Waihi Gold Discovery Centre

The Waihi Gold Discovery Centre is still on track for development the Mayor of the Hauraki District Council John Tregidga stated today. Plans for the Centre and site development are being finalised and the Resource Consent for the proposed centre has been approved.

As part of the bigger picture, work has been successfully undertaken on a number of the “link” attractions including the Goldmine Tours, the Union Hill Landscape design, Goldfields Railway and the development of the Discovery Centre Visitor Experience. All of which play a key role in achieving the wider objectives of the project.

The Mayor advised that the economic downturn had delayed the confirmation of the development finance and that alternative project funding models were now being considered. Once these were appropriately assessed and were in place the proposed centre would be ideally situated to proceed.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has been involved with the development of the project since 2005, and has recently granted an extension to its funding timeframes to allow the project to develop alternative funding models.

Dame Cheryll Sotheran, NZTE's Strategic Director - Business Solutions based in Auckland, says “This is a great project with the right people contributing to its design and delivery objectives. It will add value to New Zealand's heritage story and overall visitor offering. The result will be a high quality integrated visitor experience that assists in increasing visitor yield.”
The partners in the project, being the Vision Waihi Trust, New Zealand Mint, the Hauraki District Council and Newmont Waihi Gold, continue to be involved in the development and have signed a Variation to the Heads of Agreement which extends condition timelines and takes into account the current circumstances.
Eddie Morrow, Chief Executive for the Vision Waihi Trust stated that while the current circumstances are challenging, the project's overall design, delivery objectives and identified outcomes are all very relevant for today's marketplace and in line with local, regional and national economic development and tourism strategies. He also said that the partners were still committed to seeing the project become a reality.

Gary McNabb, Managing Director of New Zealand Mint said that the Mint has always believed in the concept of the project and looks forward to continuing to be part of the team as it identifies an appropriate way forward. Being part of this development fits with our long term business strategy