Australia
Curwon
Curwon Pty Ltd is a Queensland registered dedicated copper exploration company, privately owned by Hardie Pacific’s Director Duncan Hardie and Michael Thirnbeck. The permits are concentrated within the catchment of the Coleman River in Far North Queensland. The Curwon prospect was first drilled in the early 1990’s, with medium-grade shows. Little subsequent exploration has occurred until the last few years following Curwon’s permitting. In 2022 we flew Airmag over the site, with encouraging results.
New Zealand
Sands and Aggregate
Westland Mineral Sands
Hardie Pacific is the largest shareholder in this Company, holding permits in Westland, New Zealand, containing in excess of 100 m tonnes of heavy mineral concentrate (HMC), which include ilmenite, garnet and rare earths. WMS has re-opened and refurbished both the Buller River Port at Westport and the Grey River Port, to allow for the bulk export of HMC to the world markets. A Wet Concentrator Plant (WCP) is now operating 24 hours a day, with regular export shipments of HMC to the world markets.
Papahua Aggregate
Papahaua Resources Ltd holds a 459 Ha exploration permit 20 km north of Westport. The target rock of interest within the exploration permit includes alluvial hard rock and alluvial diorites, originating from within the Britannia pluton. An initial exploration target of 232,000 m2 of in situ hard rock and alluvial diorite has been mapped within the exploration permit area.
Grey Gravels
Grey Gavels Ltd hold a potential site for regional bulk storage of mineral sands, aggregate and armour rock all within 3.5 km of Greymouth Port. A freehold 160 ha property has been purchased which sits adjacent to the large-scale Fulton Hogan Gravel processing site. There is also the potential for river extraction along the elevated river plains of the Grey River.
Gold
Rocky Mining Limited
Three exploration licences and one mining licence totaling 3,190Ha within proven and prospective ground located within the Westland Goldfield. All permits are accessible from highway and forestry road infrastructure. Exploration permits Wombat Creek and Rimu Channel focus on exploring for remnant paleo channels and unmined maiden ground situated below maximum reach of historic gold dredges. 320,000 oz of gold was recovered between 1930 – 1950 @ 208 mg/m3 within the Rimu channel. RML is in possession of all available historic drilling data from the operation which has aided with the identification of several drill targets. Proof of concept drilling completed over targets has encountered economic mineralisation. Bulk sampling is currently underway. The third exploration permit Rocky Creek North recently acquired in early 2024 targets near surface mineralisation associated with glacial outwash channels. Aggressive exploration and test pitting has since identified a near surface mineable resource. A 120 Ha mining licence has been lodged and consenting with regional council is nearly complete.
Gold Earth Limited
Gold Earth Ltd has recognised the lack of modern assessment completed on previously identified exploration targets situated within the Kumara and Grey Valley area both of which were birth sites for historic Westland Gold Rush. Previous exploration over the targets since the gold rush era has encountered large volumes of lower grade alluvial gold mineralisation (70 – 110 mg/m3) which was previously considered sub economic for the gold price at the time. The large volume deposits have since been periodically explored and relinquished and have lay vacant prior to Gold Earth Ltd recognising their potential. The increasing gold price since then coupled with modern advancements in mining equipment and technology has increased the prospectivity of these targets while lowering the cut of grades of many surrounding large scale alluvial operations (2024 Cut-off >65 mg/m3). GEL has acquired this vacant land totaling ~9,880 Ha across five exploration licences and is underway to identify exploration targets and assess the economic resource potential. All sites are accessible from highway, road and forestry road infrastructure. Aggressive exploration is planned for 2025.
