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Story: Radioactive minerals

Uranium discoveries in New Zealand

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Uranium discoveries in New Zealand

Soon after the discovery of uranium in the rock known as Hawks Crag Breccia in the Buller Gorge, prospectors started to look in this region of the West Coast. Within a few months there were additional finds of uranium at the Fox River mouth and in the Pororari valley, which is in the Paparoa Ranges.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: NZ Journal of Geology and Geophysics 1, no. 3 (August 1958): 433

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How to cite this page

Rebecca Priestley, Radioactive minerals – Uranium prospecting, 1956 onwards, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/4791/uranium-discoveries-in-new-zealand (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Rebecca Priestley, published 2 March 2009.