Straterra keen to be involved in energy strategy (excerpt from NZ Resources )

3 September 2010

 

The chief executive of lobby group Straterra, Chris Baker, said the organisation was keen to work with the Government on implementation of an energy strategy.

Baker was commenting on the Ministry of Economic Development’s discussion document “Developing our energy potential.” Submissions closed yesterday.

“Prioritising energy resource development is sensible, as is the Government’s emphasis on a mix of energy sources to ensure affordability and supply,” Baker said.

Both, he said, are an advance on the 2007 draft strategy. This can be done in an environmentally-responsible way. Energy efficiency is a key consideration for many businesses including the minerals industry.

“There could be tension between meeting the renewable electricity generation target of 90% by 2025 and energy security and affordability, and it’s not clear from the document how this would be managed,” Baker said.

“It’s also not clear how the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (NZES) will affect diversity of energy sources and security of supply,” he said.

As matters stand, NZ will be leading the world on carbon prices and “we have a way to go to ensure that impacts on the competitiveness of energy-intensive industries such as dairy processing are minimised.

The review in 2011 will be an opportunity to sort this out, with the NZES in mind.”

Straterra said the coal sector was working with industry and government in the New Zealand Carbon Capture and Storage partnership.

“This is an important and complementary initiative to keep New Zealand’s options open. There is a clear case for partnership between the Government and industry in working to achieve the Government’s priorities.”

Drilling to free trapped Chilean miners begins

1 September 2010

Resigned to watching his child's imminent birth on video, trapped miner Ariel Ticona waited as rescuers started drilling an escape shaft to save him and 32 companions 25 days after a cave-in.

The bid to rescue the miners, stuck in a hot and humid tunnel 700 metres underground, is one of the world's most challenging and could take between two and four months. The government has turned to NASA and submarine experts for help.

Striving to keep the men physically and mentally fit for the wait ahead, doctors sent flu vaccinations and nicotine gum for smokers in withdrawal down a tiny shaft the size of a grapefruit, the men's umbilical cord to the outside world.

Rescuers have started drilling a 66cm diameter shaft that will be used to evacuate the miners one at a time in a cage attached to a pulley.

Engineers in the world's No.1 copper producer are also looking into other options to speed up the rescue, including digging a second escape duct that could take about 60 days.

The trapped miners talked to their relatives on Sunday for the first time since they were found alive over a week ago.

Ticona asked his relatives during a one-minute intercom call to tape the birth of his third child, due in mid-September, and send the video down into the bowels of the earth for him to watch.

"He told his wife to take care before the delivery," his father Hector told Reuters. "He doesn't want to appear on the videos to save her the grief, but wants to see his new child."

Fellow miner Esteban Rojas has vowed to marry his wife in church, 25 years after their civil ceremony.

Dramatic footage taken by the men on a video camera sent down the narrow chute showed them bearded, their torsos bare to cope with the heat, some visibly thin.

Pope Benedict on Sunday prayed for a safe rescue and urged the miners to remain calm.

Longing for daily routine, the men - who range from a teen, first-time miner to an ex-soccer star to a Bolivian migrant - have organised themselves in the bowels of the mountain.

The images showed the men have designated areas for sleep and card games while freeing space to keep personal items like toothpaste and deodorants.

Rescuers have sent the miners miniature projectors so they can watch video clips of soccer greats Pele and Maradona, as well as portable video games and MP3 players to help miners bear the boredom.

Doctors say the miners are in good health, but have told them to move to a new location deeper in the tunnel to try to reduce exposure to humidity that could cause disease or fungus.

The accident at the San Jose gold and copper mine has put the spotlight on mine safety in Chile, although output is not expected to suffer from planned regulation reforms in light of the accident.

English says exports will drive the recovery

13 August 2010

Finance Minister Bill English said the economic recovery will be different, built on exports as a key to building a sustainable long-term performance.

That, he said, will be quite different to recoveries traditionally seen in New Zealand.

"This recovery will be patchy at times - due to the uncertain global environment and the need for businesses and households to pay down large stocks of debt.

"In this credit-constrained world, the recovery will need to come first from the earnings side of the economy such as exports," English said in a speech to the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development.

"All of this shows that tackling the economy's imbalances will not be a short-term task. It's not just a matter of shrugging off the global recession. The challenges we face started years earlier.

"Turning that around will require a relentless, long-term focus and commitment," English said.

This reality was reflected in stable rather than growing results for domestic industries like housing and retail, and indicators such as business confidence and the sharemarket.

Recent debate about the Government's goal of catching Australian incomes by 2025 had attracted some comment - much of it characterised by a total lack of context about the recent economic performances of the two countries.

He said in the three years to 2008, NZ's economic growth was unbalanced and sluggish. In early 2008, New Zealand went into a recession that Australia simply didn't have.

"This meant the Australian economy grew by about 11.5% in the four years to March 2010, while our economy grew just 2%.

"So the Government inherited a situation that makes the challenging target of catching Australia even more difficult. Let me stress that the Government remains committed to this target - but it's a 2025 target, not a 2011 or 2014 target."

Over the past 30 years, there had been many two year periods when NZ performed better than Australia, as dairy and other commodity prices fluctuated. But overall, the trend has been clearly in Australia's favour.

"On the commodity front, Australia clearly has the edge at the moment," English said.

"Put in simple terms, Australia's mineral industry makes up nearly 70% of its exports, while dairy makes up 20% of our exports.

"Furthermore, Australian commodity prices roughly doubled in the five years to July 2010, while NZ's commodity prices increased by only half as much.

"As a result, Australia's minerals boom is likely to mean it will perform better than NZ in the near term, but it is the long-term trend we are determined to turn around.

"The only way we can permanently lift New Zealand's economic growth is through considered and consistent reform and change, year after year.

More broadly, the Government has built its economic plan around six policy drivers. They include:

• Strengthening the tax system.
• Better, smarter public services.
• Reforming regulation.
• Education and skills.
• Business innovation and trade.
• Investment in productive infrastructure.

"In the past 18 months, we have been extremely busy rolling out policies within this plan, and you will see more announcements in the coming months," English said.