Most of what is written about New Zealand gold permits is either vague about the money or quietly out of date. Here are the actual numbers, current as at July 2026, and the two things almost every guide leaves out.
The short answer
If you are fossicking in a public gold fossicking area with hand tools, a permit costs you nothing. If you are doing anything else — including panning on land you own — the ground has to be covered by a permit.
That second point catches people out. Gold in New Zealand is owned by the Crown. Owning the land above it does not give you the gold under it.
But “covered by a permit” is not the same as “you have to hold one.” The cheapest mining permit to hold is $2,783 to apply for plus $1,150 a year — and for most people getting into dredging, leasing someone else’s claim is cheaper than that. More on this below, because almost nobody writes about it.
Where you can prospect for free
You can fossick without a permit only if all three of these are true:
- you are in the South Island
- you are inside a mapped public gold fossicking area
- you are using hand tools or non-motorised equipment only
Metal detectors, pans, shovels, picks and sluice boxes are all fine. Anything motorised is not.
There are currently 19 designated gold fossicking areas — not the sixteen still quoted on most New Zealand prospecting sites, including, until this week, our own. They break down as:
Tasman (5) — Aorere River A, Aorere River B, Louis Creek, Lower Louis Creek, New Creek
West Coast (9) — Britannia Stream, Lyell Creek, Slab Hut Creek, Moonlight Creek, Nelson Creek, Shamrock Creek, Jones Creek (two separate designations), Waiho River
Otago (5) — Arrow River, Shotover River, Five Mile Creek, Twelve Mile Creek, Gabriels Gully
They are not all run by the same body. Most are administered by New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals, but Lower Louis Creek sits with Tasman District Council and Moonlight Creek with the Department of Conservation. Boundaries are exact and worth checking on the official webmaps before you go — being fifty metres outside one is the same, legally, as not having a permit at all.
What each permit actually costs
Two numbers matter, and most guides only quote the first. The application fee is what you pay to apply — win or lose. The annual fee is what you pay every year to keep the permit alive.
| Permit | Application | Annual (onshore) |
|---|---|---|
| Prospecting | $3,450 | $63.02/km², min $1,610 |
| Exploration | $3,450 | $358/km², min $1,610 |
| Mining — Tier 1 | $16,675 | $2,058.50/km², min $1,610 |
| Mining — Tier 2 | $5,750 | $2,058.50/km², min $1,150 |
| Mining — Tier 3 | $2,783 | $1,150 flat |
All figures NZD, GST inclusive.
Tier 3 is the one to know about, and it is missing from most advice aimed at small operators — including the guidance published by New Zealand’s biggest prospecting retailer, which recommends Tier 2 at $5,750 as the small-scale option. Tier 3 costs less than half that to apply for, has a flat annual fee rather than a per-square-kilometre one, and Tier 3 holders only pay royalties if enough gold is recovered to cross the threshold set in regulations. If you already hold a Tier 2 permit, moving to Tier 3 costs nothing.
Application fees are generally non-refundable — including if you withdraw, if the application is not accepted, or if it is declined. Refunds are considered only in exceptional circumstances. Incomplete applications are not accepted for processing at all, so the fee is at risk before anyone has assessed the merits.
The costs nobody mentions
Getting the permit is not the last payment. Under the Crown Minerals Act:
- Changing a permit (section 36) — $3,478.75 for Tier 1 and 2, $1,669.80 for Tier 3
- Transferring an interest, or a change of operator or control — $2,530 for most applications, $1,223.60 for Tier 3 under sections 41 or 41C
- Extending an exploration permit for appraisal work — $4,427.50
If you are buying into someone else’s claim rather than applying for your own, those transfer fees are part of the real price.
The cheaper way in: lease a claim
Every guide to getting started assumes you apply for your own permit. For most people wanting to run a dredge, that is the expensive route and not the obvious one.
A permit holder can let you work their ground. Many will. The reason is simple economics on their side: a mining permit often covers more river than one person can realistically work, and the annual fee is payable whether the ground is worked or not. Letting someone else work part of it turns a standing cost into income.
Arrangements generally take one of three shapes:
- A flat fee — a set amount for a season, a period, or per day on the ground
- A share of the gold recovered — you keep a percentage, the holder takes the rest
- A combination — a smaller fee plus a smaller share
What you avoid by leasing is substantial: no $2,783 application fee at risk on an application that may be declined and is not refundable, no annual fee, no work programme to commit to, and none of the compliance and reporting obligations that come with holding a permit. You are also working ground that someone has already assessed as worth holding, rather than gambling an application fee on a stretch you hope is good.
What to check before you agree to anything
- Is the permit current and in good standing? Look it up yourself on the NZP&M permit webmaps and public search rather than taking it on trust. A lapsed permit is worth nothing to you.
- What exactly does it cover? Permits have hard boundaries. Get the specific area you may work, not a vague gesture at a river.
- If it is a share arrangement, how is the gold weighed and valued, and by whom? Agree this before there is any gold to argue over.
- Who holds the resource consent for disturbing the riverbed? This is the one people miss — see below. A claim lease does not hand you the council’s consent.
- What equipment is allowed, and does that match what the consent covers?
- Get it in writing. Beyond a simple access arrangement, anything that gives you an actual interest in the permit can count as a dealing under the Crown Minerals Act and may need NZP&M consent — with the fees listed above attached. A written agreement is what tells you which of the two you have.
You will not find claim leases advertised in any organised way. They are arranged through people who are already in the local scene — clubs, forums, and word of mouth around the goldfields.
The second layer everyone forgets
A Crown Minerals permit gives you the right to the gold. It does not give you the right to disturb a riverbed. That is a separate question, decided by your regional council under the Resource Management Act, and it is where recreational operators most often come unstuck.
The rules genuinely differ by region. In Otago, suction dredging is a permitted activity under the regional water plan provided you meet criteria including limits on suction nozzle size and no conspicuous change to water colour or clarity more than 100 metres downstream. In Canterbury, disturbing the riverbed requires resource consent from Environment Canterbury regardless of your mining permit. Depending on where you are, district councils may have a say too.
Two things follow. First, “I have a mining permit” is not an answer to “do you have consent to dredge here” — they are different approvals from different regulators. Second, these rules are actively under review, with water-plan changes contested in several regions right now. Check the current plan for the specific council before you put a dredge in the water, not the version someone quoted on a forum three years ago.
So what should you actually do?
If you want to try prospecting: go to a fossicking area, take hand tools, pay nothing. Nineteen areas is more choice than most people realise, and the Tasman and West Coast ones are considerably less worked than the Otago tourist rivers.
If you want to run a motorised dredge: ask about leasing a claim before you apply for anything. It is the cheaper route in, it puts you on ground someone has already judged worth holding, and it costs you nothing if the answer is no. Applying for your own Tier 3 permit — $2,783 up front, non-refundable, plus $1,150 a year — makes sense once you know the ground and want it to yourself.
Either way, talk to the regional council about the riverbed before you spend anything. That conversation is free and can save you the whole exercise if the answer is no.
If you are buying into an existing claim rather than leasing: add the transfer fees to whatever you are paying for the share.
New to sluicing? Our sluice box buying guide covers sizing a box to New Zealand rivers — and a hand sluice is legal in every fossicking area listed above, with no permit at all.
Fees and fossicking areas confirmed against New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals, July 2026. Fees are set by the Crown Minerals (Minerals Fees) Regulations 2016 and do change — check the NZP&M fees page before applying. This is general information, not legal advice.