5. Mining in NZ has a small footprint
Fact: Most New Zealanders will never see a gold or coal mine. The Martha mine at Waihi will appear as a big hole in the ground to visitors on site, and 40,000 do every year (ref. 9), and to anyone who flies over it at low altitude. The closest most people get to Martha is a view of Waihi, which looks much like a township anywhere in New Zealand. From the air, the Pike River Coal mine is almost invisible.
Straterra's view: Mines are elusive in the landscape because mining and quarrying on land cover 0.016% of our total land area (ref. 10). This is a very small footprint on a national scale. The wine industry occupies seven times that footprint, the dairy industry, 500 times. In terms of mines, most of what New Zealanders see are quarries, and most of that product is used for roads. Even if mining tripled in New Zealand, most New Zealanders would never notice.
Ref 9:Another view web site, on Newmont Waihi gold: http://www.anotherview.co.nz/text/tourism.html
Ref 10: NZIER report to Straterra, “Diamond in the rough: the current and potential economic contribution of New Zealand’s mineral resources sector”. May 2010: http://www.straterra.co.nz/Straterra%27s+Submissions
Dry Creek Quarry, Hutt Valley 1993, the closest most NZers get to seeing a mine. Now owned by Allied Concrete, this is the site where Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith were filmed for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
