Mining

Press, 27 July 1989, Page 12

Mining

Sir, —Mr Afton Blackadder misleads by charging that Mr Koro Wetere, the former Minister of Forests, improperly withdrew his consent to mine Crown land on the west bank of the Maruia (July 21). Mr Wetere, however, followed the direction of the High Court in withdrawing his consent and the Minister of Energy' followed the Mining Act in reversing the Planning Tribunal’s recommendation. Mr Blackadder is not the victim of a miscarriage of justice. The remarkable feature of this case was that, for once, the wider public good prevailed over the miner’s interest. The magnificent Maruia beech forest was protected rather than destroyed by open-cast mining for gold. Mr Blackadder could set his loss in this case against the gold he has removed from other public forests and rivers, always benefiting from the indulgent mining and tax laws and their lax enforcement. — Yours, etc., PETER S. GRANT. July 21, 1989.

Sir,—Mining has always been an industry of dreams and bluster. The industry complains of a “nightmare of red tape and delays,” yet even its own latest report concedes that "the average delay in obtaining access consents to Crown land is relatively low.” -Companies waiting for mining licences are usually still prospecting. The sharemarket crash and stagnant gold prices are behind the decline in applications to explore and prospect. Benefits are also exaggerated. The Waihi mine was to generate 1000 jobs; it is fewer than 150. But it is no exaggeration that no royalties are paid on gold (the Crown’s property), nor that Coast farmers have had land taken against their will for mining. In Mr Blackadder’s case, the Minister of Forests did not “override the Planning Tribunal.” He, as custodian of State forests, refused to consent to mining there, as the law allowed him to. If Mr Blackadder claims no right to mine another’s land, what objection can he have to such decisions, and conservation lands being managed for conservation, and exempt from mining? — Yours, etc., D. J. ROUND. July 24, 1989.