Seeking rights near Lake Brunner
MINERALOGY International Ltd — which has Australian billionaire Clive Palmer as a director — is trying for prospecting rights over the Hohonu area near Greenstone, an area that has been long eyed for minerals.
In 2018, the Government announced lithium potential there.
If Mineralogy's bid is successful, it will have pegged out almost the entire edge of Lake Brunner, as well as the Hohonu Range on the south side of the lake.
The only other large permit holder in the area is Reefton Resources, in the Bell Hill area.
The latest application alone covers 252sq km.
So far, Mineralogy has been granted 10 permits throughout New Zealand covering 179,077ha, with a total conservation land overlap of 63,556ha.
If all its applications were granted, its total acreage would make it the largest minerals permit operator in the country.
Green Party MP and former conservation minister Eugenie Sage recently fired a broadside at Mineralogy.
She said one prospecting permit covered significant ancient podocarp forest at Lake Brunner.
‘‘Clive Palmer is a mining billionaire, and Australia's fifth richest person.
‘‘Mining is invasive and can harm biodiversity and ecosystems. It can leave local communities to deal with severe environmental harm and the aftermath of a boom and bust employment cycle,’’ Ms Sage said.
‘‘Companies such as Mineralogy International Ltd should not be able to plunder nature here, especially on conservation land.’’
Although it has some minerals permits, it does not yet have permission to mine and has not been through a resource consent process.
Greymouth Mayor Tania Gibson said she had not met Mineralogy personnel, but they would be welcomed if they ‘‘are going to produce jobs and be good for the economy and sustainable for the environment’’.
In 2020, Mineralogy manager Vishal Chavan told the Greymouth Star the company had an experienced crew of four geologists and would employ a local iwi apprentice as field assistant.
Staff were all New Zealanders and they used local products, services and people where possible.
‘‘They have conducted a lowimpact grab sampling programme and are reviewing the results,’’ Mr Chavan said.
‘‘We are looking for lithium and rare earth minerals to power the exciting next wave of electric vehicles into the future. This is a longterm plan as lithium demand has been forecast to catch up to production by the mid2020s.’’
Mineralogy did not respond this week. —