Phasing-out of coal resources survey—Minister

Press, 24 July 1986, Page 3

Phasing-out of coal resources survey—Minister

The Government will end its leading role in coal exploration when the coal resources survey is phased out in early August, said the Minister of Energy, Mr Tizard, yesterday.

Opening the Prilling Federation’s annual conference, Mr Tizard said that the Governmentfunded survey had examined almost every New Zealand coalfield since it began in 1973.

Federation members should not be surprised that the survey was ending. The survey had already identified coal reserves far in excess of immediate needs, and the Government had spent $27 million on it in the last 13 years, he said.

When State Coal Mines became a corporation in April, 1987, its new commercial environment would require a different approach to exploration. Emphasis would be on exploratory drilling only when commercial development was likely to follow, said Mr Tizard. Drilling companies would suffer from this move in the short term,

but opportunities should be opened because the new corporation would face competition from the private sector, he said.

The survey had gathered material of benefit to the mining Industry, but the Government’s “user-pay” policy meant this would no longer be available free.

Details of charges should be available in a few months. Mr Tizard said that a discussion paper on the forthcoming review of mining legislation had drawn 130 submissions, since it was released in April. Submissions had come from a variety of sources, from environmental groups to multinational companies.

Many submissions had criticised the delay in granting mining licences and definite action would be taken to speed up application processing, he said.

Mr Tizard expected to receive a report from consultants reviewing the submissions within a few weeks. The report could be released next month.