Siren Gold mining company drilling at Sams Creek, Golden Bay

• An Australian mining company has recommenced exploration drilling at Sams Creek, in Golden Bay.
• Siren Gold was invited by the government to submit the Sams Creek mining project under the Fast Track Approvals bill and it it was not included in the final list of 149 projects, but could be added in the future.
• Siren Gold's exploration permit expires in March and the company says it is in the process of applying for a mining permit in order to retain tenure of the ground.

Festivalgoers in Golden Bay were among the first to learn a mining company has begun drilling again at Sams Creek near Tākaka, after equipment was seen being flown by helicopter into the remote valley.

Siren Gold, the parent company of Sams Creek Gold, says its still doing exploration work, as permitted, in order to determine if its economically and environmentally viable to mine gold at the site.

But those RNZ has spoken to are frustrated the company has not kept the community informed of its plans. They remain concerned about the impact of a mine on the region's aquifers, the toxic waste and how it will be contained.

A Nelson resident who wants only to be known as Pippa, was at the Rolling Hertz Festival in the Cobb Valley over Waitangi Weekend, when she noticed building materials being flown by helicopter into Sams Creek in Upper Tākaka.

Aware of the proposal to establish a gold mine, she was concerned that mining had already begun.

She's one of more than 27,000 people who signed a petition opposing it.

"I was a mixture between fired up and scared, I'm very scared for the place if this goes ahead."

She walked into the area - on Department of Conservation land that borders the Kahurangi National Park - to see what was going on.

She was surprised to find several drilling platforms and capped drill holes left behind by previous companies who had done exploration work in the area. On the other side of the valley was a new helipad, camp and drill site.

"It's a bit out of the way and out of sight and unless you actually go up there you wouldn't even know it's happening."

She said there had been proposals to mine the area on and off for decades and there was a feeling of strong opposition in the community.

"Let's say there's a waste heap failure of that toxic mining sludge that they might produce when they get the gold out of the ore, it's not like collecting gold nuggets - they have to grind the stuff up, and then all this arsenic, that's a burden on future generations.

"It's just the most beautiful place, a gorgeous creek, the most clearest water you know like it sort of glitters gold when the sun comes through and my heart is just bleeding at the thought of this mine even being considered."

Siren Gold confirms further exploration work

An ASX announcement from Siren Gold last week, after the festival, said drilling had recommenced at Sams Creek with the aim of expanding the project, which has a current mineral resource estimate of 824 thousand ounces, at 2.80 grams per tonne of gold.

Siren Gold director Paul Angus said as part of the company's exploration work, it had committed to drilling a hole about 700 metres deep, roughly 200 metres below previous drilling that occurred last year.

He said the company weren't hiding what they were doing and the drilling was "pretty minor" in the scheme of things, but conceded its communication about the work could have been better.

Angus said there had been some push-back from the community, which included theft of items from the site and vandalism around the time of the festival.

Angus said drilling first took place in the area in the 1980s, and had occurred on and off by a handful of different companies in the decades since, until Siren Gold acquired the permit in late 2022. When they took over, around 140 holes had already been drilled in the area.

The company currently holds an exploration permit from New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals, three resource consents from the Tasman District Council around water take, water discharge and drilling for exploration, and an access permit from the Department of Conservation.

Angus said the exploration permit would expire at the end of March, and it planned to apply for a mining permit before then, which was "just a step in the process" otherwise it would lose tenure of the ground.

He said it would take another two or three years work to come up with a robust design and modelling to ensure the mining operation wouldn't compromise water quality in the area.

"If [the mining permit] is granted, it doesn't mean we can go mining. It just means we're another step closer and the real hard work and the technical work still has to be done to come up with a viable, environmentally safe operation that makes money."

The company is able to continue drilling under the exploration permit until a decision was made on the mining permit, but Angus said it hadn't made a decision on any further exploration work at this point.

Golden Bay residents unhappy about proposed mine

Save our Springs' Kevin Moran said there were "massive concerns" in the community about the impact a mine could have on the aquifers that supply Golden Bay with water and feed into the famed Te Waikoropupū Springs.

The main concern was tailings from the mine that contain arsenic would seep into the aquifer and poison the water supply, affecting the creatures that lived in it and the people who depended on it.

Moran said there was frustration from residents, visitors and homeowners who had learnt about the second phase of exploration work after seeing the helicopter working in the area.

"We're not going to sit there on our hands and let them just desecrate that sacred place.

"They've never come here and spoken to the community itself, they've spoken to the community board...it was an informal meeting. The people on the ground feel they are not being consulted and quite frankly, there's a rising tide of indignation and anger that the local people are being left out of the loop.

"We just don't want them drilling there, full stop."

Environmental lawyer Sally Gepp KC, who is acting for Save Our Springs, said the group was very concerned about the potential impact of drilling on Te Waikoropupū Springs, as the exploration permit area covered the springs recharge zone.

"Te Waikoropupū Springs is one of the most important waterbodies in New Zealand, it has extremely high ecological values and it has got some of the clearest water clarity in the country at around 80 metres and all of that is underpinned by the stygofauna, the little creatures that live in the depths of the limestome geology that the water flows through.

"If anything happens to those creatures, the springs will no longer be the pristine waterbody that they are."

The Environment Court recommended a Water Conservation Order be put in place for Te Waikoropupū in 2023, including the whole of the recharge area, which was later accepted by the Government.

The group had also asked the council to review the conditions of any consents granted before the springs were protected with the water conservation order, to determine if they were still fit for purpose.

"Given its very high importance and all the work that's been done to ensure it's protected, it's understandable that there is a very high level of concern about activities that may have an impact on the springs, and certainly drilling down into the karst and the rock around the recharge area and any subsequent works if a mineable deposit is found, including the storage of waste material, all have the potential to have an impact on the springs."

The group also had concerns Siren Gold was drilling to a deeper level than its consents allowed.

The Tasman District Council said it had sent a compliance officer to the site and confirmed it was consented to drill to a depth of up to 1000 metres.

Sam's Creek Collective member Julie Downard said the group was formed by concerned community members last year after learning Siren Gold had been invited to submit the Sam's Creek project under the Fast Track Approvals Bill.

The project had not been included in the Government's list of 149 projects to fast-track - but she said that didn't mean it couldn't be added in the future.

"The community has noticed with some alarm the level of activity that's going on up there, but [Siren Gold] haven't communicated with the community about it at all."

She said there was a lack of information about the potential mining operation and the company were yet to confirm there was a viable resource at Sams Creek.

"They don't know whether it would be open cast or a tunnel...they don't know where the tailings dam would go or what it would look like."

She said there was a reason gold hadn't been mined in the area, despite extensive exploration in the area over the last four decades.

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