Only Ng\u0101i Tahu could now legally sell pounamu in its raw form, and exporters must seek permission from the Customs Minister, following advice from the iwi, for it to leave the country. But the number of sellers online trading in the precious resource with no connection to the iwi was growing.<\/p>\n
Francois Tumahai, chair of papatipu r\u016bnanga (hap\u016b governance group) for Ng\u0101ti Waewae based at Arahura near Hokitika, said last week’s prosecution was significant in that it was the first to be taken to trial in the last 20 to 25 years.<\/p>\n
‘We can’t do anything’: Escalating pounamu black market exposed – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n Ng\u0101ti Waewae Papatipu R\u016bnanga chair Francois Tumahai. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n \u201cThe black market’s rife and pounamu leaving this country is not new. It’s been going on a for a long time [and] it continues to go on so this is important to draw a line in the sand to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n While public fossicking for small amounts of pounamu is allowed on West Coast beaches, the iwi suspects larger quantities are being stolen<\/a> by miners and sold<\/a> on the black market.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only place that’s coming from in any quantity to ship off seas is through the alluvial gold mining industry. It’s that simple,\u201d said Tumahai.<\/p>\n Ngai Tahu says the legal provisions around the precious\u00a0taonga\u00a0are inadequate to stop the plunder.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n Pounamu on the black market<\/p>\n Ng\u0101i Tahu Pounamu manager Chantal Tumahai said the iwi had noticed a significant increase of dubious selling online through marketplace sites.<\/p>\n \u201cYou’ve got\u2026 TradeMe, you’ve got Facebook groups, you’ve got private Facebook groups that you’ve got to join to be part of to be able to trade stone through there, you’ve got Marketplace, you’ve got Etsy \u2013 the scale has grown significantly since Covid and we don’t have enough staff to be able to manage and look into all of the avenues.\u201d<\/p>\n It was also difficult to tell whether the stones were sourced legally.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people will say that they’ve got it from the West Coast, but \u2018who from the West Coast have you got that from\u2019 is a big question for us that we always ask. When we dive deep into those questions, we get blocked and they don’t engage with us anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Ng\u0101i Tahu Pounamu manager Chantal Tumahai. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n The iwi found a listing recently of a piece of pounamu said to be sourced from Douglas Creek. <\/p>\n \u201cThat seller does not have a permit for pounamu \u2013 to get to fossick for pounamu in that area \u2013 so that… is definitely an illegal piece of pounamu that has been listed on TradeMe,\u201d said Tumahai.<\/p>\n Once such listings were identified, the iwi followed through the process of reporting them with the relevant sites, she said.<\/p>\n James Ryan, manager for policy and compliance at TradeMe, told 1News the site was committed to protecting taonga of Aotearoa and had a dedicated process where iwi could directly flag any listings believed to be illegitimate. <\/p>\n “We rely on this channel of communication and are committed to investigating any items that are brought to our attention.<\/p>\n “We operate in strict accordance with the Protected Objects Act 1975, the Ng\u0101i Tahu Pounamu Vesting Act 1997, and the specific rules for selling taonga t\u016bturu set by the Ministry for Culture & Heritage.”<\/p>\n He said TradeMe had a team that proactively monitored the site and removed any listings in breach of policies.<\/p>\n “We value our relationship with local iwi and will continue to work closely with them, as well as with NZ Police and the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, to ensure Trade Me is a safe and trusted place for Kiwi to trade.”<\/p>\n Iwi in search of compliance powers<\/p>\n Under the Ng\u0101i Tahu (Pounamu Vesting) Act 1997, the iwi held legal ownership of all naturally occurring pounamu within its tribal boundaries.<\/p>\n For raw pounamu sourced from the Arahura River, north of Hokitika on the West Coast, advice from the Mawhera Incorporation, a group representing the area\u2019s original M\u0101ori landowners, was required.<\/p>\n Shane Lang, kaiwhakahaere of Mawhera Incorporation, said he would like to sit down with the minister to discuss how laws on the export of pounamu could be addressed.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the judge alluded to, they need some work. They’re quite \u2018loose\u2019, I think were his terms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mawhera Incorporation had a relationship with Customs \u201cgoing back decades\u201d, said Lang, referring to a seizure in 2001.<\/p>\n Chantal Tumahai said Ng\u0101i Tahu worked closely with NZ Police, but the iwi had no jurisdiction if people took pounamu from its natural environment.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we come across someone who’s on the river and they shouldn’t be and they’re fossicking illegally, we can’t give them a fine of some sort so it would be nice to have compliance in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Francois Tumahai said compliance powers had been sought for the last 20 years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can’t do anything. We have to get the support of Customs, police, councils \u2013 everybody \u2013 to actually go on to these mine sites to see what’s going on, and of course, if we want to talk to these miners they’re happy to do that but we have to make an appointment. Well, the pounamu’s gone by then, right?\u201d<\/p>\n What buyers should look out for<\/p>\n Ng\u0101i Tahu established an authenticity scheme where individuals and businesses could apply to become licensed to purchase certified raw pounamu from the iwi and display the Authentic Ng\u0101i Tahu Pounamu logo.<\/p>\n (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n Chantal Tumahai said all pounamua approved by the scheme was from either the two kaitiaki (guardian) papatipu r\u016bnanga \u2013 Ng\u0101ti Waewae, and Makaawhio whose area extends south to Milford Sound \u2013 or from wh\u0101nau who whakapapa to the two hap\u016b.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything that we sell is through a carver’s website, it all has its own traceability code so you can trace the whakapapa of the raw stone.\u201d<\/p>\n She said every piece carved from the stone would have its own eight-digit authenticity code to say it was sourced legally.<\/p>\n A registry of carvers and stockists was also available on the site.<\/p>\n Tumahai said buyers should look out for trademarks and logos to help verify the piece of pounamu.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a few brands, a few logos: A Ng\u0101i Tahu Pounamu logo, a NZ Pounamu, and then a Poutini Ng\u0101i Tahu Pounamu logo as well.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cLook out for that iwi trademark so you have the reassurance that you’ve got a taonga that has been sourced legitimately.\u201d<\/p>\n The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including fresh warnings about Cyclone Vaianu, and Melania Trump addresses Epstein rumours. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fears of a growing black market of pounamu has led to Ng\u0101i Tahu, the owners of the precious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12553,4432,111,43,139,69,46850],"class_list":["post-372009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-iwi-hapu","tag-maori-issues","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ohanga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Ngāti](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/francois-tumahai-chair-of-ngati-waewae-runanga-papatipu-SBM4R5YH7BB25K77Z4CNRPXL3Y.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Ngāi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/chantal-tumahai-ngai-tahu-pounamu-4FJI5DZC2BFCHF4K7NYBNFSYWU.jpg\")
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