Save the date for March 2021
The Department of Conservation’s review of Stewardship land is to be carried out in 2022. Stewardship land amounts to about 10% of New Zealand’s land area and 44% the West Coast’s land area (as part of the 82% of the West Coast protected as public conservation land).
Much of the Stewardship land on the West Coast is held in very large parcels – see the table below for reference. Some of these parcels are adjacent to National Parks and there is a risk that if these parcels are added to National Park they will be captured by Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act, which specifies areas of land in New Zealand (including, but not limited to National Parks) where mining permits cannot be obtained.
| AREA CATEGORY | HECTARES IN CATEGORY | PERCENTAGE OF WEST COAST STEWARDSHIP LAND IN THAT CATEGORY |
| 10,000 ha + | 737,368.10 | 84.73% |
| 1,000-9,999 ha | 96,705.39 | 11.11% |
| 100-999 ha | 28,410.35 | 3.26% |
| 1-99 ha | 7,732.54 | 0.88% |
| 0-1 ha | 26.89 ha | 0.003% |
| TOTAL | 870,243.27 ha | 100% |
There are two panels preparing advice for the minister of conservation on how to proceed with reclassification of Stewardship land, and this advice will be given to the minister after eight months. Once these recommendations have been received and given the due attention from the minister, the matter will go out for public consultation.
Government kicks for touch on phasing out fossil fuels in process heat
In May this year the government received submissions on its fourth round of consultation on removing coal and natural gas from industrial process heat since early 2019. A fifth consultation has been conducted since.
The government announced yesterday that it will delay making any decision on the matters consulted on – namely using the Resource Management Act to ban coal use for many industrial users – until late 2022.
A full story on this is available on RNZ’s website, here. To read Minerals West Coast’s submission lodged at the time, read the below document.
Amalgamation of Minerals West Coast and West Coast Commercial Goldminers’ Association complete
Minerals West Coast’s amalgamation with the West Coast Commercial Goldminers’ Association has been finalised, with both organisations forming one entity – Minerals West Coast.
Financial assets have been consolidated, and the West Coast Commercial Goldminers’ Association is in the process of being disbanded. Minerals West Coast’s board currently has strong representation from alluvial goldminers, including Brett Cummings, former president of the West Coast Commercial Goldminers’ Association.
News coverage of West Coast miners going for gold
High gold production on the West Coast on the back of high gold prices caught the attention of both RNZ and Magic Talk in November, with both radio stations covering the increased production levels and price per ounce on air.
Minerals West Coast manager Patrick Phelps, and trustee, Peter Haddock, featured in a piece put together by RNZ reporter Conan Young. The full story can be heard below.
Following that story, Patrick Phelps spoke to Lloyd Burr on Magic Talk’s Lloyd Burr Live show.
Coal in New Zealand campaign reaches over 300,000 viewers
Minerals West Coast last month launched it’s Coal in New Zealand website (www.coal.kiwi) and associated videos on social media.
At the time of writing (23rd of December 2021) the three videos have amassed over 300,000 views on Facebook and YouTube. Analytics from these platforms shows the majority of viewers are in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, aged between 25-44.
