Category: Gemstone Beach, Orepuki

What is Known About a Mining Application to Remove Gemstones from Gemstone Beach? Part Two: The Initial Public Reaction

Part One examined in detail the public summary of an Application to mine gemstones from Gemstone Beach. This Post examines my own and other people’s reactions to finding out about it.

Right at the beginning of August, I arrived in Southland for some fossicking at Gemstone Beach. A couple of days later, I met someone on the beach who told me that an Application to mine gemstones, garnets and quartz there had been made. No further details were mentioned. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Someone else then mentioned it too, but again no other details were known. At that stage, I contacted the Southland District Coucil asking if such an application had been made. They replied that I should contact Environment Southland who deal with resource consents for the area. I did so and they replied that no application had been made to them. By this stage, in mid-August, the issue had appeared on social media, on local area pages and rockhound groups. Nearly everyone had some concern about the implications for the beach, for public access, and for the future of casual fossicking on it. No consultation had occurred – this was the first time anyone had heard about it. I mentioned the appearance of the issue in one of my regular fossicking Posts.

It also became clear around this time that the Application had in fact been made to NZ Petroleum and Minerals, and a summary of it was found. The summary of the Application didn’t allay any of the concerns and fears. It said that gemstones, garnets and quartz were to be mined along this coast, that the area concerned was quite large (47.59 hectares), the permit was to be for ten years, and it wasn’t a hobby or recreational operation but was to include surface mining. In the absence of any other information, people were not sure what surface mining would entail, but it certainly didn’t sound nice. How would access to the beach be affected? Would mining activity spoil the beach for locals and tourists alike? How might it impact the economy of the small town of Orepuki if it made it a lot less attractive for passing motorists to call in? And what would be the implications for the casual fossicking of rockhounds that has always occurred there? Why should one person be given this power over the beach? A lot of people sent emails to NZ Petroleum and Minerals strenuously objecting to any mining of the beach or the restriction of access to it. One newspaper report referred to emails “jamming” the in-box of MBIE (Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, of which NZ Petroleum and Minierals is a part), and another referred to the “severe backlash” to the Application.

A few people on social media said that all the reaction was a storm in a tea-cup. They were sceptical that the Application would amount to much. They pointed out that the gemstones had very little value and that anyone interested in them would only be able to collect them on a very small scale. For example, the miner would likely use a quad bike with a trailer carrying a sluice to search for and collect the gemstones. But there remained questions about why the Application had been made if that was the case, and what the implictions were for access and casual fossicking.

For the reaction of a fellow Gemstone Beach fossicker and blogger, see “My thoughts on the Gemstone Beach Mining Permit Application” in Tumble and Polish.

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Part Three looks at the Applicant’s response in newspaper articles to this public reaction. Part Four clarifies current Environment Southland regulations concerning the removal of stones from beaches.

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”.

August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 18, Farewell Fossick on Gemstone Beach, Saturday 23 August

Chrissy fossicking on Gemstone Beach, near the Waimeamea River mouth.

Chrissy and I arrived at Gemstone Beach just after 3pm, two and half hours after high tide. It was sunny, 14 degrees, with a light wind. There were about 20 other people on the beach when we arrived, but none ventured west of the Taunoa Stream. We made our way down to the Waimeamea River, crossing it at 5pm to fossick on the other side for about ten minutes. On our way back to the carpark, we stopped to have a long chat with Blair and Catherine, two other members of the Southland Geology and Lapidary Club whom we had not met before. It was 6.15pm when we got back to the carpark, the temperature having dropped to seven degrees. It seemed that the stones had been freshened by recent tides and there were especially more small hydrogrossular garnets than usual.

Arriving today on Gemstone Beach.
Quite a few people on Gemstione Beach today in front of the carpark.
Looking back towards the carpark from a few hundred metres down the beach.
Chrissy fossicking on Gemstone Beach, near the Waimeamea River mouth.
Chrissy on the edge of the Waimeamea River.
My Gemstone Beach finds this afternoon.

Gemstone Beach is known for its hydrogrossular garnets – I have roughly grouped seven different types in this 2022 Post. I found a variety of them today, some not easily fitting into the seven types I identified. The first one below is a bright orange:

This hydrogrossular garnet is an unusual creamy colour:

Creamy hydrogrossular garnet.
Other side of stone.

A white and grey hydrogrossular garnet with clouds inside:

White and grey hydrogrossular garnet.

Four other hydrogrossular garnets I picked up this afternoon:

I continue to find interesting green stones of different compositions and intensity. This first one appears to be a breccia:

In this one, half of the stone has lots of tiny white patches:

And some with much lighter green hues, the first a quartzite:

Quartzite with light green epidote.

A green and dark red find:

A lighter green with a few small areas of lighter red:

The green in this brecciated stone is almost grey:

Another green-grey breccia:

The two sides of this trace fossil stone are of contrasting colours, one being dark grey, the other light green:

Trace fossil stone.
Other side of trace fossil stone.

The distinctive green of chromium in quartz:

Chromium in quartz.

Four trace fossil stones, ranging in colour from black to very light grey:

A gorgeous small banded argillite, white and brown:

Banded argillite.

Two black and white igneous stones:

And perhaps it is most appropriate to finish with a nice poppy jasper, one of my favourite types of stone to be found on Gemstone Beach:

Poppy jasper.

And on that note, it’s good-bye to Gemstone Beach from me until my next trip south, maybe March next year.

The next Post in this Series covers the first of three fossicks at Seadown Beach, Kakanui, North Otago, as I drive north. An Index to the Series is here.

August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 17, To Believe in Better Times: Orepuki and Gemstone Beach, A New “Mining” Venture?

Gemstone Beach today.
More Gemstone Beach stones.
Environment Southland map of current resource consents. https://southmaps.es.govt.nz/localmaps/viewer/?webmap=ccfba329e7bb4ea4a400519908599f38
https://aotearoabooks.co.nz/high-hopes-and-big-dreams-165-nz-small-towns-in-their-twilight
Old building, Orepuki.

NOTE 2: This evening (3 September), the Southland Times published an article “Severe backlash follows mining permit application at Gemstone Beach”. There, the Applicant, Michael Reedy, states that he “would only be hand-picking stones off [of?] one cubic metre of the beach a year if the permit was granted.” The stones are “to add to a polished concrete floor and to make jewellery”. It boggles the mind as to why he needs a permit that covers 47.5 hectares from Monkey Island to McCracken’s Rest if that is all he wants to do! [Although I have seen a suggestion that hobby mining permits are usually for just under 50 hectares, though a rationale was not given for that.]

NOTE 1: The day after I published this Post, it became clear that an Application had been made in June to New Zealand Petroleum and Mining for a permit to mine 47.5 hectares along the coast near Orepuki, including Gemstone Beach. If approved, this Appication might then go to Environment Southland. The public notification of the Application is below:

Part 1 (of 3) of public Application notification.
Part 2 (of 3) of public Application notification.
Part 3 (of 3) of public Application notification.

I have written to New Zealand Petroleum and Mining asking if I can view the full Application so I can understand better what is intended and what its implications may be for fossickers like me.

More on the Application can be found in a Series of Posts starting with “What is Known About a Mining Application to Remove Gemstones from Gemstone Beach? Part One: The Application”.

While I’ve been down here on the south coast, I have heard from a couple of local people that someone was applying to “mine gemstones” from Gemstone Beach. The implication is that someone wants somehow to collect large amounts of semi-precious gemstones such as hydrogrossular garnet. I waited until I had heard this rumour from more than one source until I sent a message to Environment Southland, the local government body responsible for granting resource consents for environmental activities: I have heard that an Application has been made recently to mine Gemstone Beach, near Orepuki, for gemstones. I regularly walk this beach and pick up stones to tumble polish and am wondering how this might affect me, if granted. Am I able to view the Application? How much will it affect the beach? Is the public able to make submissions? I received the following reply: “We don’t have an application in our system for mining at Gemstone Beach.” Of course, such an application may yet be submitted in the future. If one is, I would like the opportunity to make a submission on it.

Environment Southland has a web page “Notified Consents” that lists advertised resource consents that are being processed, on which submissions may be made (see photo below, top left). At present, that includes only two applications for 2025. I must make sure I check on this page from time to time in case a Gemstone Beach application is made. There is also a map that shows current resource consents for Southland (see photo below, top right). You can zoom in on Orepuki and click on a symbol to get information on any resource consent there, such as one for recreational gold mining on Gemstone Beach. I often see a gold miner there on a quad bike with a small water pump and sluice box. His impact on the beach is not noticeable. I often chat to him about beach conditions and pat his dog.

Notified Consents page of Environment Southland. https://www.es.govt.nz/environment/consents/notified-consents
Environment Southland map of current resource consents. https://southmaps.es.govt.nz/localmaps/viewer/?webmap=ccfba329e7bb4ea4a400519908599f38
Zooming in on Orepuki area, current resource consents.
Clicking on a symbol provides information of the consent – in this case, for recreational mining on Gemstone Beach.

Gemstone Beach as a casual fossicking beach is important to Orepuki because of the fossickers and tourists attracted to it. When dropping in on a bookshop on my way south about three weeks ago, I saw an interesting book called “High Hopes and Big Dreams: 165 NZ Small Towns in Their Twilight” written by Peter Janssen and Elizabeth Anderson, published in 2023. It highlights New Zealand towns that had once flourished but have now faded. Some have vanished completely, while others have discovered a new purpose and are hanging in there. One of the 165 towns is Orepuki. The European origins of Orepuki township begin with the discovery of gold in the beach’s black sand in 1865 (see photos below). With the discovery of coal and oil shale in 1879, the town grew even bigger to about 3,000 people (see Orepuki, Our History). Flax and timber were also important. On 25 May 1885 a branch line railway was opened, providing efficient transport to Invercargill. However, as with many of the towns in “High Hopes and Big Dreams”, early resources and industries faded, the railway closed in July 1976, the primary school closed in 2003, and farming became the main economic base for the area. There was very little to support much of a population. Then, as Wikipedia notes, “By 2014, Orepuki started undergoing a transformation with new houses being built and renovated and the opening of the Orepuki Beach Cafe”. The town lies on the Southern Scenic Route between Invercargill and Te Anau, bringing tourists through it (see “Orepuki – Much more than just a place to just pass through”). Gemstone Beach, just a couple of hundred metres outside of town, is one of the main attractions that cause tourists to stop there. And a local horse trekking business also thrives – see YouTube and Discover Orepuki. But there are still less than 100 residents in Orepuki, and the old town centre looks as if is part of a ghost town. Spoiling Gemstone Beach for tourists and casual fossickers will be to the detriment of the town.

Orepuki in 1905. Source: https://orepuki.co.nz/photo-gallery
From Information Board, Orepuki.
https://aotearoabooks.co.nz/high-hopes-and-big-dreams-165-nz-small-towns-in-their-twilight
Old buildings, Orepuki town centre.
Old building, Orepuki.
Orepuki Beach Cafe. https://southlandnz.com/listing/orepuki-beach-cafe/1051/
Orepuki Horse Treks. https://southlandnz.com/listing/orepuki-horse-treks/935/
Part of the south west corner of present day Orepuki. Source: http://www.realestate.co.nz/42862764/residential/sale/9-denbigh-street-orepuki

One of the songs I have recently added to my Spotify “Likes” list is “Olalla” by Blanco White, and there is kind of a connection to Orepuki. “Blanco White” is London-based musician Josh Edwards, having adopted the name professionally as a tribute to the Spanish poet José María Blanco White. He spent time in Spain and Bolivia where he studied the flamenco guitar and the charango, influences apparent in “Olalla”. My research shows that Olalla could come from a Spanish surname derived from the Basque word for “little olive tree” and/or from a Spanish female name meaning “light” or “brightness”. Blanco White wrote this about the song in American Songwriter: “‘Olalla’ is a song about the disappearing towns and villages of Southern Europe. Often these places are staggeringly beautiful, but are slowly being abandoned as jobs and communities migrate elsewhere. I think I just felt moved by that idea of loss and inevitable change. Although the narrative laments that change, I hoped the song would still be uplifting in some way and capture some of the excitement that I’ve felt when stumbling across a beautiful place.”

“Olalla” by Blanco White (2018)

Olalla, more than a name
Rest your eyes and stay in the shade
You are hiding over the hill
In a quiet never so still

From Olalla to the city lights
Somebody told me to believe in better times
From Olalla to the city lights
Somebody told me to believe
To believe

Oh Olalla, where will you go
If the line ends out on the road
There’s a story meant to be told
When the door is shut in the cold

From Olalla to the city lights
Somebody told me to believe in better times
From Olalla to the city lights
Somebody told me to believe
To believe…

Oh Olalla on the border line
There is a world down on its knees
For better times
Oh Olalla don’t you fear the night
There’s only time to believe
To believe

On 23 August, Chrissy and I made two fossicking visits – one to Papatoara Beach (the subject of the previous Post) and one to Gemstone Beach, available here. An Index to the Series is here. More on the Mining Application can be found in a Series of Posts starting with “What is Known About a Mining Application to Remove Gemstones from Gemstone Beach? Part One: The Application”.

August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 15, With Ohla on Gemstone Beach, Thursday 21 August

Ohla looking over the Waimeamea River.

Chrissy and Ohla and I arrived at Gemstone Beach at 3pm today, two hours before low tide. There were four other cars there when we arrived, relatively busy for a Thursday afternoon in winter. We forded the Taunoa Stream and made it down to the Waimeamea River, reaching there about 5pm before turning around. Ohla enjoyed the outing, and we enjoyed her company.

Ohla and Chrissy crossing the Taunoa Stream.
Ohla looking over the Waimeamea River.
Ohla at the break in the cliffs.
Gemstone Beach in front of the carpark today.
The Waimeamea River.
Returning to the Taunoa Stream.

The stones seemed to have been stirred up by the waves recently so that a good mix were on the surface. In places, the sand at the back of the beach had been piled higher. We found a few more trace fossil stones than in previous fossicks. I picked up a large banded argillite. Chrissy found quite a few small hydrogrossular garnets and one poppy jasper, the only one we saw during the afternoon. The sun was quite low by the time we got back to the carpark.

The low sun through the clouds.
Today’s finds.
The next day, Ohla was still taking it easy after her long walk.

I found a large but smooth stone that I thought Nicola from Hawkes Bay might like as she cuts stones – she will be coming down here in a few weeks’ time.

I picked up a small veined mudstone beacuse of the tiny fragment in the thickest vein on one side:

Small mudstone.

I really like the light blue hue of this type of stone often seen on Gemstone Beach:

A small find with some intense green in it:

Four others with green in them:

Chrissy’s very small poppy jasper…

Chrissy’s small poppy jasper.

…and my large banded argillite:

Banded argillite.

Four other finds:

Igneous stone.
Mudstone?

When I first saw this next stone, I wasn’t sure if maybe there were trace fossils in it. It seems to be an argillite that has been “baked” a little. The close-up photos confirm that traces are there:

Trace fossil stone.
Other side of trace fossil stone.

Four other stones with trace fossils showing the great variety that can be found:

This was my second-last fossick on Gemstone Beach this trip. It will soon be time to say good-bye to Chrissy and Mike and Ohla who have put up with me for three weeks.

Ohla and Chrissy making their way towards the Waimeamea River.
Ohla and Chrissy on the bank of the Waimeamea River.
Ohla, still resting up the next day.

The next Post in this Series is on a fossick on Papatotara Beach, featuring a large thulite found by Chrissy. The Index to the Series is here.

August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 13, Coldest Fossick on Gemstone Beach, Monday 18 August

The family that was on the beach when I arrived.

It’s been a few days since my last fossick at Gemstone Beach. On Friday and Saturday, I had visited a beach closer to where I was staying. On Sunday, it was cold and wet and windy so I stayed inside. I decided to be brave and venture out today. In the morning, it was cold and wet and windy but the weather forecast looked promising for the afternoon – I use a weather forecaster called “Yr.no” and it provides hour by hour forecasting that I generally find very useful. “Yr.no” is a popular, publicly-funded Norwegian weather service that provides surprisingly detailed weather forecasts worldwide through its website and mobile app.”Yr” means drizzle in Norwegian. The service is jointly produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.

http://www.yr.no/en
“Yr” map for southern coast of South Island, New Zealand. Note: Wind is in metres/second.
“Yr” forecast page for Orepuki. Note: Wind is in metres/second.
“Yr” forecast for Orepuki today, hour by hour. Note: Wind is in metres/second.

I arrived at Gemstone Beach at 11.40am – it was an outgoing tide with low tide due at 2.00pm. The temperature was only six degrees, but at least the rain stopped when I arrived. Initially there was very little wind but halfway through my fossick, , a bitterly cold breeze sprung up, stinging any exposed skin. Despite the dark day, one carload of what was probably a Mum and Dad with a young child were there when I pulled up, and even more people arrived after that. The Taunoa Stream was running too high and fast to cross, due to the rain over the last day and a half, so I spent just over an hour fossicking back and forth a couple of times on the beach in front of carpark. The temperature had risen to nine degrees when I left at 1pm. I found one small but kind of different poppy jasper and only one small hydrogrossular garnet but a number of interesting looking stones.

Arriving at Gemstone Beach on a cold wet day just before noon.
The family that was on the beach when I arrived.
Others arrived while I was there.
The Taunoa Stream, too fast and deep to cross today.
My finds today.
Gemstone Beach stones near the Taunoa Stream.
Gemstone Beach stones near the Taunoa Stream.
Gemstone Beach stones near the Taunoa Stream.

The small poppy jasper I found today was interesting because the orbs were spaced apart, not crowded together as is more usual:

One side of the small poppy jasper.
Other side of the small poppy

An intense green stone with lots of little bits in it:

The purple hues and white shapes in this stone caught my eye:

I like the dark stones with white crystals or spots. In the first side of this stone, the regular white spots are interrupted, are smaller and fainter:

I have found lots and lots of breccia stones on Gemstone Beach, where the fragments (“clasts) in the stone are angular (see this Post from September last year, for example). Conglomerates contain rounded fragments, and I have been looking for specimens without success until maybe today. The larger fragments in this stone are rounded, although some the tiny fragments are angular:

Sometimes a stone may not be purely a breccia or conglomerate but may contain both angular and rounded clasts. I’ve been trying to think of a good name for such but have not yet thought up one.

A partly brecciated stone, with tiny angular fragments:

I picked up this trace fossil stone because of the way some of the traces seemed to radiate from a central point, an unusual pattern:

Normally I tend to collect protovirgularia traces – lines of chevrons – but there are a wide range of other types of traces. A well-illustrated account of the different types of trace fossils can be found in this Sedimentary Geology textbook.

https://geo.libretexts.org/Courses/SUNY_Potsdam/Sedimentary_Geology%3A_Rocks_Environments_and_Stratigraphy/09%3A_Fossils/9.06%3A_Trace_Fossils
https://geo.libretexts.org/Courses/SUNY_Potsdam/Sedimentary_Geology%3A_Rocks_Environments_and_Stratigraphy/09%3A_Fossils/9.06%3A_Trace_Fossils
https://geo.libretexts.org/Courses/SUNY_Potsdam/Sedimentary_Geology%3A_Rocks_Environments_and_Stratigraphy/09%3A_Fossils/9.06%3A_Trace_Fossils
https://geo.libretexts.org/Courses/SUNY_Potsdam/Sedimentary_Geology%3A_Rocks_Environments_and_Stratigraphy/09%3A_Fossils/9.06%3A_Trace_Fossils
https://geo.libretexts.org/Courses/SUNY_Potsdam/Sedimentary_Geology%3A_Rocks_Environments_and_Stratigraphy/09%3A_Fossils/9.06%3A_Trace_Fossils
https://geo.libretexts.org/Courses/SUNY_Potsdam/Sedimentary_Geology%3A_Rocks_Environments_and_Stratigraphy/09%3A_Fossils/9.06%3A_Trace_Fossils

I have yet to turn my mind to the range of types of traces in the Gemstone Beach stones.

Seven other of my finds today, a wide range of colours:

Yellow quartz.
Jasper quartz.
Type of breccia?
A form of argillite.

The next Post in this Series describes a visit to Bluecliffs Beach, further west on the coast of Te Waewae Bay.  An Index to the Series is here.

E is for Epidote

This is my fifth contribution to the current Alphabetical Series in the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. In the 2021 version of this Series I posted “E is for Entrance” (an “entrance” allows you to “look into” a stone, to see beyond its surface).

E is for Epidote

Quartz-veined Gemstone Beach quartzite with epidote.
Other side of veined quartzite.

Epidote is a green mineral. I found this quartz-veined green quartzite on Gemstone Beach about 18 months ago – see “A Red, a Green and a Pink, Gemstone Beach, Wednesday 21 February 2024”. Its green is due to epidote. Epidote is also in many argillite stones on Gemstone Beach. When epidote is present in a rock, it causes it to have a green to yellow-green (pistachio-like) colour, sometimes quite deep and intense. It was named in 1801 by French mineralogist René Just Haüy (known as the Father of Modern Crystallography) from the Greek “epidosis” meaning “increase”, because the base of its rhombohedral crystal prism has one side larger than the other. For more, see Geology.com.

The next entry is “F is for Fossil Rhodolith in Fossiliferous Limestone”. An Index for this Alphabetical Series is here.

August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 11, Puffer Jacket and Woollen Hat and Scarf: A Winter Morning Fossick on Gemstone Beach, Thursday 14 August

Stones at the foot of the cliff at the beack of the beach.

This morning’s two and a half hours fossick began at low tide. It was another cool sunny day without wind, very comfortable for stone hunting as I was wearing a puffer jacket and woollen hat and scarf. I noted the presence of four other serious fossickers there at different times, plus some passing motorists. I spent part of my fossick looking at the stones which had accumulated at the foot of the cliffs which back the beach. When I departed at 12.15pm, there were eight other vehicles in the carpark.

Looking east over the Taunoa Stream towards the beach in front of the carpark.
The Taunoa Stream.
Looking west.
Stones at the foot of the cliff at the beack of the beach.
Gemstone Beach stones.
Gemstone Beach stones.

The first of today’s featured finds caught my eye because of the small circular features in it:

I like the texture of this stone:

One side of stone.
Other side of stone.

There are some interesting tiny veins in this small find:

Two different poppy jaspers, with two sides of the second one shown:

First poppy jasper
Second poppy jasper, side 1.
Second poppy jasper, side 2.

An amygdaloidal stone, a stone with many tiny vesicles (gas holes) that have been infilled with minerals:

Amygdaloidal stone.

An argillite stone with dark trace fossils in it:

Trace fossils are not fossils of an animal but are fossils of the traces they leave behind. “Trace fossils are what is left of the activity of some ancient critter”, writes retired kiwi geologist Brian Ricketts in his blog “Geological Digressions”. That activity includes burrowing, moving, excreting, fighting and feeding.

Finally, two hydrogrossular garnet finds:

Hydrogrossular garnet.
Stone with hydrogrossular garnet in it.

As I note in a detailed Post on them, hydrogrossular garnets are not like the garnets we know as precious gems – they come from dense rock masses, not crystals. Technically, hydrogrossular garnets are a calcium aluminium garnet with hydroxide partially replacing the silica found in other garnets. The first ever identification of hydrogrossular garnet in the world was in 1943 by Colin Hutton, from stones found in Nelson, and it is the most widely spread of the 13 minerals first described from New Zealand. More details can be found in “First Identified in New Zealand in 1943 – Revisiting the Hydrogrossular Garnets of Gemstone Beach, February 2023”.

The evening after this fossick I drove to Invercargill to attend the monthly meeting of the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club. Around 15 or 16 others were there. Guest speaker was Lloyd Esler, a well-known Southland historian and teacher. He handed around about 20 rocks, fossils and artefacts, and talked about them. One was a ventifact, a stone shaped by wind-driven sand. Another was fulgurite, created when sand gets fused together by a lightning strike. From Gemstone Beach, there was a trace fossil stone and some vivianite, a blue mineral associated with decaying organic matter – this was from the peat layer in the Gemstone Beach cliffs. Then there was a container of volcanic ash, very fine and abrasive. Lloyd mentioned how flying through a volcanic cloud had once shut down a passenger airplane’s engines. I remembered this incident from my viewing of the excellent air crash investigation documentaries so I hunted it down on YouTube. Here is the episode about that 1982 747 flight:

The next Post in this Series covers two fossicks on a Te Waewae Bay beach at Papatotara. An Index to the Series is here.

Four Finds of a Gemstone Beach Local: Including a Small Blue Sapphire and a Large Black Hydrogrossular Garnet

Corina lives just outside of Orepuki, a couple of kilometres from Gemstone Beach. I had previously messaged her a few times about the stones of Gemstone Beach as she is a member of the Facebook Group “New Zealand Lapidary, Rocks, Minerals, Fossils”. I then met Corina briefly on the beach during a fossick with Chrissy in September 2024. She mentioned that she had once found three small sapphires which she had donated to the Riverton Museum (see photo below, left). An old Gemstone Beach Hertiage Trails sign (photo below, centre) mentioned sapphires, as does page 8 of Jocelyn Thornton’s “Gemstones” (see photo below, right). In June 2019, I wote a Blog Post titled “The Elusive Sapphire of Gemstone Beach”. Chrissy and I are now working on a photo book about Gemstone Beach stones, using photos of stones we have found. However, we have not found a Gemstone Beach sapphire so I have been hunting out photos of other people’s finds. I messaged Corina a month ago to confirm that the three stones in the museum had been found by her. She mentioned she had another one still in her possession. She happily agreed I could photograph it when I was in Southland this month.

Te Hikoi Museum, Riverton/Aparima.
This sign no longer stands at Gemstone Beach.
Page 8 of online pdf of Jocelyn Thornton’s “Gemstones” (1985). Source: http://www.onnaturesedge.co.nz/downloads/nzgemstones.pdf.

Corina is fascinated by stones and she has collected specimens from a number of places, not just Gemstone Beach. Although she has a lot from Gemstone Beach! When I visited her four days ago, I took photos of four of her stones. The first was a small sapphire, the size of my thumbnail. It is dark blue and recognisably a Gemstone Beach sapphire with its rich deep blue colour:

One side of the sapphire, dry.
Other side of the dry sapphire.
The wet sapphire.

When I wet the stone (see third row of photos above) the water moved off it quite quickly. This is a characteristic of hydrogrossular garnet. Interestingly, the photo of a Gemstone Beach sapphire on the website of the Otago Rock and Mineral Club states that “The blue colour is sapphire which is combined within the structure of a hydrogrossular garnet”.

Corina showed me two other small stones with a little bit of blue in them which is also likely to be inside hydrogrossular garnet. This is the first:

One side of stone.
Other side of stone.

The second has a faint pink tinge:

One side of stone.
Other side of stone.

The fourth find that Corina showed me was one from the day she met Chrissy and me on the beach. It is very black, and is highly likely to be a hydrogrossular garnet – it has a very smooth, slightly waxy feel. Black is a very unusual colour for this type of stone:

Black hydrogrossular garnet.

I am grateful to Corina for letting me take these photos and use them on TumbleStone Blog.

August 2025 Stone Collecting Trip – Part 9, Five Green-Hued Finds from Gemstone Beach, Tuesday 12 August

Gemstone Beach stones.

I spent three hours on Gemstone Beach this morning. I arrived at 9.30am when it was five degrees. It was partly cloudy, later becoming sunny, and only a light breeze. There were no cars in the carpark when I arrived, though a woman with three dogs soon pulled up. When I finished, no-one was on the beach and mine was the only car in the carpark. I managed to fossick to a point maybe 400 metres past the Waimeamea River Lagoon, further than I have managed before this month.

This woman and her 3 dogs arrived the same time I did.
Looking back at the gold man after about 500 metres.
This break in the cliff is usually full of stones or driftwood – not today.
At the Waimeamea River Lagoon, looking back towards the carpark.
At the Waimeamea River Lagoon, looking west.
Water seeping through the stones from the Waimeamea River Lagoon.

The fossick was a productive one. As is often the case, I collected quite a few green-hued stones, five of which are the first finds featured below. I also found about 25 hydrogrossular garnets and a nice poppy jasper, but not many trace fossil stones.

My finds today, minus the hydrogrossulars.
The hydrogrossular garnets I collected today.
Gemstone Beach stones.
Gemstone Beach stones.
Gemstone Beach stones.

The first of the five different interesting green stones I found today is a strong green and with angular patches of material with tiny white spots – a breccia? or a spotted stone flooded by a strong green mineral like epidote?

The second green stone is much lighter in colour though with green circular features:

It was the wavy light band that caiught my eye in the third green stone:

I’m still trying to figure out what is going on in this fourth green stone. It’s probably argillite, but it looks like there’s fragments of another green argillite stone in it, and those fragments might have some tiny trace fossils in them:

The final green stone is, in fact, an argillite one with trace fossils in it, the best of the very few I saw today:

Trace fossil stone.

Here are two of the hydrogrossular garnets I collected, a transparent one and a gorgeous opaque brown one:

Hydrogrossular garnet.
Brown hydrogrossular garnet.

I suspect the following stone also has some hydrogrossular garnet in it, though it has a very unusual black and white pattern:

Hydrogrossular garnet? Unsure.

Today’s poppy jasper find – it has small dark red patches not always present in such stones. It’s a spherical stone so can be viewed from a number of perspectives:

One side of the poppy jasper.
Another side of the poppy jasper.
A third perspective on the poppy jasper.

The next stone is a type that I find from time to time on Gemstone Beach. It is volcanic in origin and is amygdaloidal – a stone with many tiny gas holes that have been infilled with minerals. When I saw it on the beach, I knew it would be interesting – photos of similar finds include Stone #30 in this Post and the eighth stone in this Post.

I also occasionally come across the following type of stone. I like its colour and the fine veins in it, and there are some interesting tiny inclusions as well:

Today’s final featured find is, I think, a jasper, with light and dark coloured areas. These don’t always tumble polish well but I really like the colours:

The next Post in this Series covers a fossick at McCracken’s Rest on Te Waewae Bay, eight kilometres west of Gemstone Beach. An Index to the Series is here.