Govt may revamp mining industry

Press, 14 August 1980, Page 22

Govt may revamp mining industry

By QLIVER RIDDELL The Government is. considering streamlining the mining industry, according to the Minister , of Energy (Mr Birch). . The Government was keen to remove aspects of duplication in the industry, he told a seminar in Wellington on the future of. small-scale mining in New Zealand. One way of achieving this would be to combine aspects of. the separate pro-' cesses of securing an exploration, prospecting, or mining licence with the need to secure town and country planning permission, he said. ■ Delegates to the seminar endorsed Mr Birch’s intentions but gave no suggestions as to how they may be achieved. The seminar was told that in many countries small : mines contributed significantly to the gross national mineral output, offered employment to

many people and caused less environmental disruption. There was increasing evidence that large deposits, implying- large mines, were becoming more difficult to discover, develop, and (finance. Small deposits, implying small mines, could therefore attain even. , greater significance in the national, economy. With the exception of gold, all mineral production in New Zealand had been from . small mines, Ironsands and coal to be mined soon at Huntly were the only. exceptions.. ' '' The geological history of New Zealand did not. make .it an attractive. country, in which to explore for large mineral deposits.. The objectives of the seminar were to examine the role small-scale mining■could have> in New Zealand, to evaluate the services and assistance available to small mines, to

determine' the needs of small mines, and to propose means whereby those needs could be obtained.