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Mining locations

Seabed Mining Locations.

Pakiri / Mangawhai.

Pakiri and Mangawhai have been compromised by nearly 80 years of nearshore suction dredging, in waters from 5-20 metres deep. This has had multiple visible impacts including the loss of dunes and surrounding vegetation. The quality of the surf has been adversely affected and the fishery disturbed.

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Little Barrier.

One permit for 2,000,000 cubic metres is currently operational in the seabed area north east of Little Barrier island, with no annual limit.

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Kaipara.

Two permits are currently active within the Kaipara harbour, totalling 400,000 cubic metres per year, for five years, then increasing quantities after meeting further conditions.

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Foreshore Mining Locations.

Port Waikato North Head.

At Port Waikato, BHP mines 6 M tpa of ironsand from the North Head, which is concentrated on site to produce 1.2 M tpa of titanomagnetite concentrate. 

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Taharoa.

At Taharoa, ironsand is mined by dredging beach and dune sand to produce concentrate averaging 40% titanomagnetite. Annual production has been about 1.4 Mt since the operation opened in 1972. 

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Waipipi.

A small land-based mining operation in the dunes behind the beach here was begun in 1971 and wound up in 1987. Like at Taharoa, ore was slurried via a pipe to ships moored offshore and transported to Japan and China. Extraction of 15 million tonnes of ore created a vast hole, which is now filled with water.

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Hawkes Bay.

There has been a long history of mining gravel and aggregate directly from the beaches of Hawke’s Bay, beginning during the earliest period of settlement. 

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Whiritoa.

Whiritoa has been substantially transformed form its original state, when it featured huge heaped dunes. In total more than 180,000m³ of sand has been removed. Since the 1960s a coastal subdivision has covered most of what remains of the sand dune reserves.

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