Tunnel plan under conservation land raises ire of anti-mining group

Wednesday, 9 December 2020

Earlier this year, OceanaGold, which also operates Wahi’s Marth Mine, exchanged their exploration permits in the area for a mining permit from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

A gold mining company’s plan to drill a 6.8km tunnel under pristine conservation land has been slammed by an anti-mining group, which claims it will impact the one of the world’s most endangered frogs.

Wharekirauponga, 10 kilometres north of Waihī, sits on public conservation land, however in 2016 OceanaGold purchased interest in the site from Newmont and Glass Earth, incorporating it into the company’s existing Waihī operations and exploration plans in the region.

In February 2019, the company found gold and silver in the area, and has since undertaken exploration drilling and other surveying.

Now in the last stage before resource consent approval, anti-mining group Coromandel Watchdog are calling on the government to put a protection on the Southern-side of the Coromandel.

Wharekirauponga, in the Parakawai Valley, has been described as the goldfield that never was.

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OceanaGold senior community advisor Kit Wilson the company believes it can mine gold in the area 'sensitively and respectfully using proven underground methods'.

Wharekirauponga, in the Parakawai Valley, has been described as the goldfield that never was.

Mining company Royal Standard conducted some work there in the 1890s before the site was deemed insufficient and was abandoned.

Since then, many conservationists and anti-mining groups have been working hard to have the area remain mostly untouched, as the habitat for threatened species such as the archey’s frog.

In a statement OceanaGold senior community advisor Kit Wilson said the company believes it can mine gold in the area 'sensitively and respectfully using proven underground methods'.

The Wharekirauponga bush has the highest ecological value in the Southern Coromandel Forest Park and contains priority ecosystems, threatened species and is the headwater of a major catchment.

'We know that the area is home to a number of important species, and we understand how important this ecosystem is,” Wilson said.

“Exploration drilling undertaken over the last 15 years has gathered and tested enough rock to be confident that the gold discovered at the site could support a mine. However, there is still a lot of technical studies and exploration to do and an access tunnel would provide us the opportunity to better-understand the orebody.”

He said OceanaGold had a mining permit for the activities but had not yet applied for resource consents from the council.

The company would not do so without “comprehensive consultation and engagement with community, iwi, regulators and other stakeholders” first, he said.

He said the tunnel would be between 150m and 400m underground.

'We will undertake significant, detailed studies before we apply for resource consents. We will undertake detailed investigations and consultation to understand cultural, social and environmental values.'

Schedule 4 also includes all Crown conservation land north of the Kopu-Hikuai Road and the inner waters of the Coromandel Peninsula (and most adjacent offshore islands and Hauraki Gulf islands).

Coromandel Watchdog spokeswoman Augusta Macassey-Picard, however, considered OceanaGold’s approach as “mining by stealth”.

The organisation has been fighting for 40 years to protect Coromandel from mining.

“It’s undermining conservation land while the government breaks their promise to protect it,” Macassey-Picard said.

Coromandel MP Scott Simpson wasn’t in a position to “know whether the impact of the initial planning would be detrimental or not to the frogs”.

“The tunnel is not exploration, it is mining infrastructure being built under false pretences.”

She said the tunnel while deemed only for exploration purposes, would disrupt the environment, with the vibrations from the drilling having the potential to impact archey frog’s reproduction.

“From what we understand there will also be significant dewatering being required in that area, which I would suggest has significant impact above ground and further down steam at the catchment.”

Under the Crown Mineral Act 1991, Schedule 4, there is to be no open cast mining, and no underground mining with significant surface expressions on conservation land.

There are Conservation sites under a protection order collectively covering around 34,500 km2 of land and 12,670 km2 of marine area, however, some conservation areas, such as Wharekirauponga, aren’t under this protection.

In 2017, Coromandel Watchdog presented a petition to Parliament, calling for Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act to extend its protection to the southern side of Coromandel.

“If OceanaGold go under DOC land in the Coromandel Ranges in one spot what’s going to stop them from doing it in any other spot that they are looking.”

Coromandel MP Scott Simpson was reluctant to say where he stood in the argument.

Simpson wasn’t in a position to “know whether the impact of the initial planning would be detrimental or not to the frogs” either, but said there’s heated debate between experts about the rarity of the archey’s frog.

“We’ve got in New Zealand some of the strictest regulatory barriers to mineral extraction of any country in the world,” Simpson said.

“If the company can meet those requirements than the project would have my support, but that’s very speculative and I don’t think anyone should jump to conclusions when it won’t necessarily go ahead.

“OceanaGold is a significant employer of local people both in Waihī and beyond, but the opinion in the area is split between people supportive of the company and those who are not support.”