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The message from the government on Monday after announcing the conservation regions that will be considered for mining is that the billions of dollars of mineral wealth buried in New Zealand's backyard cannot be ignored.
More than 7,000 hectares of land are being made available for development. That includes more than 2,500 hectares on the Coromandel Peninsula, an area on Great Barrier Island and over 8% of the Paparoa National Park.
But the government is also proposing conferring protected status on more than 12,000 hectares. Among those areas will be parts of Abel Tasman National Park, some of the Horoirangi Marine Reserve near Nelson, areas of Egmont National Park and nearly 2,000 hectares of the Parininihi Marine Reserve in north Taranaki.
Overall that is a net gain for protected land of over 5,000 hectares.
The Coromandel is beautiful above ground but valuable below ground too as now more than 2,500 hecteres of high value conservation land could be opened up for mining.
The government estimates there is $18 billion of mainly gold and silver in the Coromandel that they want to open up for mining.
"I think those numbers are indicative of the sort of resource that might be there. The reality is until there is an activity going on you don't know what that flow of cash might be," says Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee.
However, Labour may not agree.
"The Coromandel, one of the favourite areas of recreation for New Zealanders, hugely beautifully, very sensitive environmentally and they want to dig it up," says Labour leader Phil Goff.
The Paparoa National Park on the South Island's West Coast is also being eyed up for more mining.
More than 3,300 hectraes of Paparoa Park could be opened up for mining - that is 8% of the National Park. Under ground the government estimates there could up to $2 billion worth of coal.
"Any mining on conservation land will be subject to strict environmental tests," says Prime Minister John Key.
Some National Parks including Kahurangi and Mt Aspiring have been declared off limits and the government says the 7,000 hectares of new mining land is relatively small.
"What we are proposing today is opening a chunk of New Zealand to mining that is equivalent to a post card on the entire size of Eden Park," says Brownlee.
But there will be a fight.
"The beneficiaries of this will be the overseas mining companies, those who be paying the prices will be ordinary Kiwi families who really enjoy the most beautiful and sensitive areas of New Zealand like the Coromandel," says Goff.
Public submissions will be heard until early May and Cabinet will make final decision mid year but it could be five years before any of new wealth is actually taken from the ground.
What do you think about the proposal? Have your say on the messageboard below.
Add a Comment:
Post new commentmenacerec said on 2010-07-24 @ 00:53 NZDT: Report abusive post
John needs the boot... not just for this either.
menacerec said on 2010-07-24 @ 00:49 NZDT: Report abusive post
No hawthorne, what National have done is gone back on multiple significant election promises. Their economic policies have already shown to correlate with increases in income inequality. They are increasing our debt in order to give the upper 5% of earners the greatest tax cuts, although 75% of the population is hardly left with enough to live on. They are further cutting the rights of workers in favour of big businesses, their true agenda is quite clear.
irwin said on 2010-07-21 @ 11:05 NZDT: Report abusive post
The protest actions taken by my fellow NZers and the governments decision not to proceed with the mining on DOC land makes me very proud to be a Kiwi. This is democracy at its finest and those people who say the government should never investigated it in the first place have lost the plot. The people have spoken and the government has listened. Great.
ukustarmitch said on 2010-07-21 @ 10:01 NZDT: Report abusive post
HAHAHA this is too funny. How dare they consider destroying our beautiful landscape! National, you did the right thing, but don't expect me to vote for you in next years election
SantaCruz66 said on 2010-07-21 @ 08:54 NZDT: Report abusive post
Simply a matter of matter that Gerry doesn't want to mine what he can't walk around. 50k kiwis marched because Gerry et al missed the point. Good democracy for sure but political ineptitude and appalling stewardship - all Gerry had to do was announce it the conference and he would have been fine :)