What is Known About a Mining Application to Remove Gemstones from Gemstone Beach? Part One: The Application

This matter has attracted a lot of attention recently and I have followed it closely because of my interest in Gemstone Beach. I even had a half-hour discussion about it with a reporter. I want to try to clarify and understand for myself the issues involved in greater detail. This is Part One of what will initially be a four part Series. My intention is to examine publicly available information in a balanced manner, though I am casual beach stone fossicker who regularly visits Gemstone Beach.

THE APPLICATION SUMMARY

An Application has been made to NZ Petroleum and Minerals. The Online Permitting System provides the following public information for this Application (to access this document through the search function, you need some information about it, such as its record number 61382.01):

This Application would have been made on the NZ Petroleum and Minerals application form. The form, and the range of issues it covers, can be found here.

WHAT IS IN THE APPLICATION?

1) An Exclusive Mining Permit for Gemstones, Garnets, Quartz on 47.59 Hectares (11 Kms) of the Eastern Te Waewae Bay Coast for Ten Years

The public Application summary states that a Mining Permit is sought (not an Exploration or Prospecting Permit). The NZ Petroleum and Minerals website states that Minerals Mining Permits “grant the permit holder the exclusive right to mine for specified minerals” (Types of Minerals Permits). The types of minerals sought in the Application are “Gemstones, Garnet, Quartz”. The information on the webpage “New Zealand’s mineral estate” does not provide any useful indication about what counts as a gemstone, and further searching has not turned up anything helpful, e.g. gemstones are not a listed industrial mineral in New Zealand. However, the Applicant’s comments in the press (examined in a later Post) make it clear that it includes the kinds of semi-precious gemstones normally collected by casual fossickers on beaches in New Zealand. Furthermore, there are two types of garnets that can be found in the area under Application – red almandine garnet sand and hydrogrossular garnet stones. I have seen suggestions online that the garnet sand along this coast is not really suitable as an industrial abrasive and it has attracted no attention. The hydrogrossular garnets are especially popular with casual fossickers and rockhounds as they can be found in very few other places in New Zealand. As far as quartz is concerned, there is a wide variety of quartz stones present, many of which are popular with passing motorists and casual fossickers.

The area of the Application is 47.59 hectares (475,900 square metres, just under half of a square kilometre) of “Orepuki Beach”. This area is defined on a “Permit Map – Minerals” (you have to zoom in on the Te Waewae Bay coast) as consisting of the beach stretching from Monkey Island to about McCracken’s Rest (see below). This is a distance of about 11 kilometres by my calculations, using Google Maps.

The information about the Application linked in a pop-up in the map (see below) contains the additional information that the Application was made on 25 June 2025:

2) A Tier 2 Permit for Fossicking and Surface Mining

It is stated in the Application that it is not for a hobby or recreational operation. It is for “fossicking” and “surface mining”. “Fossicking”usually means to prospect for gold, precious or semi-precious stones, fossils, or other interesting materials by sifting through areas like beaches, riverbeds, and old mine workings. It’s the kind of thing that a lot of people do along the Te Waewae Bay coast in a casual manner, without a mining permit. “Surface mining” is a term normally associated with the removal of surface material to gain access to minerals. It’s normally used in relation to quarrying and open-cast mining of coal, gold, and road construction material. Its meaning in relation to semi-precious gemstones on the beach is not clear, but the granting of the permit would allow “surface mining” to take place.

The Application will be for a Tier 2 Permit. The page “Apply for a minerals Tier 1 or Tier 2 mining permit” states: “Tier 1 permits are complex, higher risk and return operations, and require more hands-on proactive management and regulation. Tier 2 permits are lower return industrial, small business, and hobby mineral operations, requiring a simpler, more pragmatic management regime.” The following applies to Tier 2 Permits: “Tier 2 permits are ordinarily no larger than 200 hectares. Tier 2 mining permits for alluvial gold are ordinarily granted for up to 10 years. Tier 2 permits for other minerals, and Tier 1 permits, will ordinarily be granted for a period necessary to mine the identified resource.” The Application Form Guidelines (in Note 17 at end of Section Three) state: “Mining permits… are ordinarily granted initially… for up to 40 years. Mining permits for alluvial gold and hobby or recreational operations are ordinarily granted for up to 10 years.” Note that the Application indicates it is not for a hobby or recreational operation. This means that, on the face of it, the Applicant chose to apply for 10 years, and not a shorter period as he could have, ostensibly because that is how long he needs to obtain the gemstones he wants.

3) Fees and Processing Timeline

The Fee for a Tier 2 Application for a Mining Permit is $5,750, according to “Minerals permit fees, royalties and ERLs”. The same webpage indicates that the annual fee for a Tier 2 onshore Mining Permit (if the Application is granted) is $2,058.50 per square kilometre or part of a square kilometre, or $1,150, whichever is greater. The Application covers 0.4759 of a square kilometre so its annual fee would be $1,150 (as 0.4759 of $2,058.50 is the lesser sum of $979.64).

A newspaper report notes that, when assessing an application, NZ Petroleum and Minerals can only apply the statutory tests set out in the Crown Minerals Act. “This includes an applicant’s proposed work programme, technical and financial capability, compliance history and a high-level assessment of an operator’s health and safety capability. The Act does not allow for the consideration of public submissions.” The “average timeframe (working days)” for processing a Tier 2 Application is 180 days, according to this webpage. The Application is dated 25 June 2025, and 180 days – six months – after that is approximately 25 December 2025.

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Part Two describes the initial public reaction to the Application. Part Three looks at the Applicant’s response in newspaper articles to that public reaction. Part Four clarifies current Environment Southland regulations concerning the removal of stones from beaches. Part Five describes the response of NZ Petroleum and Minerals to the public’s emails opposing the Application. Part Six , written in November 2025, is entitled “Application Withdrawn”.