Otago Daily Times

Westport funding raises export base hopes

- TRACY NEAL

WESTPORT: The remote coastal town of Westport is earmarked to become the West Coast’s main port of call.

The town has been singled out to receive most of a $7 million Government­backed investment package in the West Coast’s ports and wharves infrastruc­ture.

Some of the money will boost developmen­t of Westport’s fishing services, and the remainder will help to advance plans for an export base for the West Coast’s highgrade mineral sands.

Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine said the new shipping precinct was planned for the former Holcim Cement silo site in Westport, which had attracted interest from the recently incorporat­ed West Coast Bulk Logistics.

‘‘The export of mineral sands will be by a private company that will determine whether or not that happens. That’s for them to decide, but we as a council can certainly enable that by provision of good, fitforpurp­ose infrastruc­ture and that’s what this will do . . . Once you’ve got that, there’s potential for fertiliser to come in or logs to go out. There are multiple possibilit­ies.’’

The $7 million earmarked for the West Coast is set to come from the Government’s recently announced $3 billion nationwide investment fund, designed to soften the Covid19 induced recession.

Westport will get the bulk of the money allocated for West Coast wharves and port infrastruc­ture, although some will also be spent in Greymouth and Westland.

Developmen­t West Coast’s new boss, Heath Milne, said it was significan­t for Buller.

‘‘The initiative of a bulk cargo precinct in Westport is the right approach because you’ve got to walk before you can run, so having some options to get bulk products out of the West Coast in a reliable way has got to be positive.’’

The company keen to use the port precinct, West Coast Bulk Logistics, had four directors and was a relatively new organisati­on — the paperwork was lodged with the Companies Office in April.

Spokesman Duncan Hardie is also the director of minerals exploratio­n company Hardie Pacific.

He said the company had been exploring for West Coast mineral sands for the past decade, but had no viable way of getting it to offshore markets.

‘‘We’ve looked at trying to truck it to east coast ports, but it ultimately became evident to us we’d have to ship it out from the West Coast.

‘‘We’ve been talking to all councils about how do we get this out — we’ve got southern deposits south of Fox and all the way to north of Westport, and the leading contender at the moment is the revitalisa­tion of the Westport port.’’

Heavy mineral sands on the Coast contained a range of elements, including gold and rare earth minerals, Mr Hardie said.

They were largely a byproduct of tectonism on the Alpine Fault, deposited as layers of soil 5m to 20m above sea level.

Raw material mined mainly from freehold farmland would be shipped overseas for use in industry and manufactur­ing.

‘‘We’re also looking at putting in a mineral separation plant at the port — likely to be Westport — which would be a significan­t capital cost of tens of millions of dollars, but our initial plan is to simply bulkexport it.’’

Forest & Bird declined to be interviewe­d for this story.

However, veteran West Coast conservati­onist Pete Lusk was sceptical — not so much about whether it might harm the environmen­t but whether it would actually happen.

‘‘You get these regular articles in the newspaper about someone who’s come up with a mighty industrial scheme for the Buller.

‘‘The key things in it will be making use of our port — it’ll be making use of a local resource like coal or gold or iron sands and councillor­s tend to fall for these things.’’

Mr Hardie said there was more confidence than six months ago the export base would go ahead. — RNZ

 ?? PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS ?? Beside the seaside . . . The Municipal Chambers in Westport.
PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Beside the seaside . . . The Municipal Chambers in Westport.

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