The draft decision to approve the Waihi North Mines project was announced last evening and unfortunately it’s a predictably bad decision which legitimises more toxic waste, more damage to biodiversity and more profits will head off shore.
This is the first private profit application to be considered under the Fast Track and is a warning to all who come after us. It’s also the first underground mine in the conservation forest of our region.
While we were ‘invited to comment’ we could not seriously challenge the range of risks this project presents to the environment and the future given the constraints of the Act. We see this decision as a disaster for our region and its future, with alleged economic benefits clearly prioritised over the environment.
The Fast Track process as currently designed has allowed ourselves and tangata whenua a very limited opportunity to make comment. The Panel appears to have given little weight to our concerns and assumes that the applicants mountain of evidence equates to evidence of robust environmental protections. The assumptions around water, land subsidence, economic returns and biodiversity are based on weak data and the conditions buy into the offset of damage rather than protection from damage.
We are left with a deeply concerning precedent being set.
After engaging as much as we could under the Fast Track we have no faith in the draft decision’s confidence in the evidence of the company that they can kill at risk rare species and make up for it by some pest control down the road.
We have no faith in the data they presented about the protection of fresh water in the underground mining situation when they have no base lines to establish safe water standards.
We have no faith in the mantra of jobs which omitted a proper regional and national cost benefit analysis of gold mining.
We can have no confidence in the ability of the tailings dams to last in perpetuity or the proposed bonds to pay for any collapse of these cyanide and heavy metal laden waste which risks the future of Tikapa Moana ( the Hauraki Gulf).
This draft decision facilitates OceanaGold to make a massive profit. It avoids the scrutiny of the communities who have to live with the impacts. This project includes the first underground mine in conservation land in our region since the turn of last century and it has no mandate or social licence from our communities.
The final decision will be announced next month after a very short time for those who commented initially to consider the draft conditions.
“We expect little from this process but we will continue to fight this project and will consider both legal and peaceful community protest options” Catherine Delahunty