Time is right to say no to Waihi mining

Thursday, 9 May 2019

OPINION: Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage said no this week and quite frankly, good on her, it's about time.

The minister said no to mining company OceanaGold's application made under the Overseas Investment Act to purchase 178 hectares of land south-east of Waihi to create a new tailings reservoir.

The company pitched it as safeguarding mining's future in the area, but the minister said it was at odds with the Government's goal to create sustainable, thriving regions and the country's transition to a carbon neutral economy.

It's the first time since 2005, when the Overseas Investment Act took effect, that ministers were split on an application, meaning the application had to be declined.

* Mayor says jobs will suffer after mining company's land buy canned

* OceanaGold to start exploratory drilling on Coromandel forestry land**

Associate Finance Minister David Clark was all for it, but what's more extraordinary is, it's the first time in 30-years the company, which also operates Macraes Mine near Dunedin, has had an application through the Overseas Investment Office declined. They've lodged 80 of them in total.

Of course, OceanaGold is still deciding whether it'll take a judicial review so it's not game over, but it also came in the same week we received that catchily named international report saying our planet is in the worst shape it's ever been and the Government introduced the zero carbon bill to parliament.

Business as usual is not an option anymore. As the international biodiversity report stated, we need transformational change and the minister's decision is a tiny step in the right direction.

Mining accounts for about $2.2 billion, or just 1 per cent of New Zealand's GDP and, as an industry, it's completely at odds with the clean green image we shop to millions of tourists every year netting us $15.9 billion and employing 216,000 people.

Why would we put that at risk by continually allowing the industry, which employs about 4100 people nationally, to expand, mining for a finite resource, using methods which suck up energy and give very little to the natural environment, for a product which is exported overseas anyway.

We do need cleaner, more sustainable business and employment opportunities.

While Hauraki Mayor John Tregidga called the minister's decision biased, disregarding the livelihoods of 360 locals, a quick look at wages suggest there's a lot of people in the Hauraki region who clearly aren't doing that well out of the current situation anyway.

While mining employees are well paid, earning on average just over $100,000 a year, according to industry website Straterra, the median income of Hauraki District residents is about $23,100 according to Statistics New Zealand.

But what about the fact Waihi has always been a mining town, since the 1800's? Well, just because Waihi has always been a mining town, doesn't mean it always will be.

OceanaGold has previously said it has about 10 years left in Waihi, surely a decade is long enough to put in place the foundations for more sustainable employment options. We've always known it will end eventually. They're mining a finite resource. This is not a new thing.

The company said the tailings dam it wanted to create for its 'project quattro' would have extended the mine another nine years. All this would do is buy Hauraki little more time to figure out what to do next. Well, that time is now.

It was ironic Mayor Tregidga referred to the Government's $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund, as he slammed the minister's decision. The fund is one created by Government to invest in regional economic development to ensure all people living throughout New Zealand reach their full potential by creating regions that are sustainable, inclusive and productive. It also says provincial New Zealand is the heartland of Aotearoa, and home to some of our most creative and innovative people and it's still open for applications.

Hauraki have already built the hugely successful Hauraki Rail Trail and they made a tourist destination out of Paeroa. They are home to the stunning Karangahake Gorge and are on the doorstep of the white sands of Waihi Beach. Agriculture, forestry and fishing already come a close second to mining in the region's GDP, although OceanaGold argued the cumulative export return from establishing the dam and extending the mine would be roughly the equivalent to 1600 years of dairy production on the same land.

But that's just it, these things can always look good on paper and then they go wrong.

I lived in Waihi when a sink hole opened in Seddon Street in 1991 and swallowed a house, a van and two cars. Yes, it was from historic mining operations, yes, mining practices have improved far beyond what they were decades ago, but looking at the aerial photos of the two current tailings reservoirs operated by OceanaGold, set against the backdrop of our blue coastline, you can't help but wonder what future beholds them in 100 years.

I know there are rigorous testing and management processes in place and OceanaGold says its dams are constructed to Benmore Dam standards, but if there's anything we've learned as a country lately it's that the unexpected happens.

Whether it's commodity prices, human error, or greed. And often by the time the proverbial hits the companies are long gone and it's the community left cleaning up the legacy. Te Aroha's Tui Mine clean-up cost the community $22 million.

The nugget in all of this is expanding mining in Waihi will do nothing to improve the sorry state of our environment and while there may be short term financial benefit for Hauraki region, it is just that, short term. We need cleaner, more sustainable businesses options if our planet has any hope at all.

The minister's decision was the right one.

It's time for Hauraki to create a new, cleaner, more sustainable future, they're creative, they can do it, but they need to start now.