Oceana Gold, which runs the Macraes open cast gold mine in north Otago, has been given approval to buy the Waihi mines from Newmont Mining Corporation.
Oceana Gold's open pit mine at Macraes. Photo: SUPPLIED
The company has made a statement to this effect to the Australian, Toronto and New Zealand stock exchanges. They made the offer to buy in April, but needed approval from the Overseas Investment Office.
Even though both companies are foreign-owned, approval was needed because the Waihi area was deemed to be sensitive land.
The deal is now expected to be completed by the end of this month.
It will combine two huge open cast pits, at Waihi and Macraes Flat, under one owner.
Oceana told the stock exchanges the Waihi open pit and underground operations contain 310,000 ounces of gold, which is the equivalent of 775 gold bars.
At a current price of $US1187 an ounce, that is worth $US367,97m.
The company said the mine also had 1,173,000 ounces of silver, at current prices worth $US18,861,840.
Oceana said it wanted to add to the value of the Waihi operation by extending its life expectency and seeking further efficiencies.