Introducing our New Zealand Education Endowment Trust 2025 Scholarship recipients

Li (Mary) Sike
University of Otago – MSc student

The Reefton Goldfield was one of South Island’s most historically productive orogenic gold deposits. Gold-bearing quartz veins are hosted in various regional-scale, structurally controlled faults and shear zones that crosscut the Ordovician Greenland Group meta-turbidites. The overlying Devonian Reefton Group is generally considered barren of gold, apart from some localised detrital gold within basal quartzites. This study aims to characterise the nature and origins of gold-arsenic mineralisation detected in recent soil surveys along the faulted contacts between the Reefton Group and Greenland Group in the Crushington historic mining area.

Anomalous gold zones along the contacts at the Stony Creek, Murray Creek and Lankey Creek areas will be compared and contrasted. The zones are to be mapped and characterised for the style of mineralisation along the fault by using pXRF, a petrographic microscope, and SEM analyses. This will support the determination of which group(s) hosted Au-As mineralisation and establish the structural controls and age of hydrothermal mineralisation relative to the fault contacts.

Adam Jarvis
University of Otago – BSc student

This project investigates the heavy mineral content of beach sands south of Dunedin to allow for a clear map to be made of heavy minerals present in the region while linking them back to their original source. By collecting and analyzing sediment samples from the selected coastal locations, the study aims to determine the concentration and composition of heavy minerals such as magnetite, ilmenite and zircon.

The research involves field sampling, and mineral identification using both cross polarized microscopy and electron microscopy. The findings will help to provide insight into the geological processes that influence heavy minerals distribution, with a lot of emphasis on the effects that river systems have on transporting minerals from inland to the coastal area. By comparing the results with known heavy mineral deposits, this study contributes to a broader understating of coastal minerals resources in New Zealand.

The research being done is highly relevant to the minerals industry. With heavy minerals sand mining being prominent of the west coast of New Zealand the research being done here can help with understanding if similar actions can be taken in regions around the Dunedin area. This project could become preliminary research for large projects looking into mineral extraction on the East coast of the South Island.

Christine Burchell
University of Waikato New Zealand – MSc student

Having recently completed her Bachelor of Science majoring in Earth Science at the University of Waikato. Christine’s is studying for a Master of Science with a focus in Earth Science, her project is on Holocene Fluvial Deposition History of the Horotiu Area, North Island New Zealand: Implications for Placer Deposits.

The research aims to reconstruct the Holocene geological history of the Horotiu area in the Waikato region on New Zealand’s North Island. Specifically, I will study the confluence of the Waipa and Waikato Rivers, two significant river systems of the Waikato region. I hypothesise that the area south of the current confluence was once a location of complex interactions between the rivers in the form of channel migration and abandonment, which influenced the stratigraphy and accumulation of heavy minerals and heavy metals. I suspect the area was also influenced by volcanic activity, which may have helped shape the local landscape, particularly at higher elevations.

One focus of this project is to understand the distribution of heavy metals in river deposits and how these differ through time/stratigraphy and compared to adjacent floodplain sediments. I aim to determine how past sedimentary conditions affected heavy mineral distributions and heavy metal concentrations in these fluvial deposits. Additionally, if volcanic material is indeed present in the shallow subsurface, did it introduce metal-rich sediments or influence the geochemistry of these deposits? These questions are particularly relevant to the minerals sector because they are applicable to the exploration of placer deposits. Moreover, the insights gained from my study may also have implications for mine-waste disposal in the region. At the end of this research, I aim to have a better understanding of these aspects in the context of a nice local geological story. This scholarship is a great opportunity to, therefore, help

me reconstruct the Holocene geological history of the Horotiu area of the Waikato region of New Zealand.

Archie O’Sullivan
University of Otago - BSc student

Archie’s project is on the Baker Farm Mineral Exploration Project at Blackmount, Southland, NZ. The goal of this project is to identify alluvial gold, platinum, or other heavy mineral deposits on a relic point bar from the Waiau River. To do this, a magnetic survey is being conducted with GEM’s GSM-19 Magnetometer to identify channels containing higher heavy magnetic mineral concentrations along the whole point bar spanning ~21 hectares. Previous core samples from the 1990’s indicate river gravels descend on the bar to a depth of at least 14 meters with evidence of alluvial gold at differing depths, indicating the presence of multiple heavy mineral-rich paleochannels stacked on top of one other. GPR will later be used to create an accurate cross-section of an area with a high potential of minerals deposited to clarify the form of these deposits.

This project is significant to the area as little recent prospecting has been done on the Waiau river using geophysical equipment, even though the river has historically been known to contain alluvial gold and minor platinum. If results indicate high mineral quantities, this project could have significant implications to the surrounding region in the mineral exploration sector, as findings could interest prospectors to explore an untapped region.

Kate Wignell
University of Otago – BSc student

Kate is currently in her third and final year at the University of Otago and is managing her own individual research project to further develop her skills in field investigation, data collection, analysis and reporting. The project is on Heavy Minerals From Taieri River Mouth, Dunedin. 
 
The research objective for this project is to identify and characterise heavy minerals on Dunedin’s coastline and infer the origin of formation. Four sand collections will be processed, sorted and analysed through thin sections, photographic microscopes and SEM. The data gathered from this will give mineral identification, ratio, and data to relate and infer to. Another objecting being to understand the surrounding geologic features in which have created the minerals and the processes that allowed this to occur. A brief hypothesis being metamorphic and igneous associated minerals will be seen near the Taieri River. 
 
This research project looking at heavy minerals is relevant to the mining industry and will allow more understanding through more data, analysis and reporting. With the support of AusIMM for this research project it will help develop skills in this area in preparation for entering the mining industry at the completion of Kate's degree in geology.