Miner’s Monthly: October 2024

Hundreds gather for West Coast Minerals Forum

More than 200 people came to Ross on the 3rd of October for the annual West Coast Minerals Forum. These forums continue to go from strength to strength with each year breaking the previous year’s attendance record.

With 160 years having passed since the West Coast gold rushes began in 1864, it was fitting to have this year’s forum in Ross. The day kicked off with a panel discussion of what high gold prices may mean for the country’s gold production in the coming years.

Minerals West Coast chair, Richard Tacon, facilitated the panel which was comprised of Mark Birchfield (Birchfield’s Ross Mining), Francois Tumahai (Ngati Waewae), Lincoln Smith (TerraFirma Mining), Simon Henderson (RUA Gold), and Damian Spring (Santana Minerals).

Following the panel gold remained the topic of the morning. Forum attendants then heard from Ruby Glasson and Patrick Enright who spoke on Federation Mining’s development of the Birthday Reef resource at Snowy River in the Reefton gold field.

Rounding out the morning was a presentation from Siren Gold delivered by Paul Angus and Victor Rajasooriar to discuss the company’s exploration work in the West Coast and Tasman regions.

Following morning tea, the minister for resources, Hon. Shane Jones, delivered a ministerial address to forum attendees outlining work the government is doing to better enable and expand the mining industry in New Zealand, and answered questions from forum attendants. 

Following Minister Jones’s address Simon Court, parliamentary under-secretary for infrastructure and RMA reform spoke about work the government is doing to improve regulations relating to land and resource use.

The final component of the morning was a regulators’ panel chaired by Minerals West Coast trustee, Mike Meehan. The panel comprised Darryl Lew (West Coast Regional Council), Priscilla Harris (WorkSafe), Own Kilgour (DOC), and John-Buick Constable (New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals).

The panellists respectively spoke on aspects of the Resource Management Act, the Health and Safety at Work Act, the Conservation Act, and the Crown Minerals Act among other pieces of relevant legislation for mining industry operators.

The Empire Hotel in Ross proved to be a great place for lunch, serving more than 200 people meals in the one hour lunch break.

Throughout the afternoon forum attendants heard from a lineup of speakers discussing various mineral resources. First up after lunch was Peter Manera, chairman of the West Coast Farmers Lime Company spoke about the 106 years of business operations and the century long supply of lime fertiliser to West Coast food producers. He was followed by Rob Boyd of Bathurst Resources discussing the production of carbon foams from Stockton coal.

Mineral sands were then the topic. First with a presentation from Alan Eggers of Trans-Tasman Resources delivered a presentation on mining offshore mineral sand resources in the Taranaki Bight, then Robert Brand of TiGa Minerals discussing the garnet and ilmenite resources of the Barrytown Flats.

The final speaker for the hour was Richard Tacon, chief executive of Bathurst Resources and chair of Minerals West Coast, who presented on socio-economic analysis carried out on behalf of Minerals West Coast and Bathurst Resources on the role of mining within the West Coast’s social and economic fabric.

The final session of the day focussed on mine closure and rehab. Gary Bramley of EcoLogical solutions presented on mine site rehabilitation at Stockton Mine, including vegetation direct transfer and species management. Ashton Currie of Instant Green presented on the benefits of hydroseeding for fast restoration of vegetation cover at mine sites. Megan Williams presented on work towards mine closure and restoration of OceanaGold’s former Globe-Progress mine near Reefton. Closing off the day was Tim Shaw from the Department of Conservation on the best approach to rehabilitating alluvial gold mining operations on public conservation land.

After the end of the formal conference for the day forum attendants went to the Empire Hotel for dinner and drinks, with a good night had by all.

Minerals West Coast was pleased to have such a high number of attendees at the forum, and wishes to thank all those who made the time and effort to be there. Minerals West Coast would also like to thank each and every speaker & presenter, sponsor, volunteer, service provider, and anyone else who made the day possible.   

Opinion piece in New Zealand Herald

In late September Green Party co-leader, Chlöe Swarbrick, along with other Green Party members of parliament, visited the West Coast. Shortly after the visit Chlöe Swarbrick published an opinion piece in the NZ Herald titled ‘What Green Party and coal miners have in common’.

Minerals West Coast’s manager, Patrick Phelps, wrote a response piece titled A Green Party politician and a mining industry stooge walk out of a bar’. For anyone without a subscription to the NZ Herald, a copy of the response piece can also be found here.

Minerals West Coast and Greenpeace on TVNZ Breakfast

In early October the New Zealand Government announced a list of projects to be included in the first round of the Fast Track Approvals Bill process. Some of these are mining operations for either new mines or expansions/continuations of existing mines.

TVNZ Breakfast interviewed Minerals West Coast’s manager, Patrick Phelps, and Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director, Russel Norman, for their views on the announcements.

The full interview can be viewed below, or by clicking here.

Meet the Miners video series launches

Minerals West Coast is in the process of producing a video series profiling mining and miners in New Zealand titled Meet the Miners. An online launch of the first episode on alluvial gold mining operators on the West Coast is off to an encouraging start. At this stage Meet the Miners can be found on YouTube and Facebook.

The first full episode can be found below: