Court action over proposed gold mine under conservation land

Monday, 27 March 2023

How tiny bats, snails and frogs are sending signals about the death of the planet.

Activists have launched legal action over plans for a new gold mine in a Coromandel rainforest.

OceanaGold hopes to develop an underground mine, and dig a 6.8km tunnel, under public conservation land at Wharekirauponga, north of Waihī.

In 2021, Hauraki District Council granted the company the right to occupy road reserve on Willows Road, a paper road, for just $1 per year, to allow for the construction of infrastructure.

Anti-mining group, Ours Not Mines is asking a High Court judge to review the decision.

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Paper – or unformed–roads appear on maps or surveys but are not always developed, or even visible.

They have the same status as any other legal road, which means the public has the same right to use them.

Ours Not Mines will argue that the construction of a ventilation shaft, helipad and staff accommodation on four areas of road reserve interferes with the public right to pass along the road “unencumbered.”

“We believe [the license] should never have been granted because it's not actually being used as a paper road,” spokesperson Morgan Donoghue said.

Only four of seven native frog species survive. The smallest is the 2-3cm-long Archey's frog, now limited to Waikato.

Donogue also questioned the true economic value of the consent.

“Why did the Hauraki District Council grant a 40-year-license for $1 to OceanaGold, when they say they can recover $1.8bn of gold from Wharekirauponga? Why weren’t the council more commercially-minded, if they think they’ve got the rights?”

The company argues access to the proposed facility would be from an underground tunnel off private land, with no mining on conservation land at surface level.

To proceed it also needs resource consents, and has lodged applications with Hauraki District Council and Waikato Regional Council, which are pending.

A spokesman said its application to use “small sections of unformed roading reserve was made in accordance with the proper application of relevant laws.”

OceanaGold own the Martha Mine and Tailings Dam in Waihi, but have been exploring other areas in the Hauraki/Coromandel.

The Wharekirauponga Forest, in the Parakawai Valley, has a long association with gold mining. Royal Standard conducted surveys in the 1890s, but the site was deemed insufficient and was abandoned.

Exploration drilling started in 2005. OceanaGold found gold and silver in the area and applied for a mining permit in May 2019.

Conservationists fear vibrations from the drilling will impact the reproduction of Archey’s frogs. It is one of the world's rarest and most endangered amphibians.

There is also concern about impact of tunnelling, and risk of subsidence.

Dewatering – the removal of groundwater or surface water by pumping – would also have a significant impact on the Wharekirauponga and Otahu rivers, Ours not Mines say.

And they also worry about contamination of water courses as tailings (the hazardous waste byproduct) are dumped into a nearby dam.

OceanaGold's spokesman said the company has “a proven track record of working within a tight regulatory framework including key conditions relating to a broad range of issues.

“We are committed to mining responsibly, managing our effects and, more broadly, ensuring the Waihi North Project makes a positive contribution to our host communities and society, and respects the natural values of the area.”

Donoghue points to the David vs Goliath battle ahead the community-funded group who can’t match the resources of the Australia-Canadian-owned multi-national, because the local council have failed in their duty to protect the environment.

The pressure group are selling prints by renowned Coromandel artist Stanley Palmer to help fund the legal action.

As well as public conservation land, Wharekirauponga is deemed nationally significant and a Significant Natural Area in the Hauraki District Plan.

A council spokesperson said she was unable to comment as the matter is before the court.

Earlier this month, Stuff revealed work on the Government's promise to ban mining on conservation land has slowed because of a row over the sacred Māori stone pounamu.

In 2017, former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pledged: “There will be no new mines on conservation land.”

Work began on progressing the proposal late last year. But new Conservation Minister Willow-Jean Prime has put the brakes on over fears prohibition would erode Ngāi Tahu’s treaty settlement rights to pounamu, or greenstone – and breach existing legislation that enshrine it.