Coast community calls for sand mine submissions
Saturday, 30 September 2023
A group set up to oppose a sand mine on the West Coast is calling for submissions on the proposal.
Western Australian mining firm Barrytown JV’s application for an open cast sand mineral mine at Barrytown near Greymouth was declined in February 2022 after commissioners said the application lacked information.
The company has since changed its name to TiGa Minerals and Metals and lodged new consents to mine minerals like garnet, ilmenite, zircon and gold from 63ha over a 12-year period, construct a processing plant and for a minimum average of 50 truck movements per day between the site and Greymouth or Westport. The application was publicly notified and submissions are open until October 13.
Some residents formed the Coast Road Resilience Group to oppose the application and have been fundraising with community events and raffles. They have also written to the Environment Minister to take over the application process.
Group chairperson Laksmi Crick said submissions were urgently needed from anyone around the country “who wouldn’t want a mining company popping up in their big back yards”.
TiGa promises the mine will bring 57 jobs worth around $6.6m in wages, and $27.4m to the region’s economy. It says it would not mine any more than 5ha at a time and rehabilitate back to farmland afterwards.
“Barrytown houses a quiet coastal community where the main commercial focus is tourism. We’re not against jobs for Coasters,” added Crick.
However, she said existing West Coast mining companies struggled to find staff and adequate housing.
Crick said mines in scenic areas were far from the West Coast’s “Untamed Natural Wilderness” tourism campaign vision and she believed Barrytown house prices would plummet in value once the mine started up.
The area was a breeding ground for Tāiko (Westland petrel) which crash land when confused by lighting and there are worries about them getting hit by mine trucks.
She said TiGa was about 90% offshore-owned and the opposition group had raised about $12,000 from a Givealittle page to pay legal fees and employ expert witnesses for the hearing process.
“If we’re having to continually fund campaigns to have the right to a quiet life, to support mostly offshore profits, to herald jobs that we have no capacity to fill, and to change our environment, plant and bird life forever, it doesn’t feel much like our councils really have our best interests at heart.”
TiGa managing director Robert Brand said the company welcomed all submissions “from both sides of the fence” because it had asked the council to publicly notify the consents to be open and transparent with the community.
He said creating job opportunities would keep young people on the Coast and help the housing market. The company was talking to developers about accelerating existing plans for new houses and releasing land for housing.
It was conscious of the “fantastic” Tāiko and wanted to help protect the area’s environment by doing pest control and replanting native fauna.
“It’s a bit of a stretch to call the Barrytown flats untamed natural wilderness. It is humped and hollowed privately-owned dairy farming land. The farmer is part of the rehabilitation process,” he said.
He said the company was set up in 2012 by New Zealand investors who sought funding from Australia and one third of its shareholders were New Zealand residents.
The company is holding drop-in sessions and a public meeting in Barrytown on October 5 and 10.
The TiGa application and submission information can be found on the Grey District Council’s notified consents page.