The Crown will lend up to $50 million to two West Coast mineral sands operations, Resources Minister Shane Jones announced on 5 July 2026. The money comes from an $80 million allocation set aside in the Regional Infrastructure Fund for the critical minerals sector.

The two recipients are Westland Mineral Sands, near Westport, and Tāiko Critical Minerals at Barrytown. Westland will receive $30 million toward a $70 million processing facility; Tāiko will receive up to $20 million toward a $40 million wet separation plant. Both loans are conditional on the companies securing private funding to cover the remainder of their project costs.

Jones said the combined investment would create around 170 jobs and allow both companies to process minerals in New Zealand rather than export raw material. He compared the approach to a model used by the previous Labour government, which provided nearly $20 million to a gold mine in Reefton.

The projects

Westland Mineral Sands is led by managing director Ray Mudgway. The Crown's $30 million covers 43 percent of the processing facility's $70 million capital cost, with the rest to come from private investors.

Tāiko faces a similar arrangement. The company disclosed in an NZX statement that it is still working with government officials to finalise the terms and conditions. It also announced a planned capital raise of up to $10 million. In the same statement, Tāiko said the government partnership had "materially enhanced the project's credibility with prospective lenders, equity participants and other stakeholders" — effectively, the government backing gives the company credibility when approaching banks and investors, which can matter as much as the money itself in early-stage resource projects.

Strategic context

New Zealand's critical minerals strategy, launched in 2024, identified 37 minerals of strategic interest. The West Coast has long been known to hold significant mineral sands resources, and both projects target minerals on that list.

Geopolitically, the United States has been negotiating with New Zealand about critical minerals supply as it seeks to reduce reliance on China, as RNZ has reported. That creates a rationale for moving faster on domestic processing capacity: processed material gives more negotiating leverage in supply-chain discussions than raw exports do.

The comparison to Reefton is instructive. That earlier investment drew criticism for the Crown taking commercial risk in a sector where private capital had been reluctant to commit. This government is making a structurally similar bet at larger scale, supported by the formal 2024 minerals strategy and the RIF allocation. Whether the loan terms and security arrangements differ materially from the Reefton model is not yet public — Tāiko's statement that terms are still being negotiated suggests those details remain to be settled.

The way the loans are structured offers some protection to the Crown. Rather than handing over cash upfront, funding is available in drawdowns as private co-funding materialises. This protects the public position if private capital does not appear, while still giving each company enough of a government commitment to take to market. Tāiko's NZX disclosure suggests that signalling effect is already at work.

According to The Press and MBIE Cabinet papers, the $80 million critical minerals allocation was agreed by Regional Development Ministers on 19 February 2026. The two West Coast announcements account for $50 million, leaving $30 million unallocated.