Government rewrote fast-track law after mining companies pushed for changes
Wednesday, 8 July 2026
Two mining companies persuaded the Government to expand their fast-track approvals, opening the way for a larger coal project on the West Coast and a longer life for an Otago gold mine.
An Order in Council – which allows Cabinet to amend legislation without a vote in Parliament – changed the fast-track listings for Bathurst Resources’ Buller Plateaux coal project and OceanaGold’s Macraes Phase Four mine late last month.
The change follows a High Court challenge that halted Port of Tauranga’s fast-track application after one proposed wharf extension was missing from the project description in legislation. That forced the Government to make a hasty law change in December.
The 2024 fast-track regime created a streamlined consenting pathway for projects deemed to have significant regional or national benefits. The legislation listed nearly 150 projects, including Buller and Macraes, that could apply directly to expert panels for approvals.
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But concerns from both companies that the original wording could also leave parts of their proposals vulnerable to legal challenge led the Government to amend the project descriptions through the Order in Council.
The Buller changes, requested by Bathurst in May, replace the original reference to “coking coal” with the broader term “coal”. The project would extend mining operations on the Stockton and Denniston plateaux for another 25 years, extracting about 20 million tonnes of coal.
The company says the project would retain about 390 direct jobs in Buller and support a further 50 jobs outside the region.
Critics say the broader wording raises questions about whether the listing could now apply to thermal coal extraction, which is burned for energy generation and is considered a higher-emissions fossil fuel.
The Government says any decision on the type of coal mined will remain subject to approvals under the Crown Minerals Act.
The amendment also adds “future acid mine drainage” to the statutory description. Bathurst’s application referred to managing historic drainage, which it described as a Crown responsibility, and drainage associated with current operations.
Acidic runoff that carries metals into waterways is a legacy risk of coal mining.
The reference to future acid mine drainage comes as the Government continues to pay for historic mining damage at Stockton. Newsroom reported more than $3 million was spent treating coal mining damage there in 2023, more than the royalties collected from all coal mining nationwide that year.
Bathurst didn’t answer questions from The Post this week.
Adam Currie, a campaigner for 350 Aotearoa, said the amendment showed the Government was continuing to fast-track a coal project “despite knowing the risks associated with mining-related contamination”.
“Communities living near mines around the world know acid mine drainage is no joke,” he said.
Currie said the amendment appeared to be a response to projects being challenged over scope issues, such as the Stella Passage development at Port of Tauranga.
“The Order changes both the project description and geographical location,” he said. “It also means the Denniston application will not be submitted before Bathurst’s self-imposed June target and is unlikely to be lodged before August. Bathurst has now delayed the application at least six times.”
The Macraes amendment, requested by OceanaGold, removes a 2036 end date from the fast-track listing for the Otago gold mine. Key permits and consents expire in 2030 and 2031 and “phase four” would keep it open.
The Government said the company sought the change after higher gold prices made it economic to process material previously considered waste rock, potentially extending the mine’s lifespan.
OceanaGold senior vice president for legal and public affairs Alison Paul said removing the 2036 reference was not an extension of the project, but a correction to prevent the fast-track listing being interpreted as imposing an artificial end date.
“When the company applied to have the project listed, a mine life extension to at least 2036 was used as a conservative estimate for quantifying the jobs and other benefits associated with the mine, but it was not proposed as an end date for the project,” she said.
Macraes already operated under resource consents with standard 35-year terms, Paul said. Phase Four would sustain the mine’s 760-strong workforce and “the roughly 2,800 jobs that depend on it” for almost a decade longer than the current mine plan, she said. Without the project, the mine would begin winding down from 2027, with closure by 2030.
A spokesperson for RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop said the amendments were needed to prevent projects being “unintentionally deemed out-of-scope” because subsidiary activities or components had not been specified in their original descriptions and “to better ensure that expiring mining permits can appropriately transition from the current mining operation to a future regime”.
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said those mining projects should never have been hand-picked in the first place. “Now, those same companies have lobbied Ministers to rewrite the rules to suit themselves, at the expense of all of us.”
Swarbrick said the amendments meant Bathurst had been given access to a pathway for “another 20 million tonnes of coal over 25 years”. She criticised the addition of “future acid mine drainage” to the project description.
“While communities are in yet another climate-charged State of Emergency right now, this Government is writing more permissions slips for more frequent and severe extreme weather in exchange for greater profits for offshore mining companies.
“The rewrite also requires, for the first time, infrastructure to treat historic and future acid mine drainage. That's an admission these expansions will create new toxic runoff for West Coast waterways, hurting the ecosystem, locals, and every other business that requires clean water.”