A mining company facing a public backlash over extensive mining in the Karangahake Gorge has its eyes on a vein of untapped gold after filing for an extension of land in the area.

New Talisman Gold filed the application to incorporate the Rahu exploration permit into the Talisman mining permit in August this year.

New Talisman Gold Mines moving ore stockpiled at the existing Talisman mine.

Coincidently, the application for the 390-plus hectare extension is beside its current mining permit in the Karangahake Gorge which includes almost 300 hectares of land, bringing the total area to almost 690.

The Rahu tenement lies immediately to the north of the Talisman Mine and on the same strike line as the gold bearing veins at Talisman. Exploration has defined a 2km-long zone of coincident geochemical, resistivity and ground magnetic anomalies.

New Talisman chief executive Matt Hill says the company has held the highly-prospective Rahu permit for the last 19 years, but believes the area has similar potential to Talisman and is the focus of continuing exploration.

'It's an extension of land so it would form part of our existing mining permit because of the extended mineralisation,” he explains.

'Rahu is more of an exploration asset so it requires further exploration to de-lineate a resource, whilst the Talisman Mine permit is a development asset that we are looking to produce out of.”

He says it has always been New Talisman's view that Rahu is an extension of the Talisman Vein systems and would become part of the longer term future of the sustainable mining development at the Talisman mine.

At this stage the application has not been accepted or declined because it is still being processed by the New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals permitting team.

'It's very difficult to get a time but I expect to see something come through in the next few months,” he adds.

Initial drilling in the Rahu area, which was relatively shallow and still within the upper zone of the hydrothermal alteration, confirmed the company's geological model for the property.

Further drilling will seek gold-bearing intersections in feeder veins at vertical depths of 150-350m.

Structurally, the Rahu block is believed to have been downthrown, supporting the potential for Talisman-type grades to be intersected in deeper drilling beneath these strong indications.

The discovery of economic grade gold at Rahu strengthens the mining company's view of the extent and potential of the Talisman mineralisation.