| Pounamu is greenstone, a precious mineral
that has been used and highly valued by Maori for many years. To the Maori, pounamu is a
natural resource that can be painstakingly shaped into ornaments, tools and weapons of
great beauty.Greenstone is the common name for nephrite, a metamorphic mineral. It is a very
hard, heavy and translucent with a glassy lustre and ranges in colour from dark to light green.
The location of most of New Zealands greenstone resource relates closely to the uplift
of the Southern Alps and the Alpine Fault line of New Zealand's South Island and today provides
the raw material for the thriving greenstone industry based in Hokitika on the South Islands
West Coast. |
