Miner’s Monthly: March 2021

Climate Change Commission submission lodged

Minerals West Coast’s submission to the Climate Change Commission addressed the previous advice industry has given to the government on barriers to removing fossil fuels from New Zealand’s energy profile, and the importance of cheap, reliable energy for New Zealand’s provincial communities.

Much of the commission’s analysis ignores previous rounds of policy consultation the government has held on removing fossil fuels from New Zealand’s energy mix, especially process heat. Minerals West Coast raised this issue, and the cost to communities like the West Coast, in the submission sent to the Climate Change Commission. The full submission is available below.

The commission will now assess all the submissions it has received, and shared its finalised advice with the government on the 31st of May, 2021.

Mines Rescue CPD course on remote worksite safety

Being ready to respond to life or death emergencies was the central point of this month’s CPD training event at Mines Rescue in Rapahoe. Glenville Stiles of Mines Rescue ran the three hour training session on emergency management planning. The session covered basics such as how to communicate with emergency services in areas with limited mobile coverage, or none at all; what plans to have in place for workers who operate on their own; access to injured staff in uneven terrain; having staff adequately trained in first-aid and having appropriate equipment on site. As well as having processes in place to be ready to respond in the event of injuries or other emergencies, Glenville emphasised the need to work through these plans in drills and practice sessions to ensure these plans are more than just documents.

Upcoming CPD events for 2021

Minerals West Coast will continue to organise training events for 2021 and notify members of events being organised by other industry groups. Events coming up in the coming months are in the table below.

DATEEVENTLOCATIONLINK TO FURTHER INFO
7pm, 13th AprilLook after peopleworkshop covering
resilience and mental health
Paroa HotelN/A
21st April, 2021MinEX regional workshopGreymouthClick here
24th May, 2021 Drug and alcohol awareness in mining Greymouth
(location TBC)
(TBC)
16th June, 2021​ Echo coal mine field trip and Federation
Mining Snowy River site visit 
Reefton area(TBC)

Interview on Nights RNZ National

About every ten weeks Minerals West Coast’s manager, Patrick Phelps, speaks with the host of RNZ National’s evening show, Nights, Bryan Crump. The most recent interview, on Tuesday the 23rd of March, focused mainly on the Climate Change Commission’s advice to the New Zealand government. The full interview is available below.