A director of a company taking mineral samples from Coromandel Town's inner harbour says the exploratory work will continue despite protest action.
Marcus Jacobson says Sea Group Holdings is looking for gold and silver tailings in sediment in McGregor Bay.
About 80 residents blocked the company from taking samples on Wednesday. The area is under Schedule Four protection and not allowed to be mined.
Mr Jacobson says the company has yet to validate whether the minerals are there. It has a number of samples and this stage of the process is pretty much done.
He says resource consent would be needed to proceed to the next stage, to remove some of the sediment around the wharf.
Resident Cindy Alger took part in the protest as she is worried about what mining could mean for industries in the area such as fishing and tourism.
Ms Alger says one or two people appeared unhappy about the action, but otherwise there was a lot of support from locals. She plans to return at low tide on Thursday to try to stop more sampling.
Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty attended the protest and says people linked arms and held up a banner across the entrance of the area where the work was to take place.
