Central and Southern Block Mining

Project summary

Continue existing mineral sand extraction, including land preparation works, constructing a water supply reservoir, extracting ironsand material using dry and wet-mining techniques, processing extracted material, and transporting raw and processed material.

Project location

911 hectares at Taharoa Road, Taharoa, approximately 8 kilometres south of Kawhia and 45 kilometres northwest of Te Kūiti.

Project listing application

Central and Southern Block Mining application – Ministry for the Environment website

Substantive application returned to applicant on 26 November 2025

Taharoa Ironsands Limited lodged a substantive application for the project on 5 November 2025. The Fast-track team returned the substantive application, which did not comply with all the requirements of section 46 (2) of the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024.

Record of decision on completeness and scope – Central and Southern Mining Block (PDF, 112KB)

Memorandum on Completeness and Scope (PDF, 2.8MB)

Taharoa Ironsands Limited can choose to prepare and lodge a new Fast-track substantive application.