New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals is a brand name used by the Energy and Resource Markets branch of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). MBIE administers the Crown Minerals Act 1991 (and its predecessors) on behalf of the New Zealand Government.

• You need a permit to look for gold unless you are in one of the fossicking areas
• New application guide and template for alluvial gold and quarry mining permits
• Annual fees overdue
• Annual summary report update and get ready for next year
• South Island aeromagnetic data
• Final reminder - Survey of industrial rocks and minerals
• Tui oil field decommissioning
• We’ve moved!

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With gold prices at record highs and an uncertain job market, it’s not surprising that many people are looking to gold. The mainstream media has also become aware of the heightened interest in gold mining with recent pieces on TVNZ’s Sunday programme and Radio New Zealand, as well as other media outlets helping to stoke interest.

However, we want to remind readers that unless you are looking for gold in one of the 19 public gold fossicking areas in the South Island you need to get a permit from us. Depending on what you intend to do, you may also need to get resource consent and land access arrangements.

If you are aware of people looking for gold without a permit, please contact our compliance team.

Read more about gold fossicking in New Zealand.

Find out about getting a permit.

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We’ve prepared a guide and template to help applicants work through the supporting information needed to support their application for an alluvial gold or quarrying mining permit.

These guides are part of a suite of guides we’re developing to help make applying for and complying with permits easier.

• Guide: Supporting information for applying for an alluvial gold or quarry mining permit [PDF, 423KB]
• Template: Supporting information for applying for an alluvial gold or quarry mining permit [DOC, 398KB]

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Most permit holders are required to pay annual fees on their permits by 31 July each year. We are still awaiting payment of 77 annual fee invoices. Permit holders who don't pay these fees could face enforcement action.

If you have outstanding invoices, please pay as soon as possible.

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If you haven’t filed your annual summary report (ASR) for 2019 do it now

The details of permit holders who haven’t submitted their annual summary report to us have now been passed onto our compliance team for follow up. Please file these reports as soon as possible.

File your ASR online in 2021

Next year we expect annual summary reports to be filed online using the online permitting system.  We will be sending out further communication about this in the coming months so stay tuned.

In the meantime please make sure:

• your contact details are up to date
• you have a realme login and
• you have registered for the online permitting system.

Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback and ideas for improving the online permitting system. We have reviewed your comments and are working on improvements to the system. Not all improvements are able to be made immediately but we are looking at a programme of ongoing improvements for the system.

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Almost five years of aeromagnetic surveying has been completed providing high quality geological data over parts of the South Island. This data is now freely available for download from the New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals (NZP&M) Online Exploration Database.

The aim of this work was to get better insights into the mineral potential of the South Island but may also provide insights into fault lines and information about aquifers and soils.

The data covers nine blocks, three in the Nelson/Marlborough region, one in the Murchison and five in the Southland/Otago region. A total of 180,060 line km were acquired during the project. This data is now available for download from the Online Exploration Database under mineral report MR5400.

The data has also been merged and processed with previous NZP&M and resource industry acquired data to form a Northern Mosaic and Southern Mosaic. These are now available for download from the Online Exploration Database under mineral reports MR5717 and MR5729, respectively.

All of this merged and processed data is available below as a single download for a limited time.

RASP - Regional airborne-geophysical survey

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The annual survey of industrial rocks and minerals closes on 30 September. We ask all quarries who haven’t yet provided us with their data to do so as soon as possible.

This survey provides both the government and industry with useful data, and allows us to look at the value of the quarry industry to New Zealand.

This year we have launched an online survey, which makes filling in your information easier, particularly if you need to provide information about a number of different minerals.

View the survey page on our website for more information.

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Since our last newsletter work has been continuing to advance plans for the decommissioning of the Tui oil field which the New Zealand Government is managing after the financial problems affecting the permit operator Tamarind Taranaki Ltd.

Recruitment of key personnel to the project team continues and contracts have been awarded for technical advice and supporting services.

A webinar was staged in conjunction with Venture Taranaki to keep the Taranaki business community and interested parties informed of the latest developments and the procurement rules that the project will operate under.

Watch a recording of the webinar.

Keep up to date with the decommissioning of the Tui oil field.

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We moved buildings on Monday 7 September – but our postal address and phone numbers remain the same.

Our physical address is now 25 The Terrace, Te Puāwai o te Aroha – Pastoral House, Wellington.

Our postal address is still:

New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals
PO Box1473
Wellington 6140
New Zealand.

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