Otago since 1990. Along the journey the company has gone to extra lengths to manage environmental effects and to work with the local community. The Deepdell North pit development is the latest in a string of nature conservation successes.   OceanaGold’s opencast Macraes mine in East Otago is New Zealand’s largest...

One of New Zealand’s largest mines, the Stockton mine, is the scene of large-scale site rehabilitation into indigenous subalpine shrubland typical of the West Coast plateau landscape. Success stems from more than a decade of research into optimum growth medium and planting methods.   Coal mining on the Stockton plateau near Westport has been taking place since the late 1800s,...

Isaac Construction is unusual among quarry companies in having a conservation trust as its owner. The trust’s partnership with the Canterbury contracting company ensures nationally significant conservation of some of New Zealand’s rarest bird species.   Isaac Construction Limited is an independent, South Island based, quarrying and civil contracting company founded in 1950 by Sir Neil and Lady Isaac. It...

A planting project adjoining Drury quarry in South Auckland is connecting isolated patches of indigenous forest over 55 hectares. Stevenson Aggregates’ commitment to managing environmental impacts is impressive for its scale, and attention to the conservation of locally rare plant species.   Fulton Hogan/Stevenson Aggregates owns and operates one of the largest quarries in New Zealand at Drury, South Auckland....

OceanaGold’s open pit Globe Progress mine near Reefton is in the fifth year of post-closure site rehabilitation. It is located in a mountainous area of native forest on public conservation land.   The mine’s 260-hectare footprint occupies mainly an area of historic mine workings since regenerating into beech-dominated native forest. Between 2007 and 2016 Globe Progress produced more than 610,000...

The Golden Cross gold mine at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula in Hauraki District is an example of a mine that opened and subsequently closed since the Resource Management Act was passed in 1991. It is among foremost sites in the world for environmental management of mine closure and post-closure.   A combination of an open pit and an...