Seabed miner told fast-track approval not a formality

Wednesday, 23 July 2025

Trans-Tasman Resources’ proposal has encountered strong local opposition in Taranaki, but a panel of experts will have the say on whether to consent it.

The Australian-owned company that wants to extract iron sands offshore from Taranaki is putting a brave face on what would appear to be two potential setbacks.

Trans-Tasman Resources has been advised by a government ‘fast-track’ body that approval for the seabed mining scheme is not a formality and told to suggest a more realistic time frame for an expert panel to consider its consenting application.

Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) chairperson Alan Eggers has meanwhile brushed-off the suggestion that a colossal US$6 trillion (NZ$10t) iron ore discovery in the Hamersley region of Western Australia might undermine the case for its own operation.

The mid-to-high grade Australian discovery would be sufficient to supply the global demand for iron ore for about 20 years, with analysts warning that would reshape the market.

The price of iron ore has been relatively subdued of late, hovering around US$100/tonne over the past year, and the Australian government forecast last month that prices were likely to ease over the next two years due to higher global supply.

TTR applied last month for fast-track approval for its controversial scheme to extract 50 million tonnes of iron ore from the South Taranaki Bight annually, over a period of 20 years, saying it would bring benefits in the form of exports and jobs.

Environmentalists fear that if the scheme goes ahead it could threaten sea-life in the region and set a precedent that could pave the way for more seabed mining around the world.

Associate fast-track panel convener Jennifer Caldwell will appoint an expert panel to make a decision on the mining application and determine the time frame within which it will need to reach a decision.

TTR had submitted to Caldwell that its consenting application was not legally complex, in part given the purpose of the fast-track regime.

The environmental effects of the scheme were well understood, a determination could be made in 46 working days without the need for a hearing, and it should take the panel only 10 days to decide on any draft conditions that it might feel needed to be attached to consents, it said.

But Caldwell advised the firm that the approvals it was seeking were “not mere formalities”.

Almost all of the technical appendices on the project were dated 2015, meaning they had not been updated since the Supreme Court overturned an earlier approval for the scheme and referred it back to the Environmental Protection Agency for re-consideration, she said.

Trans-Tasman Resources chairperson Alan Eggers says a huge Australian iron ore find is “just another deposit”.

Caldwell directed TTR to provide “a more realistic decision timeframe”, by August 4.

Eggers told The Post he wasn’t discouraged by the tone of Caldwell’s minute.

“It’s the panel convener doing her job. That's fine.

“We've suggested a time frame which we think is more than adequate to address the issues that the expert panel needs to address.”

Cindy Baxter, chairperson of Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, which has been lobbying against the iron sands project, was hesitant to say she was encouraged by the developments.

“We're not taking anything for granted at this point,” she said.

But she said it was “good that the panel convener had seen the gaps in TTR’s application”.

“It seems clear to me that TTR just expects this to go straight through on economics only, but that just isn't going to be the case.”

Iron ore from the Hamersley find could come on-stream at about the same time that TTR would begin dredging the Taranaki Bight, and cause a supply glut, she said.

It was not unknown for miners of other commodities to walk away in such situations, she said.

Eggers said the Hamersley find was “just another deposit” and TTR was not concerned.

The iron business was a very large one worldwide and it was healthy that there were such good supplies of iron ore around, he said.

“It's like saying we found another gold deposit that will kill the gold price — Hello?”

Trans-Tasman Resources advised investors earlier this year that the vanadiferous titanomagnetite iron sands offshore from Taranaki tended to sell for a US$5 to US$15 per-tonne discount to more common “traditional hematite” iron ore, which is the kind found in Hamersley.

But that meant it also contained vanadium and titanium, so it would also be able to produce those “critical minerals”, he said.

Baxter did not understand the industry and was vehemently opposed to TTR on ideological grounds, he said.