The early European settlers had begun mining coal and building materials by the 1830s, but it was the discovery of gold in the 1850s and 1860s that had a major influence on the early development of this country. A fact acknowledged by the incorporation of the miner's hammers on the New Zealand Coat of Arms.  

Gold

Gold output increased dramatically following its discovery near Coromandel in 1852 to reach more than 700,000 ounces in 1868. This level of output has not been achieved since.

Gold mining had a dramatic effect on the early development of New Zealand, contributing to this country's economic independence as well as leading to settlement of remote areas. Gold mining also contributed to the growth of cities, Auckland and Dunedin in particular. Mining settlements and their access routes helped other industries such as agriculture to develop.

New Zealand has always been a leader in mining technology: the first development of the gold dredge on the Clutha River, the first commercial use of the cyanide gold extraction process at Karangahake in 1889, and more recently the first commercial use of recycled cyanide at the Golden Cross mine in 1991.

Ironsand

Ironsands, also known as blacksands, form by far the greatest known reserves of metal ore in New Zealand.

Since 1849 many attempts have been made to work the extensive ironsand deposits that occur along the west coast of the North Island between Wanganui and Auckland. The main iron mineral in the sand is titanomagnetite which contains titanium.

It was the presence of titanium which caused the usual iron making process to fail. Extensive research and steel-making trials were eventually successful. This led to New Zealand Steel being established to develop an ironsand mining operation near the coast north of the Waikato River mouth and build a steel mill at Glenbrook south of Auckland. These operations started to produce steel in 1970. The Glenbrook mill pioneered the direct reduction of ironsand and coal to make iron and steel. This technology is still of interest to overseas steelmakers.

Coal

Coal was first produced in Otago in about 1830, and was the main energy source during the early development of this country. It was progressively replaced by electricity, oil, and natural gas. The lignite resources of Otago and Southland currently stand at more than 7,000 million tonnes, and are by far the largest known energy resource in New Zealand. They are now being investigated for their potential to produce liquid fuels (e.g.diesel fuel).

Offshore minerals

New Zealand has potential for a range of minerals that occur in the seabed. These include phosphate (used as fertiliser), ironsand, gold and other metals, as well as sand for building and silica sand (used in glass making) that have been used in the past.

The recent discovery of active volanoes in the White Island - Kermadec region to the northeast of the North Island has been followed by investigations into deposits of gold and other metals that are being deposited by hot springs discharging into the sea. Two companies are now searching for these offshore deposits.

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