Government proposes targeting Coromandel, West Coast in minerals dilemma

Monday 22nd March 2010

A government stocktake of New Zealand’s mineral resources is recommending removing up to 16 areas of protected conservation land to allow mining for minerals which, excluding oil and gas, are estimated to be worth nearly $200 billion.

"The location of some of our mineral wealth creates a dilemma for us, sinced the areas of the richest mineral deposits are often places where conservation, cultural and tourism values are high too," said Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee and Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson, in a foreword to the stocktake.

Some $54 billion of the identified potential is in gold, silver and peat dispersed across much of the Coromandel Peninsula. A 705 hectare area on nearby Great Barrier Island, a popular holiday spot with Aucklanders like Coromandel and therefore highly politically sensitive, is targeted for removal from Schedule.

The stocktake document has been delayed for weeks as Cabinet Ministers have debated the merits both of scaling back the areas proposed, and of handing Opposition parties, particularly the Greens, a political issue that will almost certainly give them much-needed traction.

The document proposes consulting publicly on removing five areas protected from mining under Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act, and covering approximately seven square kilometres of land, concentrated in the Coromandel region, West Coast, and Southland.

A further 11 areas are to be subject to non-invasive surveying over the next nine months in a $4 million programme that could yet see more Schedule 4 lands recommended for removal.

In an attempt to placate critics, the government is also proposing to include 12 new areas of high conservation value in Schedule 4, covering approximately 12.4 square kilometres in national parks and marine reserves. On top of this, it proposes establishing a dedicated Conservation Fund which would be eligible for 50% of any royalties taken from conservation land mining, with a minimum annual spend of $2 million, and a maximum of $10 million.

"We now have the parameters for a constructive discussion about the role mining might play in helping grow the economy and the value of our exports to help improve living standards for New Zealanders," Brownlee said in a statement. "The government is suggesting allowing potential access, with appropriate environmental mitigation, to a small percentage of that resource."

Immediately slated for removal from Schedule 4 are: seven areas on Coromandel Peninsula (2.6 sq km); 0.7 sq km of Te Ahumata Peninsula on Great Barrier Island; 0.4 sq km of the Otahu Ecological Area and 68 hectares in the Pakawai Ecological Area, both at the base of the Coromandel; and a 3.3 sq km of the Inangahua sector of Paparoa National Park, on the West Coast.

Further examination will occur in Northland, on other public conservation lands in Coromandel, the southern Coromandel volcanic zone, parts of the central North Island, the Median Batholith (prospective for platinum and rare earth metals), including parts of Rakiura Stewart Island National Park, the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt, the Tapuaenuku complex near Kaikoura, carbonatite rocks north of Haast River, South Island areas potentially bearing mesothermal golds, and the Longwood complex in Southland.

Scheduled for inclusion in Schedule 4 are areas of Abel Tasman National Park, Burwood Bush, parts of Egmont National Park, Horoirangi Marine Reserve near Nelson, Ianthe Scenic Reserve, Kaikoura Island secnic reserve, Orokonui Nature Reserve, parts of Paparoa National Park, northern Taranaki's Parininihi marine reserve, Rakitu Island reserve, Tapuae Marine Reserve near New Plymouth, and the Wellington south coast marine reserve, Taputarenga.

Over the next two months, the Department of Conservation will also in the next two months produce a nationally consistent process for applying to extract minerals on conservation land, and is working as part of the Resource Management Act phase 2 reforms on a new process that would allow resource consents and mining applications to be heard together.

Businesswire.co.nz

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