Authentic Ngāi Tahu Pounamu

The 1996 Deed of On-Account Settlement included, as a sign of the Crown's good faith, an undertaking to return ownership of Pounamu (greenstone) to Ngāi Tahu. This was given effect through the passing of the Ngāi Tahu (Pounamu Vesting) Act 1997 on 25 September 1997. This recognises that in selling land to the Crown last century, Ngāi Tahu never intended to give up ownership of the highly-prized Pounamu resource. As the legislation has now been passed, ownership of Pounamu has returned to Ngāi Tahu.

Apart from allowing for public fossicking on West Coast beaches,
Ngai Tahu is also committed to supplying Pounamu to the commercial
Pounamu industry and making it available for tribal cultural purposes.
Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu has developed a Pounamu trademark, and has established an entire traceability and certification system which enables carvers to guarantee to their customers that the stone that they have is genuine. This guarantees the supply of authentic Ngai Tahu Pounamu to the market, and protects Pounamu from foreign imported jades that may be falsely traded as pounamu.

This trademark will identify Ngai Tahu Pounamu in the market
place through stickers, swing tags and registered manufacturers,
retailers and wholesalers.

If you would like to become a registered purchaser of Authentic Ngai Tahu Pounamu please visit, www.authenticpounamu.com for further information.