Conservationists face fight to stop mining

Press, 26 December 1987, Page 14

Conservationists face fight to stop mining

Conservationists say they have a big and difficult fight on their hands to protect the North-West Conservation Park from mining. The multi-national mining company, C.R.A. Exploration, Ltd, has announced that it will go ahead with its application to prospect for gold in the Cobb Valley-Mount Arthur Tablelands area of the park. It had earlier said it would review its plans because of protest concerned with the environmental and recreational importance of the area.

the director of the Native Forests Action Council, Mr Guy Salmon, said he was not surprised by C.R.A.’s decision, as the company had a reputation overseas as a single-minded and determined organisation that

was accustomed to bulldozing aside any opposition. Mr Salmon said he had just returned from a visit to Australia where he had learned quite a lot about C.R.A.

"They have been closely associated with a successful mining industry campaign to open up national parks to mining; they are now proposing to open a uranium mine in a national park in West Australia,” he said. “Along with some other mining companies, they have successfully opposed the granting of any land rights to Aboriginals. “The mining industry’s television campaign depicted black hands building walls across Australia, and played on the fears which many Australians have about people of other races.

“There is an element of ruthlessness in much of the activity that C.R.A. has been associated with. They are bringing something rather new to the New Zealand scene.” Mr Salmon said that because existing laws provided no real protection for conservation parks against mining, the main hope for protecting, the area lay in changing the law.

This in turn would greatly depend on the success of the Wharepapa petition — calling for reform of mining laws — which is being circulated nationally by N.F.A.C.

Mr Salmon said he was heartened by the strong support for protecting the conservation park which had come from the member of Parliament for Tasman, Mr Ken Shirley.