Mining: the life blood of the West Coast’s economy
Resuscitation & Resurrection
Coasters, the mining sector can grow back to 1987 levels with just a few small changes.
In 1987 there were 137 claims the size of Peter Haddock’s operating on the Coast, all employing four to eight men who were all well paid. Today we have just 30 such operations.
We have government officials scrambling trying to figure out how to resuscitate the West Coast economy. So far, all they seem to have succeeded in doing with their ideas is burden our infrastructure and our small rating base for little economic benefit. But what about the viability of our oldest and most productive, highest paid industry? Mining. An industry that has been the back bone of New Zealand’s economy generally, and the West Coast’s specifically, since 1864.
In 2018 alluvial gold operations brought in $41 million to the West Coast. 2020 could produce three times that amount. Resurrection of our mining industry is a must.
Have a look here at one of Peter Haddock’s gold mining operations with a six- foot floating screen at work.
