Stretching down New Zealand’s rugged West coast, the land is rich in natural wonders – from rainforests to rock formations stacked like slate pancakes and battered into shape by the pounding sea.
The coastal road winds south to a wide plain known as the Barrytown Flats, home to a vast deposit of minerals that prompted a 19th century gold rush.
The area may soon be home to a large, open cut mine that will extract minerals including garnet, zircon and gold from beneath the flats. The project is one example of a renewed push by New Zealand’s government towards mining – which comes amid a gradual rollback of Jacinda Ardern-era environmental policies, and alongside fears new legislation could see mining projects fast-tracked for approval across the country.
Resident Katherine Crick is among those fighting against the construction of the mine. She is worried about the impact the mine will have on the environment, at-risk bird populations and the community.
“I couldn’t believe it when we came to the area, how could they consider a mine here?” says Crick, chair of the Coast Road Resilience Group which has been advocating against the construction.
The Barrytown plan highlights a deepening divide within New Zealand over the government’s mining strategy. That split was in stark display last month as resources minister, Shane Jones, unveiled a plan to double the country’s NZ$1.03bn mineral exports to $2bn by 2035. He gave the speech in a town not far from Barrytown Flats – for some locals in attendance, it represented hope for a better economic future, for others it signalled long-term environmental disaster.
Part of the mining push is a proposed fast-track bill – a controversial law that is now before parliament’s environment select committee. The government says the bill will allow vital projects to begin, while critics argue it will allow environmental protections to be bypassed.
“It’s impossible to get major projects consented and we need to rebalance the considerations,” Jones told the Guardian.
Globally, the mining sector is growing rapidly to meet demand for the minerals that power electric vehicles, wind turbines and other clean energy technologies, Jones said. New Zealand has a rich deposit of these critical resources, and the government will develop a plan for extracting them, he said.
‘Significant’ projects fast-tracked
In Barrytown, the concerns held by Crick and her group centre around the protection of the tāiko, or Westland petrel, which has its only breeding ground in the neighbouring Paparoa Ranges.
They say the mine would increase light pollution and that poses a risk to the birds. The group says the petrel is already in decline, and more threats to its survival could be devastating.
The Barrytown mine was approved by local councils in April. It will be built by TiGa Minerals and Metals, which had a previous proposal rejected over environmental concerns. The latest plan was accepted with 32 pages of conditions – ranging from light restrictions to water management systems.
In a statement, the company said it had “strengthened its proposed measures to protect the environment, in many cases directly addressing the concerns of submitters.”
“This included agreeing not to mine at night or run ore trucks at night to reduce the risks to Westland petrel,” the company said in the statement.
Still, Crick’s group is seeking to block the development. It has filed an appeal against the approval of the mine in the environment court. But even if it succeeds, they worry a proposed law fast-tracking projects in New Zealand could provide another avenue for the mine to go ahead.
The bill aims to streamline consenting requirements for significant infrastructure – a broad category that may include “regionally or nationally significant infrastructure,” or that provide “significant” economic benefits.
The fast-track bill could see mining projects previously blocked over environmental concerns given the green light.
Speaking to the Guardian, Jones says these changes are “long overdue” and will counter New Zealand’s “excessive levels of environmental protection”.
Jones stirred controversy in December when he told parliament that if a mining opportunity was impeded by a critically endangered frog, then “goodbye, Freddy”. Now, he says he was being hyperbolic, yet in a trade-off between a region’s economy and a species’ habitat, the economic interest should win out.
“These trade-offs should be made by politicians and that’s why we’re passing the fast-track legislation,” Jones said.
In the bill’s current form, three relevant ministers would decide which projects are regionally or nationally significant enough to use this streamlined process. They would be referred to an expert panel that would assess them and make recommendations. The relevant minister would make the final decision, a move that has drawn criticism.
‘Economic development over everything else’
During the public consultation process on the bill, 27,000 public submissions were made – one of highest numbers ever submitted about a piece of legislation.
Darryl Sycamore, a South Island-based resource management planner says the fast-track bill will “move [the] pendulum back towards being more enabling” of mining projects.
“It will look at economic outcomes as well as environmental concerns,” Sycamore says.
Richard Capie, advocacy lead at conservation group Forest & Bird, says the bill prioritises “economic development over everything else”.
While he agrees with Jones that there is a need to mine minerals used in clean energy technologies, that doesn’t mean mines should crop up everywhere.
“It overrides environmental protections in laws like the Wildlife Act and the Conservation Act, as well as the current resource management legislation, and it doesn’t require consultation with neighbouring communities,” Capie says.
Several mining companies have expressed support for the fast-track bill and two told the Guardian they would apply to have projects considered, if it becomes law.
The first, Stevenson Mining, lost an environment court case against Forest & Bird about a proposed coalmine near Westport last year. The company abandoned its appeal in March, and said it has applied to be considered for a fast-track consent.
In the North Island’s Taranaki region, Australian company Trans-Tasman Resources pulled out of consent hearings with the Environmental Protection Authority for a controversial offshore seabed mining operation. It confirmed to shareholders that it was preparing an application to be included in the fast-track approvals law.
In a statement to the Guardian, Trans-Tasman Resources executive chairman Alan Eggers says this is not designed to bypass environmental protections but says “the consenting of major projects in New Zealand takes too long and is far too expensive to encourage enterprise and investment”.
The government – and the bill – needed to address the “economic roadblock” so the country attracts investment in critical minerals, Eggers says.
Capie argues it doesn’t change the project’s environmental impacts. “This new bill just means they won’t be considered any more,” he says.
Back on the Barrytown Flats, Crick’s group hope they can challenge the approval of TiGa’s mine. They worry that TiGa may still apply for a fast-track consent if the bill is passed, but for now, will focus on obtaining a court ruling to strengthen their case against the mine.
“There’s a lot of opposition to the fast-track bill and we’re still hoping sense will prevail for its final form,” Crick says.
“But even if it doesn’t, when we take our case to the court and flesh out the issues a bit more, we can really show there’s no social licence to operate.”
