Karangahake residents opposing a mining company's application for an extension of land believe the efforts will destroy the environment for nothing more than short term profits.

Coromandel Watchdog, an environmental lobbyist, is angered at New Talisman Gold's filing of an application to incorporate the Rahu exploration permit into the existing one.

A photo of New talisman Gold Mines moving ore stockpiled at the existing Talisman mine. Photo: Supplied.

Lodged in August, 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.

Coromandel Watchdog campaign manager Ruby Powell says New Talisman's application to extend their mining permit is a 'perfect example” of how, once a mining company gets in the door, they keep trying to take more.

She says; 'We would hate to see Karangahake turn into the next Waihi, with some residents suffering severe stress and huge decreases in their property values because of the mining.”

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 Gold chief executive Matt Hill told SunLive 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.

Matt says: '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.”

Last week the mining company announced its first sale of precious metal in the company's history.

The stock last traded on the NZX at 1.4c, up from a year low of 0.5c, and making for a 55.5 per cent gain over the last 52 weeks.

Fifty tonnes of ore sent from the Talisman Mine, between Paeroa and Waihi, were analysed and found to contain 64.5 ounces of gold and 227.3 ounces of silver at a recovered grade of 42.56grams per tonne (g/t) and 150.01g/t respectively.

The sale was on commercial terms satisfactory to the company and will generate revenues of about $100,000, the company said.

Ruby says people choose to live in Karangahake for recreation opportunities and because it's peaceful - not to be overrun by mining. In her opinion, such an extension flies in the face of this.

'We are in total opposition to this permit extension as we are to New Talisman's plan to start mining in Karangahake mountain,” Ruby.

'The real value in places like Karangahake lie in conversation, tourism and recreation opportunities not in destroying the environment for short term profits.”

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.