Project acquisition and joint ventures
Screen permits and projects against geological, commodity and stage criteria; review available technical material; identify evidence gaps; and support discussions with current holders.
For international explorers
Establish a practical exploration position in New Zealand
Local geological, permitting and programme-delivery support for overseas companies assessing opportunities, acquiring projects or identifying prospective open ground.
New Zealand market entry
Move from initial interest to a deliverable programme
Wairiri helps international mineral companies understand New Zealand opportunities in gold, critical minerals, coal and other extractive-sector projects, the available public information and the practical work required to establish, test and advance a project.
Our experience extends beyond exploration geology into the wider extractives sector. We understand how mineral tenure, land access, environmental and planning approvals, resource consents, contractor mobilisation, health and safety and field delivery interact with the technical programme.
Support can begin before a transaction or permit application. Early work commonly includes geological screening, permit and land-status review, introductions, data-room assessment, field verification and a staged plan with clear decision points.
Routes into New Zealand
Support matched to the way you want to enter
The work is scaled to the decision being made. Wairiri can provide an initial technical screen or continue through permitting, mobilisation and field delivery.
Open-ground identification
Combine public geoscience, historical records, permit status and mineral-system thinking to identify areas worth further review and develop a testable geological rationale.
NZPAM permitting
Prepare prospecting, exploration or mining permit material, including geological rationale, staged work programmes, budgets, technical capability evidence and regulator responses.
Local programme establishment
Translate a corporate exploration plan into practical New Zealand scopes, contractors, access planning, field systems, health and safety arrangements and realistic mobilisation. Wairiri-owned pXRF, specialist off-road equipment and remote camping equipment can be made available where suitable.
Field and drilling delivery
Provide local geological management, mapping, sampling, survey control, drilling support, logging, QAQC, database checking and day-to-day programme coordination.
Ongoing technical representation
Maintain continuity between the overseas technical team, local contractors, permit requirements, field results and the next investment decision.
A workable pathway
A minerals permit is not the only approval or relationship required
Depending on the location and proposed activity, a programme may also require land-access arrangements, conservation permissions, council approvals, resource consents and engagement with landowners, occupiers, iwi, hapū and other affected parties.
Wairiri identifies these interfaces early and coordinates the geological programme with the appropriate legal, environmental, planning and specialist advice. Project-specific requirements must be checked for the actual location and work proposed.
Whole-of-extractives understanding
Geology is only one part of delivering a New Zealand project
Wairiri combines exploration and extractives-sector experience with practical knowledge of the approvals, access, safety and field systems that determine whether a programme can actually be delivered.
Exploration and project evaluation
Regional screening, mineral-system interpretation, field mapping, drilling, QAQC, modelling and technical review across gold, critical minerals, coal and other extractive-sector opportunities.
Consents and environmental pathway
Early identification of council, conservation and resource-consent requirements, with geological scopes coordinated alongside planning, environmental and specialist inputs.
Land access and stakeholder interfaces
Practical understanding of landowner and occupier access, site constraints and the need to engage the right parties before fieldwork, drilling or development work begins.
Health, safety and field delivery
Field-focused health and safety planning, extractives competency, contractor coordination and practical controls for exploration, drilling, earthworks and mine-development programmes.
Define the brief
Commodity, preferred entry route, project stage, timeframe and the decision your team needs to make.
Screen and verify
Review geology, tenure, public data, technical evidence, access context and material information gaps.
Build the pathway
Set out the transaction, permit, field or drilling work required, with staged scope and decision points.
Deliver locally
Establish the project team and maintain checked geological, field and regulatory continuity.
Authoritative starting points
Check the New Zealand system directly
These official sources explain the minerals regulatory lifecycle and current public geoscience. Transaction, tax, investment and project-specific approval advice should be obtained from the appropriate specialists.
Discuss New Zealand market entry
Tell Wairiri what opportunity you are looking for
Include your country, commodity, preferred project stage and required timeframe.