End of an era for Southland coal
It’s the end of a coal mining era in Southland after the last stockpiles of Ohai coal have now run out.
Ohai coalmine closed in September last year due to a ‘‘multitude of factors’’, including the loss of a major consumer, escalating environmental compliance costs and the overhead costs of ageing infrastructure.
New Vale Ohai Coal general manager Antony Stoddart said the sale of coal from the mine had ceased when it closed, but some merchants had stock-piled large quantities.
Now, 11 months after the closure, Stoddart said it had: ‘‘all run out’’.
Of the listed merchants on the New Vale Ohai Coal Facebook page, all were no longer advertising Ohai coal.
A single listing remained on a Gore Buy & Swap page, advertising a 25kg bag for $20.50, a steep lift from the mine’s advertised price of $8.50 when purchasing directly from the Ohai coal mine in 2020.
Bruce Allan, an Ohai local who worked underground at the Ohai coalmine for more than 40 years, said he only had a few bags left.
Straterra, a group which represents the New Zealand mineral sector, chief executive Josie Vidal
said the end of Ohai coal was a ‘‘moment in history’’ for Southland.
Southland, and in particular Ohai, had been a critical player in the more than 180-year history of New Zealand coal mining, and it would be a significant change for Ohai residents to no longer be able to access local coal, she said.
Affordability and accessibility
were the first of her concerns for Ohai residents, but she also worried about the cultural impact of losing such an iconic part of the township.
‘‘Many people in the area will have woken up in the morning and lit a coal fire for most of their lives and that should not be dismissed by people who don’t live there and have ideological views
about coal.’’ She queried if it had been the right time for the mine to close.
‘‘The truth is, coal will be used until New Zealand and the rest of the world is no longer critically dependent on it and alternative sources are available,’’ she said.
‘‘Those alternative sources need to be accessible, affordable, and readily available, so as not to disadvantage any group in New Zealand society, for example, by location or income. There is no point the Government offering an older person in Ohai a heat pump if they can’t afford the electricity to run it for long enough to stay warm through the winter.’’
She believed there was more opportunity for coal mining in Southland, arguing that while the resource was there, it made economic sense to mine it.
Last year, Bathurst Resources subsidiary New Brighton Collieries was granted exploratory access to Southland District Council’s Ohai forestry block, revealing at least 200,000 tonnes of coal.
Bathurst Resources owns the Takitimu Coal Mine, about 10km away from the former Ohai Coal Mine.
It employs 50 people and has a lifespan of three to four years.
Bathurst Resources chief executive Richard Tacon said if resource consent was granted, the forestry block would extend mining in the area to the early 2030s.
Forest and Bird challenged Southland District Council’s decision to allow access in a judicial review heard in the High Court in Invercargill earlier this year. The judicial review was presided over by Justice Rob Osborne, who reserved his decision.