Opposition to a mining venture on the Barrytown flats has taken a significant dive, with the withdrawal of objections from manawhenua.
The hearing gets underway in Greymouth. Photo: LDR / Lois Williams
Independent commissioners began a three-day hearing today in Greymouth, of the application by Barrytown JV Ltd to mine 63ha of farmland on the Coast Road for ilmenite, garnet ore and other minerals.
Te Runanga o Ngāti Waewae had opposed the application in its entirety, citing concerns about the impact on local waterways and coastal lagoon. But it has now pulled its objections after the company made changes to its proposed conditions.
"Having considered the amendments by Barrytown JV to address the concerns, most notably the decision to no longer divert Collins Creek, Ngāti Waewae is no longer opposed to the application," Poutini environmental manager Philippa Lynch said in an updated submission.
The mining company had a team of expert witnesses on hand both in person and via video link as it made its opening submissions at the hearing this morning.
In his submission, BTJV director David Straface said the Barrytown Flats contained deposits of some of the highest grade ilmenite in the world. They were unique in that they also contained garnet ore.
Ilmenite is used as a pigment in paints and plastic but is also turned into titanium for use in the aerospace industry and the manufacture of human joint replacements.
There is a growing market for garnet as a safe alternative to sand blasting, and precision cutting in engineering.
Promise of jobs
Mining the area over a period of eight years would benefit the West Coast and New Zealand economy by
$53 million in taxes and royalties and create 47 jobs, Straface submitted.
The company would mine in strips across the land, using a field unit similar to a gold-screen dredge and backfilling as it went.
The material would be pumped in a slurry to a 13m-high wet concentrator plant onsite, which would avoid potential dust problems, and the building itself would be partly below ground to minimise the visual impact.
Buffer zones 20m wide would be created around the property boundaries before mining started, with native plantings to screen the site from the highway, beach and neighbours.
The plant - but not the field unit - would operate around the clock with two work shifts; and lighting would be minimal at night to minimise the risk to the Westland petrel (taiko) as they left and returned to their burrows.
Westland petrel doing a night landing at its forested breeding grounds Photo: Bruce Stuart-Menteath
Water levels would be managed to maintain volumes going into creeks and the lagoon, which had originally been created by previous miners on the site in the late 1800s.
The site would be restored to productive farmland and handed back to the owners once mining was finished, Straface said.
Local Democracy Reporting is a public interest news service supported by RNZ, the News Publishers' Association and NZ On Air.