A Great Victory !
All Schedule 4 Conservation land on Coromandel Peninsula, Great Barrier Island and in Paparoa National Park to remain protected from mining !
Thank you to all our 1000’s of supporters who made this happen !
- all 9 areas on the Coromandel will remain in Schedule 4 and be protected from mining (as will the areas Great Barrier Island and in the Paparoa National Park)
- there will be some form of public consultation before any access agreement for a large mining proposal is granted on non-schedule 4 conservation land
- the Minister of Energy will now have a say jointly with the Minister of Conservation on access agreements to non-schedule 4 conservation land. This is bad and we will oppose this is the select committee when Brownlee attempts to change the law
- land added to National parks and other reserves similar to existing Schedule 4 land will be automatically added to the Schedule
- the government will fund aerial surveys of Northland and the West Coast non schedule 4 land (but not it seems any Coromandel Land)
Forest and Bird have a great summary here
You can read all the news and reaction at these links….
- Our Press Release 20 July Watchdog Wary over Govt Mining Capitulation
- Press Release 21 July — Half Coromandel Saved — Time to Save the Other Half
- TV1 Thames Victory celebration 20 July
- Radio NZ Morning Report 20 July Watchdog Reaction
- Radio NZ Checkpoint 20 July Watchdog still wary
- Radio NZ Morning Report 21 July Watchdog Celebrates
- Gordon Campbell A smashing victory for the Public
- NZ Herald 21 July Political Risk too Great
- TV3 Humiliating Mining Backdown 20 July
- TV1 News Big Govt Backdown 20 July
- TV3 Brownlee Loses Mining Debate 20 July
- Editorial Dom Post 21 July From Step Change to Giant U-Turn
- Government Press Release
- Forest and Bird
- Business Wire Total backdown on Schedule 4 mining
- NZ Herald Editorial 21 July — Govt Mining Stance Fatally Flawed
- WWF thanks green groups
- John Armstrong NZ Herald Better to Bury Failure than Risk Defeat
- Energy and Environment – Anatomy of a Political Defeat
- Cartoon Emmerson
- Newmont Reaction …. feel the anger and frustration !
- Greens
- NZ Herald 22 July — Joint sign-off on DoC land worries green groups
- Waikato Times Mining ‘war’ is not over 20 July
- Schedule 4: So what do the Nats stand for now? Tim Watkin 21 July
- Celsias Mixed Mining Messages 21 July
- TV3 Spoof on John Key’s Mandate to Mine other conservation land
- TV3 21 July — Mining-conservation-land-still-on-the-Govts-agenda
- Newmont Gold still angry and frustrated 23 July 2010
- TV 1 22 July – Govt Still Ignoring Public on Mining
- Mine Web Mining Journal – New Zealand drops proposal to open up conservation areas for exploration
- Otago Daily Times Editorial 22 July
- Radio NZ 23 July 2010 Focus on Politics
March Against Mining
The March Against Mining in Auckland on Saturday 1 May was an amazing spectacle! 50,000 people filled Queen St – the largest protest in NZ for decades! Watchdog thanks all those that made the effort to turn out and show the Government that we don’t want our parks undermined.
You can watch video of the march here at TV3 News.
Check out a collection of photos here at Greenpeace’s flickr collection.
Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act. Schedule 4 has been the Coromandel’s main protection against mining since 1997.
Schedule 4 says that mining cannot occur on all conservation land north of the Kopu-Hikuai Road, all the Coromandel coast inland from low water mark, all harbours, and most off shore islands .
Schedule 4 represents all of our past hard fought battles to stop mining on the Coromandel.
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Surgical Mining – A Fantasy
PM John Key and Gerry Brownlee say modern methods allow “surgical mining”, to access valuable mineral deposits without desecrating landscapes.” (The Press 01/09/2009)
Question: Do these these images (click to enlarge) of the Martha and Golden Cross mines represent “surgical”mining” and “undesecrated landscapes” ?… you be the judge.
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Cartoons
