New Zealand pounamu (greenstone)

Read the law before you pick anything up here. Pounamu is the one stone on this map that somebody owns outright.

The Ngai Tahu (Pounamu Vesting) Act 1997, passed on 25 September 1997, vested ownership of all pounamu occurring in its natural state within the Ngai Tahu tribal area, including the coastline, in Ngai Tahu. The reasoning is set out plainly in the settlement: in selling land to the Crown in the nineteenth century, Ngai Tahu never intended to give up the pounamu with it. Ownership of the pounamu in the Arahura area was then vested by Ngai Tahu in the Mawhera Corporation, recognising the particular relationship of Poutini Ngai Tahu with that river.

So taking pounamu is not a fossicking question, it is a property question. Removing it without permission is theft under section 219 of the Crimes Act 1961.

What is allowed is narrow and specific. Fossicking happens only in designated areas, limited to what one person can carry on their body or in a pack in twenty four hours. You may not cut, hack or break stone off a larger piece where it lies, and diamond saws or any mechanical cutting or extraction are prohibited outright. The Arahura River is tapu and collection there is not permitted at all. Commercial extraction is barred in defined areas including South Westland.

The stone itself is several hard durable rocks under one name, mostly nephrite jade, found in the South Island.

Check the current management areas and any customary permit process with the relevant runanga before you travel. The rules are real, they are enforced, and they are not difficult to follow.