Why do I need a permit?

A permit is required for all Crown owned minerals in New Zealand.

Crown owned minerals include all gold, silver and petroleum. The Crown also owns a number of other minerals as an incident of the ownership of land, and through reservation of Crown ownership of minerals in the alienation of land from the Crown. Generally, all land disposed of by the Crown since 1 April 1948 by way of freehold title has the minerals reserved to the Crown. There were also reservations of mineral ownership to the Crown before this date.

In order to establish mineral ownership, a title search of the land is needed. The Land Registry Offices of Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), spread throughout New Zealand, hold land titles for their local areas which can assist in identifying mineral ownership.

If the Crown does not own the mineral for which it is proposed to apply for, then the applicant does not require a mineral permit from Crown Minerals and may move on to applying for the other consents that are required. If the Crown does own the mineral, then the applicant will require a permit to prospect, explore or mine.