100-year plan to mine West Coast minerals
A company mining for minerals on the West Coast says it has a vested interest in looking after the environment so it can expand and ‘‘keep doing what we are doing’’.
Westland Mineral Sands has permission to mine 21.1 hectares of land at Cape Foulwind near Westport for heavy minerals including ilmenite, garnet and rare earth elements. Director Ray Mudgway said the company owned about 350ha of farmland on the West Coast and had mining licences over about 8600ha, which could contain an estimated 50 million tonnes of minerals.
The company has invested tens of millions of dollars into its plans for the area, which include upgrading both Westport and Greymouth ports to export heavy mineral concentrate overseas.
Westland Mineral Sands has been granted consents by the West Coast Regional Council and the Buller District Council to mine 500,000 tonnes of heavy mineral concentrate over 10 years. It will employ 40 people, truck the minerals to Westport port, and put them on a barge that will then offload on to a ship offshore.
The councils publicly notified the application and received about 185 submissions. About 70 were in support, two were neutral and about 100 opposed it.
The Department of Conservation was among the objectors, citing concerns with processing and earthworks, the taking of water and discharging of treated mine water to land within 100 metres of a wetland. The noise conditions and operating hours are being appealed to the Environment Court by a group of Cape Foulwind homeowners. The appeal has asked for lower noise limits and more restricted operating hours.
Mudgway said the Environment Court had granted the company permission to start construction on Thursday. The first stage was to widen the road access to the mine site. The company would abide by the appealed for conditions until the court had made its decision, he said. Mediation is set down for September.
Mudgway said the company had started assembling its processing plant in Westport, which would be moved to the mine site to start production in October. About 2ha of land would be disturbed at a time, then rehabilitated back into farmland.
The company would carry out about 35 different types of monitoring, including radiation, dust, wildlife, water and noise.
The Cape Foulwind mine was only 1% of the resource and 6% of the land the company owned – it also owned six farms, mainly in South Westland, Mudgway said.
The market for the minerals it would uncover was lucrative, he said. They would be used in products like sandpaper, computer components, steel and paint.
‘‘We want to expand and see this as a 50 to 100-year business plan. People who say we shouldn’t mine, all consume the products the resources are needed for.
‘‘We are not just dirty miners. We have a vested interest in looking after the environment and making sure we do what we say and do it well because we want to have the social licence to expand and keep doing what we are doing,’’ he said.
Cape Foulwind resident Jude Giugni said she was disappointed in the councils’ decision to approve the mine.
She said it was too expensive to appeal the decision to the Environment Court but hoped the appeal could minimise the noise disruption in the area.