Dredge licences recommended

Press, 5 December 1979, Page 6

Dredge licences recommended

Greymouth reporter Mr F. G. Paterson, S.M., has recommended to the Minister of Energy (Mr Birch) that the Kanieri Gold Dredge be granted more prospecting licences on the Grey River. Certain conditions would have to be met. Mr Paterson has sent a 68-page report to the Minister after hearing objections to a prospecting licence application bv Kanieri Gold Dredging, Ltd. Mr Paterson recommended to the Minister that “the application for a prospecting' licence, as defined for the Grey River area, be granted with the intention that, if! applied for, a mining licence i for the same area be granted as a matter of right on certain conditions."

He recommended that before that grant, another in-! quiry be held specifically directed to the form of those conditions, based upon the experiences, particularly of the dredging of the ’Grey River up to that time. “By then it is confidently expected that the form of such conditions could be set-[ tied to a large degree by! agreement and to that extent; this and earlier inquiries l have been invaluable. “A supplementary environmental impact report | should be supplied by the applicant and submitted to the Commission (for the En-' vironment) for audit. “I am firmly of the view that the enforcement of con-: ditions must remain in the ultimate authority of the Minister of Energy, but that to a large extent, the work-.

ing relationship between the (applicant company and the Westland Catchment Board on a day-to-day basis should be encouraged to continue, with, as appropriate, some rights arbitration, Mr Paterson said. “However, it it is important to remember the need for ready decision and resolution on the site.”