Nickel smelter questioned

Press, 24 August 1976, Page 5

Nickel smelter questioned

The nickel smelting plant which a private company has proposed to establish on the West Coast should be seriously questioned in relation to New Zealand’s total energy situation. This is the view submitted by Dr Helen Hervey on behalf of the Environmental Vanguard Organisation to the Minister of Trade and Industry (Mr Adams-Schneider).

Dr Hervey conceded that the proposed site would be favourable from the point of view of regional development, “although it would be important that the site should not be in an environmentally sensitive area.’’

Dr Hervey said that the Coal Research Association in Christchurch reported that all fines or coal wastes from the Strongman mine were reserved for industry in Christchurch and that none would be available for the smelter. The other mine named by the company, the Liverpool mine, apparently had only another five years production.

“In view of this information it seems that the company’s prospects of obtaining 50,000 to 60,000

tonnes of coal annually are not as rosy as it believes,” she said. With respect to electricity it looked as if any supply to the smelter would be from the national grid. “Such an energy-in-tensive industry should be seriously questioned in relation to New Zealand’s total energy situation,” said Dr Hervey.

“Even if modern techniques reduce pollution to acceptable levels there remains the deeper question cf the wise use of resources, as opposed to the squandering which so often accompanies the pursuit of financial gain.

“Hence it is not only a question of whether some benefit might be derived locally, or even nationally, from this or that industrial project, but whether it is justified in relation to the number of similar projects elsewhere in the world,” said Dr Hervey. “Nothing that has been said by the promoting company suggest that the smelter is an economic necessity for world nickel supplies. The over-riding motive is perhaps the hope of cheap power, or cheaper power than might be obtainable elsewhere, said Dr Hervey.