Why the COROMANDEL should not be MINED

Forest and Bird, Volume 15, Issue 3, 1 August 1984, Page 18

Why the COROMANDEL should not be MINED

By

and

Gary Taylor

John Morton

A radical platform it could indeed seem : to oppose mining altogether on the Coromandel Peninsula. Many will want to ask why. What would have happened to the world’s technology and economy if environmentalists had wanted to conserve the Rand of South Africa, or the copper belt of Montana, or Broken Hill? Without doubt there are precious and useful metals the world needs (... though in a rational world gold might not be one of them). These metals have been able to be won from land-masses that were huge, and arid, and generally uniform. With the earth's crust scraped for metals, there was little danger that water or land-slips would carry away tailings, or kill or poison fertile landscapes, or fill up the valleys or the arms of the sea. But most of New Zealand is a different sort of terrain: small, narrow, diverse and coastal. Its landforms constantly change. Some are unique to the world: most are fragile and unstable. The land has a living skin too, that is thin

and vulnerable. It is also green and selfrenewing, with the farms and forests and natural communities, running off to shallow waters with productive fisheries. If the whole of New Zealand is beautiful, the Coromandel is precious to the highest degree. An.hour’s distance only from crowded Auckland, it is a scenic joy: with its high-forested range, its pohutukawalined coasts, its sand and boulder beaches, its little farmed valleys, and its shallow Firth of Thames. The last is one of our richest commercial fishing grounds, and an unsurpassed habitat of wading birds. All these are at risk today as never before. One third of the Coromandel Peninsula is covered by exploration or prospecting licences from multi-national mining companies. For almost 100 years the Peninsula was mined, by tunnelling along quartz reefs to extract the gold by pick and shovel. But the transnational giants of today are looking to open-cast mining: digging enormous pits several hundred metres deep. Evena

single open pit mine might move as much rock as 1,000 companies shifted by pick and shovel in 100 years. Modern mining depends for its availability on its giant scale. From a big enough mine, gold can be as thin as 2 gms. per tonne of ore processed. Huge quantities of tailings will result, a fine powdery material difficult to control, from ores containing lead, zinc, mercury and other toxic metals. Groundwater when acidified mobilises these toxic elements. Cyanide used in extraction is present too. All these things enter the streams, the coastal seas and the food chains: of plankton and shellfish: of snapper, of birds and of people! The effect on forest landscapes is also immense. Whole landscapes will be altered or removed, turned into craters, internally terraced to provide access for 50 tonne vehicles. Valleys can be suffocated beneath millions of tonnes of overburden and tailings. Some present ventures in the pipeline will greatly affect or obliterate communities

that Forest and Bird is deeply interesting in. The end of the prospecting stage is moreover approaching. Phase Two is now beginning, with several actual proposals moving towards implementation. The biggest is at Waihi, where the giant U.S. corporation Amax plans an open-cast mine, in Martha Hill, right on the edge of town. A mining licence will be applied for later this year and an Environmental Impact Report (E.1.R.) is being currently prepared. Options for tailings and overburden include dumping at sea (as supported by the Waihi Borough Council) filling a valley, or retaining on flat land. This last would use 110 hectares of productive farmland, covered to a depth of 35 metres. A New Zealand company, Crusader Minerals N.Z. Ltd, formed by ex-employees of two of the multinationals, will seek permission later this year for an underground mining operation at Monowai, near Waiomu on the Thames Coast and within the State Forest Park. This would be in the next valley to the magnificent kauri

grove that Forest and Bird walking parties have enjoyed for many years. They now face competition from large truck and trailer units on their walks. Monowai ore would be transported to Maratoto further down the coast for processing. The Crusader share prospectus envisages five such mines. The Company has already antagonised the local residents by discolouring the stream that supplies the town’s water. At one stage seventy and eighty year olds staged a picket at the stream ford, anda community action group is closely monitoring developments. Crusader’s E.|.R. is also being prepared at the present time. Further mining developments can be expected as prospecting programmes are completed. All of these will have significant and detrimental impact. Are the legal procedures adequate to identify and stop unacceptable proposals. The law Before a mine can begin operation — anda licence is usually for a period of 49 years — statutory consents include : L)water rights under the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967 LJa mining licence under the provisions of the Mining Act 1971 In addition, an Environmental Impact Report may be required. This is up to the appropriate Ministers to determine. The E.I.R. is merely a description of the mine development and a preliminary assessment of the likely environmental effects. The hearing before the Planning Tribunal is critically important. It is the only opportunity to put the claims made by the mining applicant to the test of detailed cross-examination. Many are worried that the criteria or statutory considerations to which the Tribunal must have regard are themselves inadequate. They may not strike a reasonable balance between the needs of conservation and the demands for development. There is further concern at the apparent pro-development disposition of the Tribunal itself.

The environment movement From the beginning of the 1980's drive for mining, local activists have been strong. One of the multinationals has acknowledged a greater resistance on the Coromandel than they have encountered anywhere else in the world. A coalition of local groups, knit together as the Peninsula Watchdog Organisation was able to generate the political heat required to get the Mining Act amended in 1981, and to make New Zealand aware of the gravity and extent of the threat. Other active groups have been Auckland Minewatch, Waikato Watchdog, the Physical Environment Association of the Coromandel, and the Coromandel section

(now a branch) of Forest and Bird. In numerous court hearings involving water right and prospecting licence applications, these groups have been helped by Environment Defence Society (E.D.S.), as well as in submissions to Ministers and to parliamentary select committees. Currently, in addition to High Court proceedings over Kuaotunu, E.D.S. is involved in two other sorts of litigation: over exploration of the northern bush block on Great Barrier Island (geologically a part of the Peninsula) and Kaueranga Valley, the gateway to the Coromandel State Forest Park. Very recently, Auckland Minewatch has brought the various groups together, to forma Coalition to Save the Coromandel. This aims to stop gold, silver and other mining in the Forest Park, in coastal areas and water catchments. If funding is sufficient, it will appoint a full-time coordinator. Some funds are to be raised by sale of prints by the well-known artist, David Baker.

Kaueranga Valley: a case study The Mining Act 1971, requires the consent of the Minister of Forests to obtain a mining licence over land in a State Forest Park. The Kaueranga Valley is the gateway to the Coromandel State Forest Park. An especially beautiful part of the Peninsula, it is extremely popular for tramping and camping. Over 100,000 visit it annually — including recently about 80 Forest and Bird annual camp members. Circular Quay Holdings Pty Ltd, an Australian mining company, have applied for two prospecting licences over about 5,000 hectares in the Valley. Initially, the Coromandel State Forest Park Advisory Committee recommended that the Minister should agree to the licences being granted. After lobbying by Auckland Minewatch and E.D.S., they reversed that recommendation. The Minister of Forests ignored his Committee’s advice and consented to the two licences, though with some areas excluded. Next came the hearing at the Planning Tribunal. A large number of objections — including one from the local council were all rejected. Environmental Defence Society believes the Tribunal’s decision was wrong and has appealed on various points of law to the High Court. A hearing date has not yet been set. yt