Public apology by mining company

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33001, 22 August 1972, Page 1

Public apology by mining company

(New Zealand Press Association) BLENHEIM, August 21. In an unprecedented result, the Lands and Survey Department has extracted from a mining company a public apology over its use of land. This concerns activities in Endeavour Inlet, Queen Charlotte Sound.

The company is the Auckland-based Mineral Resources (N.Z.), Ltd. The apology, which is by way of a newspaper advertisement, comes at the direction of the department and with the concurrence of the Mines Department after a detailed examination of the company’s activities in a climatic and timber reserve.

The background to the action was given today by the Commissioner of Crown Lands in Blenheim (Mr G. McMillan). The company’s mineral prospecting warrant was issued subject to restrictive conditions aimed at protecting the outstanding scenic and botanical values of the reserve. The warrant, among other things, prohibited the felling of bush or the formation of roads, tracks, etc., without the express consent of the Commissioner of Crown Lands. It also stipulated that water courses were to be kept clear and all provisions of the Water and Soil Conservation Act complied with. Mr McMillan said that earlier this year, during the course of a regular inspection of the reserves in the Marlborough Sounds by the Lands and Survey Department’s staff, it was found that the company had seriously

contravened the conditions of the prospecting warrant. M.P.’s concern About the same time concern over the company’s activities had been expressed to him by Mr I. J. Brooks, the Labour member of Parliament for Marlborough. The inspection revealed that the company had not only indiscriminately cut quantities of mature trees for mine props but had bulldozed an access road through the reserve for a total length of about 1| miles. In doing this, little regard had been had for good engineering principles or aspects of soil and water conservation. The result was appreciable damage to the reserve with extensive problems of soil stabilisation and stream blockage, Mr McMillan said. Work stopped Moreover, the aesthetic attraction of part of the reserve had been markedly diminished. As a consequence of his approach to the company, operations in the reserve had been stopped. Prospecting operations are still stopped.

Mr McMillan said that he was reluctant to put a price on the cost of the restoration, but it would run into several thousand dollars. Under the terms of the apology and agreement, which is signed on behalf of the company by the chairman (Mr A. W. L. Baker),

the company will “make restoration to the satisfaction of the Minister’s officers in terms of a contract of performance we have entered in to with the Lands and Survey Department.” ‘Bit of bulldozing' Mr Baker said today in Auckland that the work would have been done by the company in any case. It was "'not of any great consequence” and would not have cost more than $5OOO. “We did a bit of bulldozing and, as bulldozers do, caused some damage to the ground,” he said. “We would have put drainage in but hadn’t reached that stage yet. But we would have done it anyway. “All that has happened is that we have been forced to enter into a contract to do the work which we would have done on our own.”