West coasters meet over Taranaki sand mining
Auckland’s coastal communities are warning a potential consent for black sand mining in Taranaki could set a precedent.
About 15 people from Piha and up to 40 from Muriwai attended the meetings organised by activist group Kiwi’s Against Seabed Mining (KASM) following a new application from mining company TransTasman Resources to mine black sand from the seabed off the South Taranaki coast.
The company’s last proposal to do so was rejected by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in 2014, partly due to ‘‘uncertainty around the scope and significance of the potential adverse environmental effects’’.
KASM spokesman Phil McCabe says the company’s new proposal is just like the last.
‘‘Same company, same proposal, same place and same duration - 20 years.’’
He says the application to mine 50 million tonnes a year over that period would be disastrous for the environment.
‘‘Everything dies on the sea floor in that area and 90 percent gets pushed back out into the ocean in a plume that negatively affects and smothers everything around it.’’
Trans-Tasman Resources declined to comment.