Steel mill fuel claim denied

Press, 28 May 1984, Page 4

Steel mill fuel claim denied

PA Wellington The State Coal Mines were satisfied that coal could be supplied to New Zealand Steel’s mill expansion before the decision to go ahead with the expansion, toe Minister of Energy, Mr Birch, has said. He was responding to claims from the Coalition for Open Government yesterday that the Government had “casually” approved the steel mill expansion without adequate information on the availability of coal. A coalition spokesman, Mr Keith Johnston, said he had asked the Ministry of Energy for information on

coal cost and availability that had been supplied to the official committee investigating the steel expansion in 1981. ‘1 found that information did not exist,” he said. Mr Birch said the State Coal Mines had evaluated coal resources in the Waikato and was satisfied about “toe continuing availability of the Waikato coal reserves for the steel mill C.O.G.’s comments were “designed to inflame the issue and, worse, undermine toe confidence in the New Zealand Steel expansion and the coal supply industry,” said Mr Birch.