4 Oct 2021 OceanaGold Waihi North Project – Archaeological / Heritage Assessment INTRODUCTION Project Background Oceana Gold (New Zealand) Ltd (OGNZL) is proposing the Waihi North Project (WNP) to extend the life of its Waihi Operation. WNP would comprise the Wharekirauponga Underground Mine (WUG), the Gladstone Open Pit (GOP), the Northern Rock Stack (NRS), Tailings Storage 3 (TSF3) and upgrades to the existing Processing Plant and Water Treatment Plant. This assessment of heritage and archaeological effects was commissioned by OGNZL as the WNP has the potential to impact on various archaeological and historic heritage sites. These historic heritage sites largely relate to the extensive historic gold mining landscape in Waihi and the settlement that has developed around this. The assessment will also assess the significance of those impacts and provide recommendations on how adverse impacts might be appropriately remedied or mitigated. This report has been prepared as part of the required assessment of effects accompanying a resource consent application under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and for the purpose of an application for an Authority to modify various archaeological sites under the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 (HNZPTA). Recommendations are made in accordance with statutory requirements. Due to the size and complexity of the project the Historical and Archaeological Background – outlining the historical background research, results of the site visit and assessment of historic heritage values, of the wider project area within its Waihi context is provided in Brown et al. May 2018, which is attached as an appendix to this report. Waihi North Project Description The WNP will comprise (see Figure 2): • A new underground mine Wharekirauponga (WUG), located approximately 11km north-west of the current Processing Plant under land administered by the Department of Conservation (DOC) (Coromandel Forest Park). Site infrastructure supporting the mine will be located on OGNZL owned farmland located at the end of Willows Road, with only minimal surface features within the forest on legal road reserve owned by the Hauraki District Council, in the form of fenced vent raises; • The mining of GOP, located near the existing Processing Plant, centred over Gladstone Hill. This pit will be converted to a tailings storage facility once mining is complete; • A new tailings storage facility to the east of existing TSF1A, called TSF3; • A new rock stack (NRS) at the Northern Stockpile area adjacent to the existing TSF2; • Upgrades of the existing Water Treatment Plant (WTP) with additional discharge outfall infrastructure;
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