Natural resources - the economic benefits

New Zealand is one of the most mineral rich countries in the world.

Yet a myth has evolved that we are a ‘poor relation’ to Australia. In fact we are a resource rich nation in a resource hungry world. Where we trail many other countries is in realising the potential of the wealth beneath our land and sea.

Australian industry and government have united to make the most of their natural resources with major initiatives that maximised returns, boosted employment and raised living standards. By contrast, New Zealand has neglected the economic potential of our vast natural reserves. Demand for resources from developing countries such as China and India now provide great opportunities to enable all New Zealanders to benefit from that mineral wealth.

New Zealand’s natural resources industry already contributes significantly to our economy but we make use of just a fraction of its potential.

• Currently 4,650 people are employed in our mining industry.

• The industry produces minerals, coal and petroleum worth around $4 billion per year, contributing $2 billion to exports.

• New Zealand’s lignite reserves alone, extracted at a rate of 20 million tonnes per year, could provide energy and feedstock for most of New Zealand’s fuel and petrochemical requirements for 300 years.

Much of our vast untapped resources are on publically-owned and DoC-managed Conservation estate. Carefully controlled increased access could:

• Lead to the creation of a further 25,000 jobs

• Boost production and exports, lift household incomes by at least 1.7 per cent and deliver a steep increase in the country’s economic growth.

The extraction industry’s contribution to the economy is vast but its environmental footprint is relatively small.

• Mining currently uses 40sq km of land, less than 0.1 per cent of New Zealand’s land area, and has an export value of $175,000 per hectare. Dairy farming, by comparison, uses 20,000 sq km of land with an export value of $3,500 per hectare.

• While the modification required to harvest natural resources is extreme during the process, environmental monitoring and rehabilitation techniques have advanced so significantly some land can even be enhanced by the process.

• Solid Energy has an ongoing programme of rehabilitating both current and historic mine sites. Last year this covered160 hectares including planting more than 320,000 native trees and shrubs at 10 sites.