Overview

Reefton Gold – Mining in New Zealand

The Big River and Alexander River tenements were granted May / June 2018 and received Drill Permits in May 2019 (6 months).
Reefton South and Lyell tenements were granted May / June 2018 with attaching prospecting permits.
Federation Gold finalised agreement with OGC in July 2018 on the Blackwater Mine and received a Mining Licence in December 2018 (6 months). Federation Gold has since completed ground works around the proposed portal site.
In December 2019 the New Zealand Government backed Provincial Growth Fund approved a NZ$15M loan for Federation Gold to re-establish the Blackwater Mine.
In August 2020, Federation Gold secured $50m co-funding from Australian Super to take a 49% stake in the company.
Other investment in the region includes Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy and Advent Gold, which is backed by prominent Canadian investors including Eric Sprott.
New Zealand has an extensive and successful history of gold mining, with country’s largest producer, OGC, currently operating the Waihi and Macraes gold mines, which produce over 200koz. p.a. Macraes has operated continuously since 1990.

The Reefton Goldfield is located on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
The Goldfield discovered in 1866 is acknowledged as once forming part of the huge Victorian Goldfield in Australia with the region having geological similarities to the 4.5m ounce Fosterville Gold Mine in Victoria owned by Kirkland Lake Gold.
The Reefton Structural corridor extends for 35km in length (Nth to Sth) and produced over 2 Moz. Au at 16g/t from 84 historical mines (cut off grade ~15g/t Au).
Most underground mining ceased circa WWII (1942). The Goldfield has never been subject to modern exploration techniques.
The Big River permit adjoins the Blackwater Mine, which operated between 1908 – 1951, producing ~740koz @ 14.6g/t Au. The current inferred resource at Blackwater is 700koz. @ 23g/t Au.
The 1.6mtpa Globe Progress processing plant owned by OceanaGold Corp (OGC) and currently on care and maintenance is within trucking distance.