Heath Milne: Development West Coast CEO on the rising price of gold and potential influx of miners on the West Coast

Rising gold prices could have miners flocking to the West Coast. 

The regional council has told Local Democracy Reporting it's bracing for an influx of miners new to the industry, and its environmental rules. 

Resource Management Chair Brett Cummings —who's a gold miner— warns the council’s consent workload will likely intensify. 

Development West Coast Chief Executive Heath Milne told Mike Hosking the demand is real. 

He says the value of gold at the Federation mine has jumped from $2.5 billion to $3.6 billion. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Stand by a mine. Mine the gold rush, the old
gold rush could be on the West Coast. Prices continuing
to rise. It's over fivey one hundred ounce this morning.
Local councils expecting a pick up in the number of
people who want to get into the mining business. Development
and West Coast Chief Executive Heath Milner's with us. Heath
Morning Morning, Mike. I read a story yesterday whining about
the paperwork. Is it honestly, if people are coming to

(00:22):
the West Coast to open a business, is the paperwork
really a problem? Or are you open for business and
say let's go.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
The West Coast has got great support for businesses coming here,
and that's not just I'm not talking about local government,
but national government as well. You know, we've got a
really open for door, a business sign on the door,
and we're just looking for investors and people to take
advantage of it.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Is it real? I mean, just because goal's at fifty
one hundred, do you open a mine?

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah? Well absolutely, it's real. So if you take probably
the highest profile mine at the moment that's underway or
just getting under one, is Federation mine. Now? I think
last time you're and Iceboake there was about two and
a half billion dollars worth of gold in that mine
that they know is there. Now it's three point six
so you know it's it's big money and they're pretty

(01:13):
much ready to go. They've just need a little a
little bit more capital. So any New zeal And investors
that are looking to get a share of that now
is the time. And in fact, the Development Trust here
we've actually just put three millions into that project because
we can see the benefits coming back to the coast.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Is the has the tide turned the Shane Jones we
actually need to mine forget the greense and the snails
for a while. Is that tide turned or not? Well?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
I think it has for investors at the end of
the day, the miners have to follow the regulations anyway,
and as much as you know Shane Jones is a
bit of a poster child for mining, you know that's
that's turning investors on. The miners are still doing exactly
the same job. You know, they have to have to
do it in the right way to have to get
their consents. I'm sure we can some doors, but you know,

(02:01):
the miners that conscious that they have to do their
job right or they'll lose the lose the public's, public's trust,
and they won't be able to continue to operate.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
You well, that Heath appreciated. There's always Heath milon development.
West Coast Tube executive just I should point out the
story I read was on Radio New Zealand. You sit
around in the newsroom near the Can we think of
anything negative about that? Oh, you're the paperwork. If there's
a gold rush on the paperwork's going to be a
NightWare nightmare.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
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Speaker 1 (02:31):
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